The everyday Joe should understand 'no' Undressed from 0 1 ° 444 if the neck up Becky Weindorf ' v ' There are too many people in this world that get it easy. I'm not talking about the movie stars or the musicians or the ball players who have their lives cut out for them with multimil lion-dollar paychecks. I'm talking about your everyday Joe who messes up. The ev eryday Joe who screws himself over big time, and knows it; yet never gets the rep rimand or the punishment that should have smacked him in the side of his sorry face. In particular, this editorial was sparked by a controversy in a creative writing class. At about 3:30 in the afternoon during this class, students were stubbornly divided be tween the sexes about a sex scene from a classmate's story. The reason I say sex scene, and not a rape scene, is because the controversy was just that: Was it rape? The women (including myself) were sure it was rape; on the other hand (since the girl in the sex scene did not say NO) the men said it was not rape. In a closet ex amination, the sex scene involved two ado lescent kids who like to mess around a lot at the drive-in movie theater; the guy, how ever, had other intentions on this night. When they were lying in the hack of his beat-up truck, he rolled on top of her and, if I may quote directly front the story. "stuck himself inside her. - She proceeded to scream at him that it hurt and simply laid beneath him while he did his work, fin ished, and rolled oft her. End of scene, simple as that. The writer fully intended for this to he a rape scene, so from here on, I will refer to it as the rape scene. But most men won't agree; she didn't say no, so it wasn't rape. So even if the woman is completely still and not responsive to any type of sexual gesture, evetis T er, ; rtnrwomiln'Allay. be - too scared to say anything, that means that she had consented to sex? Well, the girl in the story didn't say YES either: she let him eupe her because she didn't know any better. How about this scene: a woman goes to a party slightly intoxicated (which means she still remembers everything she saw: she remembers the drive to the party, who was with her, who was wearing what, etc.). She is handed a beer and the next thing she knows, she's lying in some guy's bed with a terrible headache. She feels severely in toxicated, even though her beer is still not finished. It's been hours since she came to the party. This is a scene of date rape, and in this scene, the result is typical: the ordinary "Joe" gets off easy. The woman doesn't want to confront him because he's an ac quaintance to her, so she doesn't say any thing to the police. She is still scared, be cause she's sure that he used the emergency condom she kept in her purse... or is she sure? This ordinary "Joe" is the idiot that de cided to roofie my best friend and rape her so she couldn't say no. She doesn't remem ber anything and only had pain in her thigh, where the guy might have stuck her with a needle and injected God-knows-what into her body. She didn't say no; she consented to nothing. She didn't say NO, but she didn't say YES either. My friend is not nearly as innocent as the young girl in the story; she parties a lot. It's happened to her before. But she didn't ask for it; she didn't say "yes please rape me! Similarly, the girl in the story was a 16 year-old virgin and didn't say "yes please rape me!" In order for it to be sex, there has to be consent: in either case, there was no consent. It wasn't sex. Does the woman have to say NO in or der for it to be rape? Some courts affirm this; but for my best friend, who will re main anonymous here, and for the 16 year old virgins across the country who are taken advantage of, rape is when it doesn't feel right. There are too many men who have escaped what was coming to them, too many ordinary "Joes" that have gotten what they wanted without paying the price. And for every male blockhead who thinks that NO means YES, because they think a woman is flirting with him and still wants it, they can go jump in the lake. I would be much more rude, but my editor in chief would probably have to edit my entire con clusion. Weindorf's column appears every three weeks. gs e , aNC - 1 P. NEED 'EM HoUSEBToKeNi FULLY TRAMED, AND REAVY 'To PERFoRM wiTH DiSciPLiNeD, c.OORDiNATeD TeAMWoRK. You HAVE Writ. YESTERDAY.' 3,700 students can't be wrong. They can't be right either, because none of them can sit down for five minutes and write a letter to the Beacon. Send letters, both positive and negative, to the editor! behrcoll2@aolacom Next Week: The Elephant says... Every two weeks members of the Collei;e Democ rats. and the (ollcgc Republicans will debate a partisan topic. Send your suggestions - to: BEIIRCOI.I.2(cbAOLCOM Don't let a bastard ruin your day We all know them. Perhaps it's a long time enemy, a professor or the little kid who lives down the block who rides his Huffy over your mom's marigolds. We despise them and wish for their disappear ance for we want them to go away forever. These people deserve the name rightfully given to them,ever, I was told that I could only use the wBVbastard'twice (I used it once in the headline and once in this sentence), so I decided to adapt to the situation. As you can see, the second time I list the word "baaa - ...."baaast - ...stupid censors... Can you see the word with the dotted box laying video games & having a major boinkfest Let's talk about responsibility and initiative for awhile, shall we? Maybe it's because I'm going to graduate and get a job soon, at least in theory. Or maybe it's because