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Tuesday, February 15, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
unveil
VIEWPOINT
Day on the Hill should receive senate funding
Student Senate may not have another chance to help finance this spring's Day on the Hill. But if a chance comes its way this week, Senate should seize it.
Recently, the Senate Finance Committee killed two bills that would have boosted the Day on the Hill budget, which historically has been between $15,000 and $17,000. The committee killed both bills, one that requested $5,000 and one for $3,200.
Opponents of the bills say that Senate already has overspent its budget and has dipped into an "unallocated" fund of $20,000. All but $3,716 of that has been spent.
Committee members such as Brian Poeschel, one of the leading opponents of the bills, have pledged fiscal responsibility and should be commended for their commitment. Poeschel says Senate simply cannot afford to finance the event. Bill opponents also rightly request that Student Union Activities, the organizer of Day on the Hill, better plan its budget requests each year and that SUA make the requests earlier, before the Senate funds are depleted.
However, Senate still has a responsibility to Day on the Hill. The future of the event, which is growing in credibility and popularity, is at stake. An average of 12,000 people attend Day on the Hill. Student Senate finances many campus groups and organizations that benefit fewer people. For a $3,200 contribution, Day on the Hill is a good buy for Senate.
Student Senator Paul Wolters, sponsor of the $3,200 bill, and Travis Harrod, head of Student Senate Executive Committee, have said they will ask StudEx tomorrow to consider bringing another Day on the Hill bill to the Senate. Wolters also said that SUA was pursuing campus organization sponsors, such as the Association of University Residence Halls. Campus organizations should sponsor this campus event, and sponsorship should begin with Student Senate.
BEN GROVE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD: SAMANTHA ADAMS, J. J. ANDRE,
MARGARET BECK, RICHARD BOYD, CARSON ELROD, SEAN FINN,
BEN GROVE, DONELLA HEARNE, MATT HOOD, DAN JANOUSEK,
CHRIIS LIVINGSTON, COLEEN McCAIN, NATHAN OLSON, GERALDO
SAMOR, DAVID ZIMMERMAN.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Sexual orientation not a threat to national security
Feb.4
A study should be undertaken to ascertain whether, as we suspect, there are little or no grounds for the present discrimination against homosexuals seeking security clearances in certain federal agencies. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank says he expects the Clinton administration soon to ban such discrimination. The new policy would cover the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, both of which have long rejected homosexuals on the theory that they could be risks. The Justice Department has already drafted related legislation for its operations, which include the FBI.
Traditional societal attitudes understandably have caused many homosexuals to fear exposure of their sexual preference. So there has long been
concern by security agencies that these citizens might be vulnerable to blackmail. There may well have been some validity to that concern.
But times probably have changed enough to warrant the elimination of a barrier that on its face seems very unjust. For that matter, it's good to remember that people can be blackmailed for many things.
We suspect that a more enlightened society, and a healthier openness by homosexuals about who they are, have probably made the threat of blackmail passe.
It would take clear proof of national security damages to convince us that U.S. citizens should be deprived of government employment because of their sexual preference. Their experience, character and behavior in their public roles are what should matter.
Providence Journal-Bulletin Providence, R.I.
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TUM EBLEN
General manager. news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
JUSTIN GARBERG Business manager
JENNIFER BLOWEY Retail sales manager
Editors
Aest Managing Editor ...Dan England
Assistant to the editor ...J.R. Clairborne
News ...Krietl Foster, Katie Greenwald
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Editorial ... Colleen McCann
... Nathan Olsen
Campus ... Jesa DeHaven
Sports ... David Dorsey
Photo ... Doug Hesse
Features ... Sara Bennett
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Jason Eberly
Regional Sales mgr ... Troy Terwater
National & Coop sales mgr ... Robin King
Special Sessions mgr .. Shelly McConnell
Production mgrs .. Laura Guth
Gretchen Koothelserlinch
Marketing director .. Shannon Reilly
Creative director .. John Carton
Classified mgr .. Kelly Conneally
Tearsheas mgr .. Wing Chan
**Letters** should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Illinois can use plain text.
Guest columna should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Generation X is looking more like its baby-boom parents every day
One of the few interesting moments in the depressing (to me) spectacle that was Super Bowl XXVIII came during the Pepsi commercial depicting a possible 25th anniversary of Woodstock. Imagine 500,000 balding yuppies, dreams of BMW's and stock options dancing in their heads, their pagers going off like crickets in the night, gettin' down and funky to music that they think still matters. This commercial is fresh on my mind as I sit down to write this column about Generation X, or whatever they're calling us these days.
