page 4 - The Behrend College Beacon. Thursday, February 18, 1999
The Behrend College Beacon
>ublished w eekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
News Editor
Shannon Weber
Editorial Page Editor
Natalie Galliano
Business Manager
Jaime Daws
Photography Editors
Jason Blake
Andrea Zaffuw
Layout Editors
Mike Perkins
Elizabeth Gtielclier
Wire Services Editor
Katie Galley
Advisors
Robert Sped
Jim O'Lotifihlin
>stal ln\
‘orniation: The Beacon is
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie. The Behrend
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer
Reed Union Building, Station Road,
Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can be
reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071-
9288.
A view from the lighthouse
The Women’s Health Center
The Women’s Health Center,
which is a branch of the Health and
Wellness Center, is one of the most
important facilities on campus. It of
; fers many inexpensive services such
! as the "morning after pill,” gyneco
logical exams, HIV testing,
condoms, and diaphragms to women.
Without the Women’s Health Cen
ter, women living on campus would
have to find women-related services
elsewhere. Unwanted pregnancies
and illnesses would be the result, due
to the fact that the students would
have to search for a gynecologist oil
campus (This requires a lot ol time
and effort.) Ultimately, women
would probably end up not going to
receive birth control and other ser
vices. These women would then end
up dropping out of college due to un
wanted diseases and pregnancies.
The women staff is all very
friendly, caring, and knowledgeable.
Letters to the editor:
behrcoll2@aol.com
Use of “N” word reinforces racism
By Tony Green
Indiana Daily Student
Indiana University
The time has come when I can li
nally say I would be much happier if
I never heard that word again in my
life. Unfortunately, the word rever
berates through popular culture like
a bad headache. With the movement
of rap music from African-American
music to pop music, that word has
been a silent parasite working beneath
the surface of society. The overexpo-
sure to this word in has desensitized
many people to its horrible roots and
stretched its use to unimaginable lim-
Chris Rock showed me it is out of
1 control. In his infamous HBO special,
; “Bring the Pain,” he drew a weak dis
-1 tinction between “black people” and
; the “N” word. Whether he realized
I it, he gave many people the opportu
• nity they had been waiting for. Now
1 people can cite his show and say
1 things they have secretly wanted to
; for years.
While watching a replay ot this
' stand-up show recently, I was re
; minded of just how bad it is. I am
positive HBO never would have aired
; the piece had Rock been white, be
cause that portion struck me as ste
; reotypical racism. A good triend of
1 mine, who just happens to be Jewish,
; recited that part of the show almost
1 word for word with Rock. I was
' dumbfounded. I did not know
; whether to be shocked or indifferent,
! especially since my friend was Jew
ish. This scene shot-putted me back
to my internship last summer when a
Editor in Chief
Will Jordan
Managing Editor
Axodele Jones
Features Editor
Jon Stubbs
Sports Editor
Jason Snyder
Advertising Managers
Erin Edinger
Carey Smith
Copy Editor
Rose Porrest
Associate Editors
Angela Rush
Jessica Ttuvi
Assistant Editor
Mike Fruwley
Distribution Manager
Mark Greenback
er Polk-
encourages letters to the editor,
Letters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing
and major of the writer. Writers car
mail their letters tc
behrcolUfeTiol.com. Letters must be
received no later than spm Tuesday
for inclusion in that week’s issue.
Everything revealed by the patient
remains in confidence. Support ser
vices, such as counseling are also of-
fered to patients.
We all, men and women alike,
should be extremely grateful that
there is a women’s health center lo
cated on campus that we can all af
ford. The university should be com
mended for providing this facility on
campus. The university possesses a
realistic outlook on how times have
changed over the past decade.
similar incident occurred involving
five non-African-American people.
It is amazing that out of the whole
show, most people pick that point as
the part to recite.
The first question most white
people tell me they have been dying
to ask a black person is: "Why can’t
we use it if you guys always use it?”
Although I do not speak tor all
blacks, I do have theories on the
topic. The best explanation I can
give is the "fat person” analogy. If
there were a group of fat people who
were pretty secure in their identity,
they might greet each other, “What’s
up, fatty ?" In fact, they might call
each other "fat” all the time and be
come used to hearing it from each
other. This would still not make the
pain any easier to bear if they heard
it from someone outside of their
circle who did not know what being
fat was like.
There are two main reasons why
this is a bad analogy. The first is that
this analogy implies there is some
thing inherently wrong with being
fat (or likewise being black). As we
all know, there is nothing wrong or
funny about being obese, and as
such, overweight people should not
be singled out. The second, more
serious reason why this is a bad anal
ogy is that it does not account for
how hard we fought to get society
to stop using this term. To be sure,
those who came before me fought
very hard to end that term’s wide
spread use. I could only imagine that
Frederick Douglass or Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. would be horrified
at the use of the word now, which
The Critic
The censorship of connotation
Last August, a man named Timothy
Boomer was charged with violating a
101 -year-old Michigan state law when
he jokingly swore at his friends after
falling out of his canoe. The incident
took place on the Rifle River near the
Jack Pine Trail recreation area where
a woman and her two children were
standing within earshot, according to
Deputy Kenneth Socia, who issued the
ticket.