I am sorta living on my own (even if mom and dad are bankrolling that little esca pade). Or maybe it's just because hey, it's time to grow up a bit. Whatever the reason, I've been really irri tated with some people lately who seem to lack these necessary characteristics. And since I don't have the balls (really, I don't have balls) to tell them in person, I'll just air my problems in the newspaper and thinly disguise my gripes as an editorial. See, there are benefits of writ- r Ar , r I 4 ;:pf f l \ rJ ~J Friday, October 19, 2001 The Donkey Wry says... Oh, you didn't know? Karl Benacci editorial into an interacti\ e learning experience...well, let's get started! I think that we can all agree, s often make it a point to ruin our day! Agreed? So why do we mope around and act sad when a wants us to be miserable! Why let he/she/it/them/ all of the above win? Seeing us sad will make a happy! So what can one do when feel ing down in the dumps because they got tired or received a had grade on their exam'? Easy! Throw a party to celebrate their ness! It's as simple as that! The type of party is up to you. One may do anything from getting hammered and throwing a trib ute session to going to church and praying for the sorry Do whatever you'd like. as long as it cheers you up! As far as I am concerned people with some sort of anger (perhaps an inte ing for the newspaper! So, you have a job to do. And it's a fairly important job. told bV People are depending on you to Ot get things done. And rather than tell them up front, "Hey, I might Hayes not have time for this," you pro ceed to simply blow them off and the job doesn't get done. And then they get upset and treat you poorly. Do you really have to wonder why that is? When you sign up to do a job, you know ahead of time what that job will entail. If it re quires you to oversee another group of people, then guess what? You are going to have to work with those people on a daily basis. So coming to work now and then is usually a good thing. It's just more conducive to getting the job done. Staying home and sleeping all day, playing video games or having a major boinkfest may be more fun, but coming to work is what was expected of you when you agreed to do the work. If you volunteer to do something, make sure you can do it. This isn't like telling your mom you'll clean your room and then you don't clean it. We have to grow up a little here. If you can't do something. don't volunteer to do it in the 1: 4 ;,..-If•3ce_ around it'? Yeah, that word. Cut it out with a pair or scissors and insert it ev erywhere ou see a blank. I low d►o va like that. censor'? You're gt)ing to have ‘k.ake up pretty darnn earl' to ',top or Karl McKool. Now that v,e . \C' made this The Hot Debate of The Week "It cost $58.45 to fill up my Excursion!!" Ever since Dubya was elected President, there has been a question as to whether or not we should drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). With the current instability in the Middle East, now is the time to tap our natural resources. Taking advantage of our resources in the ANWR is a viable alternative to purchasing foreign oil from unstable Middle Eastern countries, some of which could be supporting terrorism. The most powerful nation in the world being held at the mercy of OPEC's price and production changing whims is unacceptable, especially in this time of war. Some quick facts: 55percent of our nation's oil is imported and 75percent of Alaskans support drilling the A.N.W.R. If usable oil is found, less than Spercent of the area will he developed. The majority of the people who complain about the ANWR being tapped are 40- something soccer moms. I personally have no problem with 40-something soccer moms. What irks me is the fact that they drive around in 3.5-ton Ford Excursions with towing packages to the local grocery store, getting 10 miles to the gallon and belching smog out past their Sierra Club sticker prominently displayed on their bumper. "l3ut they're safer for my kids!" the overprotective soccer moms cry. Unfortunately, the roll-over deaths in SUV accidents far outweigh the fact that you can easily crush a family of four in a Civic If Americans are interested in conservation, each and every one of us needs to personally try our hardest to protect the environment. Driving a veritable school bus to work every day and complaining every time gas prices rise above $1.30 is hypocritical at best, and just plain ignorant at worst. America is dependent on energy because Americans are dependent on energy. I say drill. Every week, tWo editors 'from the staff will debit! encouraged to email suggestions fin - the h riority complex or some sort of general unhap piness) and they feel the need to spread this an ger around to other people, for s feel better when they make others miserable. A piece of advice: Never fall to a 's level. You're better than that (unless you're a course, and if this is the case, quit reading my column for I am trying to begin a heaval!) Once, while fumin to take a walk in the woods. While doing so, I met a kindly little frog. We had a wonderful con versation about his cousin Kermit, which led to Kermit's friend Gonzo. I asked the frog if that was really Gonzo's nose or a...wait this is not relevant to the story. Moving on...after that, he gave me some wonderful advice. He said, "Karl, you and all the other non- s out there need to look at yourselves in the mirror and say aloud, "( 's name) is a . I will not let them bring me down. - I thanked the gentle frog and went on my way. The frog ribbited at me as he