A View From The Lighthouse
Voting’s important!
Well, mad props to all those
who went out and rocked the
vote this Tuesday. It certainly
seemed like those Gen Xers
were a bit more enthused about
this year's election than they
have been in the past. The
Beacon witnessed a lot of
student participation over the
last few months, and we would
like to take this opportunity to
give a shout out to all those
who made this election one of
the most interesting in recent
history.
First and foremost, kudos to
all those over at the College
Republicans and College
Democrats. Who knew - there
really is some student
involvement at Behrend! And
just think, all it took was two
guys whom none of us would
want to hold a five minute
conversation with if given the
chance! But anyway, the
efforts these two organizations
made in getting students to
register, and to actually get out
there m the trenches and vote
ucre above and beyond.
Manning those registration
booths, especially during that
last week, was pretty
dangerous. Many students
tired of looking at literature
and posters for unfavorable
candidates were getting pretty
feisty. And we all know how
youth today reacts when
somebody tries to suggest that
they do something good for the
country. Oh, the horror! So,
getting several hundred of
Behrend's population
registered was a massive
accomplishment.
Also, the College
Republicans and College
Democrats provided easily
accessible transportation to the
polling booths on Tuesday for
all those who couldn’t find a
ride or didn’t know the way.
Yes, those vans covered in
campaign posters were there to
take you to Brookside so that
you could be a part of history.
Hope you took advantage of it.
Hopefully everyone out there
realizes what this means. If
you didn't get registered to
vote, you really don’t have an
excuse anymore - these
organizations made it easy
enough for Bush to understand
(sorry, had to get that in). And
if you were going to use the
The Behrend Beacon
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Editor-in-Chief
Jason Snyder
Managing Editor
Mi< hael Frawley
News Editor
l.i: hhixes
Editorial & Health Page Editor
Katie Galley
Features Editors
Karl Renat ci
Jermaine Hardy
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Deanna Svmoski
Sports Editor
Doug Smith
Ahhy hmy (assistant)
Wire Service Editor
Rob W\-nne
Photo Editors
Jeff Miller
Reeky Weindorf
Associate Editor
Christine Kleck
Copy Editor
Paige Mites
Postal Information: 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.
excuse that you couldn’t get to
the polling booths, that excuse
is gone too. Were you going to
say you couldn’t afford to get
there? Sorry, these two groups
made sure that more than just
the wealthiest one percent
could go (that hopefully evens
things up).
And how about giving a
round to those voters! Here’s
to keeping the American Dream
alive. For all those who like to
say that your vote doesn’t
count, you might want to think
again. Just imagine how you
would feel if you lived in
Florida right now. You know
there are dorm rooms, pool
halls, and bars fdled with
students just waking from the
fallout and realizing that if they
had voted, the course of history
might have been recognizably
altered. They are driving
around, wishing they could jerk
the wheel into the next bridge
abutment because they screwed
up. Hope that isn’t you! It
must really suck to know that
you are personally responsible
for all that will go wrong with
the country in the next four
years.
Regardless of who wins, it
will be a bit of a relief to get it
over with after the past few
days of witnessing zombie-like
candidates, news anchors, and
diehard political science majors
wander around, bumping into
doors and such. But at least
those of us who did take
advantage of our rights can be
sure that we can still show this
world a thing or two, even if
we did eat a few too many
paint chips and spend a little
too much time puking off of
balconies. Remember - the
only way to get people to listen
to you is to speak!
Money Page Editor
Amortya Sinha
Calendar Page Editor
Dena DeCarolis
Advertising Manager
Kim Zuck
Business Manager
Kristine Harakal
Public Relations Manager
Ainslie Ulmer
Secretary
Melissa Proba
Advisor
Robert Speel
Letter Policy: The Beacon
encourages letters to the editor.
Letters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing
and major of the writer. Writers can
mail letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
Letters must be received no later
than 5 p.m. Tuesday for inclusion
in that week’s issue.
Why the base cost at Behrend?
Dear Editor,
I recently received the meal plan prices,
and was appalled at the increase in base fund
At minimum, we are forced to pay an $B3O
base fund. What is this money going to?
Why the increase? On top of the $B3O base
fund, we have to pay for the actual food!
This is highway robbery!! The food on
campus is normal food, salads, chicken
wraps, cereal - it isn’t gourmet. So why are
Defending of heritage
Dear Editor,
[This letter is addressed to Mike Frawley.]
I read your column "Mike’s two cents
worth” in which you mentioned that
everybody is "Something - American
(African American, Italian American,
Mongolian American...) but no one is just
American.” In case you haven’t noticed, this
country contains more people of different
ethnic groups than any other “developed"
country in the world. Perhaps people
identify themselves as "Something Ameri
can" because most of us are not completely
Americans ( 1 am hoping that the name
Christopher Columbus rings a bell or shall I
Here’s your presidency...just kidding!
Man oh man, was Tuesday night insane! I
was up until 4:30 in the morning watching the
presidential election...or whatever you want to
call it. I am not sure if ‘election’ is the right
word because no one was actually elected on
Tuesday. But that's ok, a great time was had
by all. Especially me.
This was the first presidential election that I
was actually qualified to vote in. And I almost
didn't get to because of the crazy absentee
ballot system, (go 12th district), but in the end
my vote counted...sort of.
I am not going to go through and explain
the electoral college in this newspaper again.