When talking about my generation, few writers and commentators can resist the urge to take a few shots at the previous one. This is, to an extent, wholly justified. The baby boomers have taken all the jobs, wrecked the economy, ruined the environment, run up the deficit and yet still find the time to admire themselves endlessly in movies and on TV.
COLUMNIST
But now, in the '90s, the ravages of time have taken their toll on the children of the '60s with horrifying results: They are becoming just like their parents. They no longer understand the music. They are gravely
concerned about the social and sexual trends of the time, and they wish the young folks would just quit whining, cut their hair and get real jobs. Many of them vote Republican. The Big Chill Generation is becoming the Geriatric Generation.
We live in a time when Keith Richards is eligible for membership in the AARP and Pete Townshend has indeed gotten old before dying. When we as young people think about the tragic plight of this self-satisfied generation of baby boomers, the folks who once made love on stony beaches with abandon but who now are paying ever closer attention to the Depends commercial, our natural response as sympathetic and compassionate fellow human beings is to laugh until we throw up.
We can't laugh too hard, though. We should view the ossification of our parents not with amusement but with horror, as it is just one more example of a principle that has proven itself true for thousands of years. And as a moment's thought will indicate, this leads one to an inescapable conclusion: It will happen to us, too.
This is what we can look forward to: 1999: The first signs come when the Classic Rock stations stop playing Herman's Hermits and start playting the Police and Cyndi Lauper. Generation X doesn't notice, though, because they all got brand new babies to take care of.
2021: R.E.M., the Sugarcubes and Soul Asylum are now in regular rotation at the Lite Rock station, "playing more of your mellow favorites."
■ 2015: A 45-year-old corporate executive takes his 25-year-old trophy girlfriend to the Midlife Crisis bar, where they run into several of her friends from school. He selects Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the jukebox and starts doing the Old Guy Dance. The girls all giggle because gosh darn it, he's just so cute
2101: President Quayle finally invades Mexico, to the delight of 58 percent of Americans age 35 to 44.
2026: The hit movie down at the Multi-Cine Googol-Plex is a period coming-of-age romance set in 1992, 10,000 Maniacs' "These Are Days" plays over the opening credits while all the college kids snicker at the dopey clothes their parents used to wear.
when he does that.
2032: Eddie Vedder of PearlJam is nominated for President by the Republican Party on a platform to restore basic American values to today's youth.
It's inevitable. The sooner we accept it, the sooner we can learn to deal with it. It won't be so long before Generation X cuts its hair, moves out of the house and goes to work for corporate America. And then it will be our parents' turn to laugh, and they will say, to paraphrase Harry Chapin, my kids have grown up just like me. Whoomp! There it is.
Paul Henry is a Tacoma, Wash., graduate student in Journalism.
TONYA'S TORCH LIGHTING CEREMONY
Grammar question? Ask Mr. Language
It's time once again for Ask Mister Language Person, the award-winning column by the world's foremost leading word expert, who was recently chosen Official Grammarian of the U.S. Olympic Team (motto: "Hopefully, Nobody Will Break Their Leg").
Our first grammar question comes from reader Martha Booth, who writes: "I heard on NPR that President Clinton and Pope John Paul II met and exchanged a few words. Do you happen to know which ones they exchanged? And can you please tell me what is sometimes seen hanging off the bottom of the 'c' in 'facade?'
A. Scientists believe it is a parasite. As regards the word exchange. Clinton gave the pope a handsome matched set of "parameters" and in return received the traditional papal "Quod Sic Et Cetera Pluribus Per Annum."
A. "There is a bologna in my carburetor."
Q. What does that mean?
COLUMNIST
Q. According to a Tampa Tribune article sent in by Dorothy Ladd, what did University of Florida associate athletic director Greg McGary say
about allegations of abusive fan behavior at UF football games?