The specifics of the law that Boomer
broke prohibit the use of vulgar or in
sulting language in the presence or
earshot of women or children. The
misdemeanor carries a fine of $ 100 or
a penalty of imprisonment up to 90
days.
The Beacon
“This archaic law singles out women
for special treatment without any rea
sonable justification a practice held
unconstitutional long ago,” says Kary
L. Moss, Executive Director of the
A Flower in the
God answers prayers:
Did you go to the “Is there mean
ing to evil and suffering?” seminar?
Well, I wasn’t going to go. I happened
to be on the phone with my mom,
while she was at work, and her boss
said that it was something I should try
to go to. So, guess what —I did. I didn’t
know exactly what I was getting my
self into, but I went.
It was a forum that was brought to
us via satellite. Dr. Ravi Zacharias gave
a speech. He talked about three levels.
He said that if there is evil, then there
is good. If there is good, then there has
to be moral law. If there is moral law,
then there has to be a moral- giver. He
also discussed “steps”. Dr. Zacharias
explained that in these steps there is
an author. This author works within a
story line, and the story line leads to
worship. Submission to the author and
binding together creates the love for
God and fellow man.
has been started mostly by people of
One need only check the fifth track
of Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life: Volume
2 album, titled “‘N’ What ‘N’ Who”
Songs such as this provide the impe
tus for people to rap along with the
music. When one tries to explain cer
tain terms should not be repeated, ar
guers usually cite free speech and the
fact the artist had no problem with us
ing the term. Unfortunately, public fig
ures from Puff Daddy to Jermaine
Dupri who have counted on sales to
people of all colors to become success
ful have not considered the effects of
the content of their product.
The problem Rock did not consider
is that although most people can rec
ognize comedy, many people will see
no difference between blacks and the
“N” word. For these select few, the
term only reinforces preconceived be
liefs. For my part, neither my little
brothers nor I will buy CDs that bla
tantly flaunt this term nor will we use
it in our homes. I pray that our entire
society will do the same. IU can look
to recent flyers distributed around cam
pus to see why ambiguity about this
word can lead to increased racial prob
lems.
As a long-term goal, maybe soci
ety should look at its fascination with
the black American experience and
why songs such as Offspring’s “Pretty
Fly for a White Guy” were made.
Editorial
There are many other opinions to
ACLU of Michigan. “The law is
based upon outmoded stereotypes
about women’s sensitive nature and
need for protection.”
Moss is exactly right about the law,
but is Michigan the only place where
women and children are told what
they are allowed to hear?
The fact is this story is just a mi
crocosm of the censorship we have
in American society today, particu
larly in music. Imagine the Michigan
cop as a major media outlet such as
MTV or a radio station. These cor
porate police dictate to the listeners
(weak and impressionable women
and children) what is appropriate for
them.
Timothy Boomer’s utterances were
probably not fit to be heard on tele
vision or radio. An album with such
lyrics would have most likely have a
Parental Advisory sticker on the
Garden o
He’s so good to me
this, of course, and some of them
were represented at the forum. Dr.
Jitendra Mohanty represented the
eastern world views. He said that evil
affects creation, not God, and that
evil is in God and creation. Dr. Ber
nard Leikind represented the natural
ist point of view. He questioned that
if God is powerful how can He let
there be evil and suffering? He stated
that moral values change, but it is the
people that change them. Another
man, by the name of Dr. William
Lane Craig, represented the Christian
I was impressed by each of the
doctor’s speeches. Many of the points
that Dr. Zacharias brought up I
agreed with; that thing he said about
the moral law made me think. I have
been always curious what the other
guy thinks about Christianity. I
started to think what my answer
would be to Dr. Liekind’s question. I
Barbies with tattoos raise a few
By Maryln Schwartz
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
I have an aunt who is a
doomsayer. But in this instance, I’m
afraid she is all too right. She has
been watching all this mess going on
the Senate floor with pursed lips. All
along, she has predicted that stan
dards and decorum will now slip ev
erywhere.
“Once behavior like this is dis
cussed openly in the hallowed halls
of law and government,” my aunt has
warned repeatedly, "who knows what
other slips in taste are bound to fol
low?” Well, they have, Aunt Dorothy,
they really have.
Please sit down if this is coming
as a complete shock. Barbie has got
ten tattooed. Yes, I’m talking about
Barbie. That pristine doll who once
wanted only to shop for designer
clothes until she dropped now comes
with a set of do-it-yourself wet-and
stick-on tattoos. OK, these stick-ons
aren’t whips and chains, just flowers
and butterflies. But, still, the door has
been opened. And for every tattoo
that goes on Barbie, there is one in
cluded for the little girl who buys her.
"It’s 100 much,” says nurse Nancy
Lenox. “Now they’ve gone too far. I
saw this as a commercial on TV. I
r so, t o A
iumw4ow.-$
IWW&’xf
KWOOTfffl
m//\j
nbctm 1
front. The censorship of George
Carlin’s Seven Words will be around
for a while. But music television and
radio are now beginning to censor
ideas, rather than just words.