We have had about four of those articles this
semester. Just trust me when I say that even
though A 1 Gore swept Pennsylvania in
electoral votes, my vote for the ‘other guy’
(and I am not coming out and saying who that
‘other guy’ is, I have to keep you on your
toes), counted. I swear that it did. And maybe
the only reason that I was so willing to stay up
and watch all that coverage instead of
studying for Spanish, or even sleeping for that
matter, was because I voted.
I know that we have all heard the hokey,
“Choose or Lose, Rock the Vote” crap. 1 was
getting sick of it. Until this week that is. After
I cast my vote, suddenly it all became
important. Maybe it was the extremely tight
electoral vote count or the “network giveth
and the network taketh away” attitude of
Tuesday night, I still don’t know. All I do
know is that 1 was simply entranced in this
whole process. And 1 had no idea what I was
missing while 1 was sitting there, unregistered
and uneducated about the government and
? 1 _
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
we paying these inflated prices? Had I a car and a
place to park it (which is a whole other issue) I
could drive down to McDonalds and for $2.10 get
a chicken sandwich and a medium pop.
Some math: $2.10X2 meals + s.2o(for gas) X
64 days = $281.60 a semester to eat with.
Whereas, at Bruno’s we pay $2.35 for a chicken
wrap (if you consider 3 strips of chicken a wrap) +
$.79 for a small pop X 2 meals X 64 days =
$401.92. Oh don’t forget the $B3O for base fee.
say Kinta Kinte) or maybe because they don’t
want to get lost in the crowd. It is quite unfortu
nate that because you don’t address yourself as
“something American,” you oppose to others
doing so. I am a Nigerian American (Yes Mr.
Frawley NIGERIAN AMERICAN). I am proud
of both my heritages and I am not willing to let
go of one for the other. I and many others will
continue to showcase our heritage for as long as
we can. If you have a problem with it, I’d advise
you to deal with it or better yet move to Eu-
rope !!!
Matilda Akinyemi
06 810
politics. And I
implore all the people
reading this that are unregistered to get registered
Why not? There is nothing to lose. And here are
some of the great things about Tuesday night that
you missed by not being ‘part of the club’.
Loopy reporters: Between the crew at MSNBC
and the crazy kids on NBC, it was a circus. As the
night grew later and later and morning started
creeping up, the crew got weirder and weirder.
Katie Couric’s hair got more disheveled and birds
nest like. And by the time that she left around
2:30a.m., she couldn’t even get out of her chair.
She needed Tom Brockaw to help her get her
microphone wire out from around her legs. The
best part was when she arrived at the set of the
Today Show a mere four hours later. As the race for
electoral votes got tighter and tighter, so did
Brockaw’s face. By the time I went to bed, his face
was the size of a mango. His eyes were part of his
forehead!
Crazy late night antics: Tim Russert writing
Florida-Florida-Florida over and over again on dry
erase boards while causing the behind the scenes
crew to laugh hysterically was one of the most
surreal moments in government coverage televi
sion. Or it might have been the set fire that
occurred somewhere around sa.m. That is a race
that’s ‘too close to call’... sorry, had to do it. My
final vote goes to Forrest Saywer suggesting the
Detours and
Small Potatoes iM|
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10,2000
r^£b<A
Penn State needs to realize that eating is a
necessity not a privilege-we need to eat, and
they use that need to drain more money out of
us. What does Penn State care about — its
students, or its pocketbook? With the increase
in meal plans and tuition, you tell me.
Sincerely,
Wendy McGaughey
03 English
Kudos to the
iazz band
Dear Editor,
I am writing to extend my congratulations and
applause to the jazz band. I really enjoyed their
performance in Bruno’s last week. Everyone did
a wonderful job, especially the small ensemble.
The theme of the selected songs was perfectly
suited to their style. I had no idea there was so
much talent on campus, and I wouldn’t have if I
didn’t happen to be in there for a late dinner. 1
wish there was a better way of announcing these
events to the campus. I look forward to hearing
them perform again, and 1 hope I know about it
when they do.
Sincerely,
Rachel Reese, 07 810
late night sing along to Frank Sinatra tunes.
Mumbling and slip-ups that would have made
Gore proud: The main anchor at MSNBC at one
point asked a political analyst to recount the
remaining 47 electoral votes, so the man did. And
the anchor started mumbling, “I’m sorry America,
I should have never asked that question. Now he
will never stop, never never.” I’m almost positive
* that he was still aware that his microphone was
on, he just didn’t care by that point. They were all
too tired and too stressed by the final count to even
care that they were being watched by billions of
viewers! Another favorite line of mine was “by the
time we get out of here, there will have been
thousands of people that died and will have been
buried. Sigh.”
Does everyone see what they were missing by
not being ‘in the club’ now? Not only did I get to
pick the next president of the United States, I got
to see some of the most respected reporters on
television make fools of themselves. It was too
As I sit here typing this, there is still no clear
winner in the election. And I am just about as
loopy as the reporters were last night due to my
lack of sleep from watching them. So this editorial
may not even make sense, and I may be talking in
codes, I dunno. I just want to stress my point (or
what 1 believe to be my point), to go out and vote.
It’s not hard, it’s exciting, it’s nerve wracking, it’s
heart stopping, it’s great, and I loved ever minute
of it. It’s politics baby. Go out and get involved
and join us on the other side. Adios for this week!
I’ll see ya’ll in three weeks.
Galley’s column appears every three weeks.