A. He said: "In no way are we turning a deaf shoulder."
A. This statement means that the person can FIND his car keys, but he cannot SEEM to find them.
Q. Please explain the statement: "I can't seem to find my car keys."
A. The apostrophe is used primarily as a punctuation mark in certain Lesley Gore songs, such as "Judy's Turn to Cry," where the apostrophe and the "s" indicate that "Judy" is possessive, which is why she tried to steal Lesley Gore's boyfriend, "Johnny" away.
Q. Please review the basic purpose of the apostrophe.
Q. What is song's best verse?
A. The one wherein Lesley saw Judy and Johnny kissing at a party, so, to make Johnny jealous, she (Lesley) kissed another guy, and then;
"Johnny jumped up and he hit him
'Cause he still loved me, that's why."
Q. What an attractive couple.
A. Yes.
Q. What is the purpose of the hyphen?
A. The hyphen is used to connect congestive nouns to their precipitate adjutants, as we see in this example:
"That Zsa-Zsa is a weiner-head!"
The hyphen also is used at the end of a line when there is not enough room to finish a word:
A. "Police said (the man) told them he had been playing a game that involved banging his head against a wall when he decided to swim across
"Marsha moaned as Brad thrust his throb-uh oh we're out of room."
Q. Please quote a sentence from Aug. 12, 1993, Dayton Daily News report, sent in by Lou Copits, concerning the rescue of a man who nearly drowned while attempting to swim across a river.
the river."
A. Probably golf.
Q. What game is that?
Q. What game is it?
Q. According to Dale Stephens, what does the sign on the main road into Bolivar, W. Va, say?
A. It says:
A. It says.
WELCOME TO BOLIVAR
PLEASE COME BACK
Q. Did Stephens also relate an anecdote about his friend John Pharis?
A. Yes: One time Pharis saw his 3-year-old daughter picking her nose and then sticking her finger into her mouth. He told her, "You know, I don't think I'd want to put anything in my mouth that came out of my nose." And she said: "You should try it. It's good."
TODAY'S WRITING TIP: In writing, an advertising slogan, always go with your strongest "selling point."
WROGN: "Tastes like goat drol."
RIGHT: "Proud to be your Bud."
GOT A QUESTION FOR MISTER
LANGUAGE PERSON? The answer
is: "No."
Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald.
Kansan opinion pages are 'barron wasteland'
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The University Daily Kansan opinion page, which once seemed to me an engaging forum for the exchange of ideas and the occasional humorous anecdote has become a barren wasteland.
It seems readily apparent to me that the University, with such a wide and varying degree of experiences among its students, should not have to scrape the bottom of the barrel in such a degrading manner to find something worthy of being published in a nationally recognized student newspaper such as the Kansan. In comparison to the rest of the Kansan, the balance of the columns on the opinions page are
Most students that I have asked today tell me they do not even bother to read the opinion page except when there is a nationally syndicated columnist or a political column with a controversial headline included on the page. The situation has come to the point at which students merely glance at the cartoons, which also tend to be embarrassingly standard.
[sic] nothing less than an embarrassment to the fine student writers that grace the University and Sports sections.
I understand that the Kansan is a student newspaper, and as such should be compelled to publish student work. However, I do not think that it is to the advantage of anyone to have such ludicrous attempts at writing published merely because
they are the works of students. I would hope that the Kansan would exercise a bit more judgment when choosing what writing to include on these pages. The ridiculous attempts at entertaining writing that I have read on these pages by the likes of columnist Alisha Arora should be sent back to the author without apology.
Creative and intelligent opinion writing is not an easy task, and I admire those students who choose to step up to bat with their writings and attempt to have them published in a public forum. I encourage more students to do so. Perhaps if more writing was received by the Kansan, more interesting, engaging and/or jocular articles would appear on these pages for our entertainment and intellectual stimulation.
I would suggest that in the future the Kansan reserve its opinion space for discussion of University, national and international news instead of including half-baked attempts at humorous columns that only serve to decrease the standing of an excellent newspaper. The frivolous scribblings of half-brained Dave Barry wannabes that possess less intelligent creativity than the average flea-bitten mongrel that picks refuse out of the back bins of Stauffer-Flint Hall have no place on the opinion page. Those trash cans should be the resting place for any future Alisha Arora columns detailing the evils of "CC" and "Big Dream Daddy" or any other such aimless "journalistic" wanderers.
Nick Pivonka
Oakland, Calif., sophomore