Tupac Shakur’s postmortem re
lease, “Changes” contains almost no
foul language whatsoever, but is ed
ited to death by the kids over at MTV.
In the video, words like “crime” and
“drugs” are cut out. In the lines, “First
ship 'em dope and let ’em deal to
brothers/Give 'em guns, step back
and watch ’em kill each other,” the
words “dope” and “guns" are re
moved from the MTV version. These
lines are written to express the gen
eral apathy of the nation to the prob
lems of the black inner-city.
In Everlast’s “What It’s Like,” the
word “whore” is cut out when it is
used to describe the names a girl is
called as she enters an abortion clinic.
am a Christian, and although that is
what I believe, I can’t speak for all of
us. I can only say how I feel.
I feel that God doesn’t give his
people anything that they can’t
handle. He knows our strengths and
our weaknesses. If a person has a
burden that they feel is too heavy for
them, they pray to God for strength.
God gives them that strength to
handle that situation. It says in the
Bible, “With God, all things are pos
sible.”
There are times though when His
people are struck with hard times,
maybe with bad financial situations,
illness, or something else. I believe
that when these things happen, it is
the work of Satan. Satan is evil, and
God is good. I believe Satan makes
life harder for people. I think that he
tries to deter people from God, so he
can have more power. The harder
Satan makes it for others, the more
can just picture all those little girls
running around in their new tattoos.”
Lenox is a friend of mine. Frankly,
she hasn’t gotten anywhere near as
upset over the Monica situation as
she has over Barbie’s tattoos. Interns
are in and out of fashion. But Barbie,
for goodness’ sake, is an institution.
"What are we going to have next?”
Lenox wants to know. “A Barbie with
body piercing ?”
This is all part of the Mattel toy
company’s plan to bring Barbie into
the 21 st century. A spokesman for the
company says the tattoo doll is prov
ing popular.
I know the little girls love it, but
what about their parents? "Well,
they’ve also made Barbie’s figure
more realistic,” says Carol
Pennington, a mother I talked to
while browsing through a toy store.
“A tasteful tattoo doesn’t bother me.
After all, my daughter can always
wash off the Barbie kind. Lots of kids
are getting tattoos. It’s not the shock
it used to be. “But to have my daugh
ter play with a doll with that impos
sible figure would make me feel a lot
I checked out that new, more re
alistic-figure Barbie while I was in
the store. Guess what, folks? I don’t
know anyone who has a figure like
JON STUBBS
Once again, the word “drugs” is left
out of the edited version.
FCC regulations doesn’t dictate the
removal of such words. These
changes to the original song are made
by the radio station or television net
work, so the company can appear
clean and cannot be held legally re
sponsible for any of its listeners’ ac
tions. There are certain words that
will be barred from the mainstream
media for years to come. However,
this new trend of censoring words
because of their connotation must
cease. Censoring words is one thing;
censoring ideas is unconstitutional.
Jon Stubbs is the features editor of
the Beacon. His column appears ev
ery three weeks.
SHANNON WEBER
apt they are to ask, “Where’s God?”
and stop following God’s word. Sa
tan is out to get us and make us be
lieve that God isn’t good and that He
doesn’t care. Sometimes it may seem
that way, but God does care. God
never leaves His people to fend for
themselves; all we have to do is pray
and believe. Some prayers take longer
than others, but they do get answered.
I am only one person, and I can’t
speak for everyone. This is how I see
it in my eyes. Satan is the one that
gives us evil, and when we let him
get the best of us, he wins. If we ask
God for His help, Satan loses. If you
need a little help, God will be
there...it’s just as simple as saying a
prayer.
Shannon Weber is the news editor
of the Beacon. Her column appears
every three weeks.
eyebrows
that, either.
Just like any other out-of-the-or
dinary Barbie, the tattoo version is
beginning to get a cult following. And
it’s adults who are buying it, just as
much as kids. "I collect outrageous
toys,” says Marianne Davis, a college
student. “I know a girl at school who
has her own tattoo and has had an
artist friend paint the exact one on this
new Barbie. It’s quite a conversation
piece.”
This brings to mind what hap
pened some years ago when the com
pany came out with a Magic Earring
Ken. This Ken doll had very blond
hair, rather mod clothes, and an ear
ring in one ear. 1 wasn’t aware of this,
but a friend tells me the doll was an
instant hit, but not with little girls. It
was heavily collected in the gay com
munity. This Ken doll is no longer
being made. It is almost impossible
to find one secondhand.
Toy marketers and a lot of parents
like the idea of Barbie and Ken tak
ing on a more worldly existence.
I asked several what they think
will be Barbie’s next foray. “Anything
that’s in the spotlight,” says mother
of-two Jan Higgins. “Well, let’s just
hope for Ken’s sake, they don’t come
out with a Lorena Bobbitt Barbie.”
BNEWK6N
I 1
COWES
VNTTH
SUPPLV
Ofr
ICON0ON&