watched me disappear, and to remind me of his lessons, he stuck out his tongue and caught a fly (not just any fly but a filthy fly.) s are unhappy and sometimes jeal ous people. To further investigate this, lets look first place. Hey, that's a concept! And guess what else? We are all in college. By definition that means we college students are all busy. Everyone has 21 credits, everyone has a job, everyone has 14 extracurricular ac tivities, everyone has significant others de manding time. That's how it goes. So stop whin ing about how much you have to do and why you aren't able to do what you said you'd do. You had the credits, the job, the activities, and the gf/bf before. Unless they all materialized in the last week, which they did not, you should have known what your schedule was. I don't want the excuse that someone can't do something simply because they don't have time. I don't have time either, yet I manage to do my work and help 10 other people do theirs every week. I'm sure someone can take time out of their busy pants-dropping schedule to help a friend out now and again. And you know what? If you can't, I guess we aren't really friends, now are we? Interesting. Now let's move on a bit and talk about ini tiative. When you are out there in the real world, you don't just sit around all day and wait for the bossman to come around with an assign ment every hour or two. They aren't going to pay you so that they can wipe your ass every Times are getting tough the U.S. is entering a warlike situation and no one knows how long and how intense this thing could he. So what are people worried about? How much it's gonna cost to fill up their gas-hog SUVs. Obviously, our priorities are in order (note sarcasm). We might be entetiog di - 046,0ut conflict v ith the Middle past, otratin supplier of U.S. fuel. So, while we destroying the environment over in Asia, let's screw up our o‘. II land as well and start drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. That makes a lot of sense. One argument in favor of drilling in Alaska is that the projected area is a tiny percentage of the overall land in Alaska. Therefore, what harm could it really do? Enough. And what happens when. that tiny area needs to he expanded a little bit more? And then a little hit more after that? Hey, we don't really need Alaska, do we? Let's just turn the whole state into a giant oil rig. Yes, we need to prepare for the possibility of limited petroleum supplies in the future. But digging up more somewhere else isn't the right solution. That's a big problem with the American ideology when it starts to run out, just take more from somewhere else. But eventually there won't be anywhere else to take from. We have been hearing rumors about alternative fuel sources for most of our generation's lifetime, and those sources have probably been out there even longer than that. Why don't we look at the current situation as a chance to really work on utilizing those alternative sources? Our generation has never faced the prospect of war conditions. If the current conflict does evolve into a full-scale war, things will get tough. We may need to re-familiarize ourselves with the word "ration." Believe it or not, there are more important necessities in our everyday lives than gas. -B.Kundman a tapir that is hot. Students. faculty and staff art of topic. Send ideas to behreoll2@aol.com at some of America's most well known s: Tom and Rosanne Arnold (these two were such Thank goodness they divorced before they had a chance to procreate). They also include Johnny Rotten (this guy made cool music, however, he was an imported no one liked). Finally, there's the *rand _ of them a 11... Benedict named an egg dish after him). Funny how most of America's most well s have the same last name. Is I decided known there, h destroy it! Finally, I want to tell you how to de feat a , so I made a list: Here are the top five wa I. Smile around them and be cheerful. 2. Call them by their first name. 3. Ask them how they're doing. 4. Annoy them. 5. When they want to talk to you...ignore them! If we stick together we can triumph over s and taste the sweet nectar of victory. s come and s o, but one things for sure: Every time a angel gets its wings. Always remember that Benacci's column appears every three minute of the day. You gotta learn to wipe it yourself at some point. You sec, it works like this: You are hired to fulfill a job description. You get a general idea of what you are supposed to do. Your boss will give you projects periodically, but they won't necessarily fill up your time. You therefore fig ure out what you can do to improve the work place. And then you do it. I think our generation is severely lacking in initiative. There isn't anything to do on cam pus? Well, find something! It isn't that hard. Find a few people with similar interests and organize something. The school will even give you money to do it a lot of times. The same things goes within an organization. If you want to be productive, just take a look around and see what can be done. Don't sit in an office for four hours playing Snood because there's noth ing to do. There is ALWAYS something to do. Organize something. Clean something. Help somebody else. Just do something. Sitting around isn't helping anyone, even if you are physically there. You may as well be back at home having that boinkfest. Hayes' column appears every The Behrend Beacon ene? If so, we must chance, a s to infuriate a weeks three weeks. Page 7a -1. Hayes that the dies an
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers