FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000
For hire: common
sense, discipline,
and morality
"This is the right way to tie your shoe,
Robbie... This is how you are supposed
to feed the dog, Robbie... This is how
you wash your clothes..." are some of the
earliest instructions I remember receiving
from Mom and Dad. Growing up, I was
fortunate enough to have a homemaker
mom, one who stayed home all day while
dad brought home the bacon. Mom
washed dishes, vacuumed carpets,
mopped floors, and kept my brothers and
myself out of trouble. Granted, most of
the time we would all be watching
Nickelodeon for half the day, but
whenever Mom needed it, we would give
her a hand...unwillingly, of course!
"Why do we have to make the beds, we're
just going to sleep in them anyway?"
would be something that would we as the
genius grade schoolers would ask our
mom.
Of course, morn would return with a
smackdown of verbal threats. "Do you
want to live like a pig? Do you want to
have dirty dishes stacked up to the
ceiling? Do you want to have clean
clothes to wear to school?" Mom was
always good at giving us the simplest
answer. We would ask, "Why do we
always have to say please and thank
you?" Mom's reply usually was,
"Because someday you're going to be out
on a date with a girl, and she's going to
think you're rude." Of course, at the ages
of 10, 7, and 4, my brothers and I knew
better than to accept that for an answer,
because everyone knew that girls had
cooties.
But now, sometimes I wonder if parents
are stressing some of these values to their
children. To say please and thank-you,
and even how to tie their shoes. Working
in a grocery store, I see family after
family who have kids that are just the
foulest little pieces of snot. Kids that
swear back to their parents, kids that cry
and moan, and my favorite, the little filths
that try to tell me how to pack groceries.
The parent sees nothing but a little angel.
And I can't help but laugh every time I
hear on the news how strong our economy
is and how much better off we are than
everyone else in the world. Thanks to our
excellent economy, many families have
two working parents just to meet bare
minimums. So who's watching the kids?
Day care and preschool facilities have
to assume the roles of mommy and daddy,
but in a lighter sense. For some reason,
Americans believe today that children
shouldn't be disciplined. If any teacher
says so much as "Boo!" to a student
anymore, the teacher is seen as a heartless
and cruel villain who is out to ruin the
lives of innocent youngsters. It seems to
me that school administrations today are
more concerned with expelling a student
that has fingernail clippers in their
possession, rather than concerning
themselves with what morals they are
instilling in the student.
The truth of the matter is that morality
and discipline, two virtues that were
seemingly the most important
characteristics a person could possess
earlier in our country's history, have
suffered corporate cutbacks and for the
present, are unemployed. They have been
replaced by greed and laziness, who both
work for less pay.
Working in the store from day to day, I
don't see a lot of happy people, and I
don't see a lot of people that stop and say
"hi.' Ido hear a vast majority
complaining, and I see many who treat
their children like rodents. There are also
children who have their parents on a leash
and can get away with calling their elders
every name in the book.
It's all a matter of common sense. A
few manners go a long way, just like a
swift kick in the rear does too. Why are
some kids so rude? Because they don't
listen to their mothers. At least, that's my
mom's theory.
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Broke after four weeks?
So how many of you out there are
already broke? No money, no parents
coming through either? Well it seems to
be a common trend throughout campus
and not just for students either. I am
involved with several organizations on
campus and friends who are involved
with several other groups also. Each
time a meeting is held for one of these
organizations, it seems as if everyone
has really great ideas for programs
and activities in order to promote the
organization to new students. The problem
arises when these activities need money to
be held, and there is absolutely no money to
be found!
Granted some organizations I am in
volved in are sponsored by outside forces
such as the Alumni Association or private
investment. However, most campus
organizations rely heavily on the allocations
of the Student Activity Fee. The Student
Activity Fee is the money that every student
pays with each semester bill. This money
then goes into a large pot and can mainly be
used to fund such events that sponsor
activities beneficial to all students, not just
engineers, Republicans, tour guides or on
campus students.
So how is it possible to run an organiza
tion without any money? Well you must
think of some creative ways to raise money
for an organization. Fundraising on campus
either is a huge flop or does really well. So
what would it take to raise enough money to
The battle of the beats
If you haven't heard yet, there is
currently a war going on between several
music conglomerates and several
intemet music startup companies.
These intemet startups are web sites
where visitors can virtually down-
load, share and trade music for free
Two of these major internet start
ups are MP3.com, and Napster.com. Both
of these internet startups are currently
facing several copyright infringement suits
by recording companies looking to recoup
their loss sales. Mp3.com faces up to $250
million dollars in damages for copyright
infringement against Universal music
group, while Napster awaits a federal court
decision as to whether or not an anti-
Napster injunction will go into effect. If
the injunction does go into effect, it will
stop Napster users from trading copy
righted music.
The controversy in both of these cases
has raised much concern for the plight of
online music. While record executives
complain about the illegal distribution of
their material, online music startups argue
that they aren't illegally distributing music,
but using computer technology as a means
to virtually share music. While some
artists see the online music business as a
Tell
Send a
send all letters to:
behrcoll2@aol.com
THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT
us whatyou thia!
letter to the Editor
Coffee Talk
Kristin Rodgers
4
organization for an
entire year? Probably
nothing. I've been
helping two organizations on-campus
with fundraising for three years now, and
each time the turnout has been unsuccessful,
or hardly worth the effort. I mean come on,
how many times can you sell T-shirts, have
car washes, sell lottery tickets or guess how
many Skittles are in a jar? The problem is
this: you try to raise money on campus
when the students themselves have no
money to promote your fundraiser/organiza
tion in the first place; they're broke too!
So why is it not possible that money gets
spread out evenly? I agree with the Student
Activity Fee's guidelines that say the money
must help all students and not just one
group in particular, but why not examine
exactly where the money is going and how
is it benefiting the students.
The Lion Entertainment Board (LEB) is a
group of students dedicated to making
social life on campus a more positive
experience by offering movies, comedians,
dances and bands in Brunos or the Reed
Commons. From hearsay, I've heard this
My Society
Jermaine Hardy
_
promotional tool, which
can help them achieve
more sales, others see
it as a way of taking the money out of the
pockets of record labels and artists.
While taking sides in this war has lately
been the popular thing to do for many
music fans and interne users, this may not
be the wisest thing to do. While we would
all enjoy all the free music we want at the
click of a mouse, we should all still be
concerned about the justice of artists and
record companies. Though it may not
always sound like it, many of these artists
work very hard to bless us with those jams
we love to hear. Not rewarding them their
due pay could reduce the artist's incentive
to continue to create quality music. Then
we would be left with no music at all.
Just as well, at this point we cannot curb
the demand for this new convenient
interne music market. Thus the world
would only be heading opposite the
direction of the future to want to maintain
the conventional system of music consum-
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features cu-eAliio
The Hot Debate of The Week'
Watcha' doing with that racket?
Shoeiltl 1 , , ,, :::1bri1,' player Roseteem, Blair h(GHt:
.s ItAplz i I de(/' 14:. i 1 i
.11 e
Note to the naked tennis player: your skirt
and top may get in the way of your back
hand, but losing them won't improve your
serve. Assuming that she is allowed to
return to the sport, I feel it's safe to say that
Blair needs to take a few lessons, not in
tennis but in 'appropriate amount of
clothing wearing, 101.'
And also assuming that her family is
'normal', I can bet that they would rather
cheer her on for her tennis abilities...not
what she does with her racket in the off
season.
And while she may not have known the
rules going into this, no one should feel bad
that she had her tennis playing privileges
taken away, and I'm glad that she did!
She was dumb enough not to look into the
NCAA rules, and now she has to face the
consequences. Not only that, but her tennis
scholarship that she was attending school on
is no more. Why would anyone want to
jeopardize their entire future...simply to take
their clothes off for greasy, gross men to
drool over? I guess beauty won out over
brains this time.
Every week, two editors from the staff will debate
a topic that is hot. Students, faculty and staff are
encouraged to email suggestions for the hot topic.
Send ideas to behrcoll2@aol.com
organization gets allocated something close
to $lO,OOO because the activities they
sponsor are more expensive; considering
you must buy the rights to a film in order to
show it in a public place this allocation
makes sense, or does it? These activities
are usually held on the weekends, yes the
time of the week when everyone gets their
favorite parking space, and why is that?
fund an
The-reason is because most students feel it
is their only time to get off campus to party,
shop, catch a new release or go home
(which seems to be the favorite if you live
close enough to do so). In fact, I walked
into Brunos a few weekends ago and the
event sponsored had one attendant, and she
had to be there because she was the repre
sentative from LEB! You decide, is the
money going in the right direction?
I have to commend the efforts of the
Student Activity Fee committee and advisor
thus far. I believe some of the work they
have done since the committee has been
created has really been wonderful, but let's
face it, I pay the money so that I can be part
of the activities that fit my personality, but
so far I'm not sure that any of these activi
ties are seeing a good share of the amount
that I pay each semester. I only welcome
comments on how some organizations may
be able to raise a good amount of money for
the year.
ti?tV(
We have to begin to look at both ends of
the spectrum and look for ways to utilize
this emerging mp 3 technology legally and
feasibly in everyone's best interest. We
are soon to witness the record industry run
with this online music phenomenon,
making it more senseless for fans to take
sides. Universal Music Group, for ex-
ample, which happens to be the recording
conglomerate in legal dispute with
Mp3.com, is an investor in Music Bank, a
company which is planning to start its own
online distribution company much like
Mp3.com. We can also be sure to see
other record companies as well as artists
use the Internet and mp. 3 technology as a
means to promote and sell their music.
Thus instead of taking sides in this war for
"either or" we should be looking forward
to the convergence of computer technol
ogy and the music industry. It is this
convergence that will make it possible for
the needs of both demanding music fans
and deserving recording companies and
artists to be met.
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Girl plays tennis, girl poses for Playboy,
girl not allowed to play tennis anymore.
Everybody follow? University of Alabama-
Huntsville tennis player Roseleena Blair
was kicked off of her college tennis team
for posing for Playboy's "Sexy Girls in
Sports" issue. Now I understand that the
NCAA has a rule that says that you can't
take money for anything involved with your
sport. The rules were made to keep people
such as agents and gamblers from having
influence over players, but get real, posing
in Playboy? Does Playboy really care about
her playing abilities? She had a 1-11 record
last year, does the NCAA think Playboy is
going to get her to throw the one match she
won?
While many people may think that posing
in Playboy is wrong, it shouldn't have any
impact on a woman playing sports. Unless
she starts playing her matches in the nude to
promote Playboy, the NCAA should not
have anything to say about it. With her
record, maybe it would help her to win a
few more matches next season
Apologies for scheduling
Dear editor,
I should like to extend an apology to any
of our students of the Jewish faith regarding
the scheduling of Parents and Families
Weekend during the holiday of Rosh
Hashanah. We try to avoid such scheduling
conflicts with religious holidays when
possible and this was an oversight. We have
implemented changes to our scheduling
system, which should create a greater
campus-wide awareness of potential
religious holiday scheduling conflicts in the
future.
Sincerely,
Chris Rizzo, Director of Student Activities
God save the trees!
To the Editor
Yesterday I noticed that the weeping beech
planted between the Academic Building and
Reed had been vandalized, simply snapped
off at the base, perhaps by someone who
wanted to demonstrate superior strength.
Anyway I am writing because I feel sad
dened and, as Donne said better, 'diminished'
by this death. Surely any sense of perspec
tive speaks to the things that I don't write to
the editor about—the Holocaust, Rwanda,
hate crime, but this senseless destruction was
a crime that most don't consider more than
the destruction of property, but I think 'prop
erty' doesn't quite encompass such a thing
of beauty. The tree would have been here for
so many generations with the remarkable
quality different from other trees, it grows
upside down!! One genetic change in the
European Beech discovered in Switzerland
a couple of hundred years ago became the
`parent' of all 'weeping' beeches today. The
oldest grow as remarkable natural objects,
much broader than tall. Anyone who doubts
this should see the weeping beech at about
50 years old next to the Old Main at the Uni
versity Park Campus (apparently it survived
there, but its kin could not here). Such young
beeches are both rare and expensive. The
point here is to plead for a respect for things
of beauty that make our lives richer.
I think of the vast number of trees that have
died for the expansion of this campus, or the
many over the years that allow me to indulge
a newspaper habit! Still at least there was a
purpose in these cases. I wish I could write
something to make the person who destroyed
this tree feel remorse, and to commit to a lite
of greater mindfulness. There is a certain cos
mic justice that warns against senseless
violence. The poet Coleridge described this
order in the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' .
In the poem one kills the Albatross only to
discover,
`And I had done a hellish thing
And it would work 'em woe
For all averred, I killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow '
Zach Irwin
Associate Professor of Political Science