Page 8
The Behrend Beacon
the %tridents (If Pe►nl State Erie, The Behrend College
News Editor
Erin McCarty
Sports Editors
Scott Soltis
Zoe Rose
Editorial Page Editor
Paige Miles
Features Editor
Karl Beriacc,
Staff Photographers
Jeff Hankey
Heather Myers
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.
Put down the gun, Heston
How many innocent people have to (lie'
That's the question that we need to he ask
ing ourselves everyday when we don't (I()
something about guns in this country. And
as college students this should he es en
more important with the recent e‘ents in
Arizona.
For those of you who live under a rock
I'll enlighten you about what took place.
A student who was receiving a fading
grade entered a college classroom and 4
gunned down the professors who ga \e U
him the failing grade. And guns
aren't a major problem in this
country? We have professors
gunned down in class and fIAM* O
snipers walking the streets,
but the NRA says we have :113
enough gun control in this
country. Mike Frawlev
Maybe its time to hilt
Moses in an old folks home
And please don't trot out tho s e tir ci i
guments about the right to hear arms he
ing in the Constitution and the people need
guns to protect themselves. or that e‘ en it
we have stricter gun control the vi iminak
will still get guns. None of the , ,e arrn
ments hold any more water then a cup ‘% itli
a bullet hole. But for those of you \\ ith
the letters NRA tattooed on your brain ['II
take the time to destroy these ag_iuments
Random thoughts by Karl
I don't know when it began, but it
should have never happened. My fam
ily always tells me that when I was a
young, I was the happiest child. I loved
to laugh and smile and I loved being the
center of attention. Heck, I was a cute
kid!
I'm not sure when this ended. I \\mild
probably say around first (H - sec
ond grade. when I began grade
school at Chestnut Elementary in
Fairview. I had friends, but it \\ as
at this time I began getting
picked on by a few bullies
who were older than me
Sure, everyone got
picked on by bullies
when they were little. Karl Benacci
but being aware of this
doesn't soften the
blow.
Little by little, all of this negativii% tic
and cruelty caused me to hecome some-
V, hat of an introvert. As the year, passed
by. I not only became less of the Itapp\
child I was, hut I even became a hulls
myself. In middle school I can renicill
her being a jerk to my good friends' little
brother, dragging the kid up and do‘\ n
the soccer field by his legs in order to
get him muddy. I was unhappy \\ itli
myself and harped on my failures. IA
ing my unhappiness uut oil other iiidi
viduals.
Looking hack on it, I find it sad that I
went from despising mean kids to he
coming one myself. In my Alcoholic
Awareness class that I took for an Esact.
Interim Editor-in-Chief
Kevin Fallon
Managing Editors
Rebt,
F,',Thort 1,4/01,p,
Beacon
".1 newspaper hr the
vtudents• far the' students
Professional Publication Mgr
Dave Ric
Advisor
Cathy Ps,),IN
The Beticon encourages
letters to the editor. Letters
should include the address,
phone or :tuber. semester
standing, and major of the
writer. Writers can mail letters
to behrcoll2m), - )ol cum Letters
must be received no later than
5 p.m. Monday for inclusion in
ip , lll 1)!;.21
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Friday November 8, 2002
In the diversity corner
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Frat'lev's . column
appears every three wechA
pc(l - 11.: tolull
.lust because a ley, people v. ho claim
the\ it religious are acting like scum
doesn't mean then palish or religion is
lull plc ith that person's frame
(il mind A great e \ample is the religion
of hich does promote peace. A
it people performed an O. it act
un tiept I I and claimed the\ did it fur
!hen religion. but this doesn't make their
religion had. it m.ikes them had.
te\\ ecks alter hearing ahuut the
\+hu tnlnl ( . \,(l \ (MC OW\
\\ C I " h I
IC I \ \
h\
neat h;uulm out l)0(
the Nev, the man \\ tucc
to rite ,11111 I reali/e(I monothi ll y
it(' nice people In Ili,, \+,ot aml diet k.
ur had people. ( )flt• Itotildn't let the 1)AI
)c( )Ic tanikh the pood )Cl) Ile. MI Ke
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\\ id] pc(lple vvhu tallydhrhinil
ihrir t ricn(lN kick cmiuplained alN)ut
11,ipp I langiiT out ‘k ith sad people just
kn't v , .,)lth it. In fact. it's a V Isk. of time.
fake it front
mistake ‘‘as closing others off.
namely the good people, because of had
people. Now that I've learned that some
!nuttily that we can take the socially respon
sible route of caring for our fellow human
beings and doing unto others as we'd have
them do unto ourselves. No one is 1(X)% po
litically correct, nor just too sensitive or
tuner. hut each individual has the power
to sir] ‘e for better conditions. he they physi
cal, emotional, or otherwise, for es cry indi
‘ i(lual they feel compelled to fight for. Some
people simply feel compelled to strive for
nitAl equality rather than selective empow
mem 1 hose individuals arc the ones pro
pelling thy ersity and unity forward for the
hettei mem of humankind.
our campus. the "people downstairs . '
or "ethnic minorities in the M('C' (as we're
often called i hand together because we are
\\ and able to accept and support each
other. It is a fact that the aserage archetype
of power in America. the white. middle
Dual. Christian man is present
in man) of the - diversit) focused . ' organi
ialions. Diversit) has no color, ethnic back
ground. class. orientation. religion, creed,
ph \ steal or mental ability. or gender. If di
\ rr sity o as only to represent the oppressed.
10\\ n trodden it could no longer he a mis
sion of diversity hut of uniformity among
the bottom feeders of humanity.
I challenge )011 to find that kind of uni
tormity among the students who are work
ing for social justice through methods of di
\el sit \ We celebrate diversity because we
hope lor tinit, not uniformity, to encom
pass our en \ ironments taut our futures. I
hope Mai has cleared a few things up about
Ihc
Now, what is it exactly that each of you
can do ‘‘ith your newfound understanding
of diyersit encoura_e unit amon_
Ways to make money
Lan take anything at an) given time and
min it into a poll!. In some charities,
;t hont I M'; of everything they make go
to ":tdministration costs,'' paying
the people %‘, ho are supposedly
oluntecring their services to feed
hungr\ children in Third World
ountries. People "claiming
to collect money for victims
of Sept. I I \\ ere caught he
quality. hut it shouldn'i
he a status isymbol.
Ow\ \\ en: trying to Jewel! and
•
MAC ;I 1)10111 f 10in More MIIIIIOW thC \ dIM) he
ihjio.mo \ icton of a Becky Weindort in the clothoil2
the \ v,ere gathering
ihe , ,c fund., hn theirv.:el\ e,•••
trnnrist attack.
lllink Mese arc sad stories? It
\\ fluid depress me if I kne\\ that 75 of
lII\ XI I cents \\le ruinv to some Enron
chief \\ ho V. as coordinating this
to help teed the hungry. More
dew ess mg is that Americans have
mined tradition into re \ \nine and neces-
O w l
,ilv into an economic opporttinit.
Reim! the thriltv En,elish major that I
am. I have listed some of the necessity
nir CMIC that I hair noticed I-e
-t:end\
Weddings: Yeah. you never thought
that meeting the love of your life was a
w \ tor others to make money. But if
von w ant to marry him/her, you better
believe that you'll he forking over (on
average) about $18,0(X) tier a single day
which is almost twice my current an
nual earnings. Being a sort of partici
pant in this specific economy, as 1 am
planning my wedding in eight months,
lin beginning to realize just how much
money is poured into this formerly re
ligious tradition that has turned into pre
nuptial agreements, Vera Wang gowns,
and has given a whole new meaning to
"feeding the thousands."
(lathing: What was once developed
to 'shelter out fragile bodies from the
( A dd is now a race to see who can clothe
ate a total waste of time, I've
0)11W In have a new appreciation for in
\ iduals «ho arc kind and happy. Not
or*,, ate these people more interesting,
unique. and fun than mean people, hut
they also bring me great satisfaction due
to the interaction I have with them and it
onl, makes me want to get to know more
ied
nice people.
It I were to tell my readers one thing, I
would tell all of you to not let others
negatively influence your outlook on
other people. how happy you are. or what
you believe in. Instead, spend some time
ith people who respect you and treat
you well. The sooner an individual insti
tutes these views to his life, the sooner
he 1 / 4 \ ill become a happier person.
Paige Miles, Editorial Page Editor
I have mound that. curiously. America
Benucci's column
appears every three weeks.
The Behrend Beacon
your friends and family. Step outside your
comfort zone and get to know someone new
in your classes or neighborhood. Write your
research paper on a subject you don't kno \\
everything about or can't identify ks ith.
learn something from it that you can incor
porate into your knowledge base and use in
later relations.
Stop the person that you're walking to
lunch with from writing racial or
hecerosexist slurs on a poster for a campus
event, don't let that person believe that von
accept jokes and stories that use hate speech
or are aimed at hurting another population.
Even if you've never been hurt, physically
or emotionally, by another's ignorant ac
lions towards ‘+ hatever it is that separate,
you from the rest of the en)Wd. I and dinthr
too many people base had a perfect co ex
istence with peers thus fail take these ac
lions because others really need that kind
of support. Besides. those people who need
your assistance in combating ignorance
ould do it for you and those who would
do it for you are the people you ‘;. ant to he
friends with anyway.
Finally, I want to make sure every reader
out there understands that I'm talking to
each any every one of yOU. I have heard a
few times, much to my dismay, that white
students don't believe they have a culture
so they can't get involved M this movement.
That's simply not true. Each one of us has a
rich culture to look into if we pay any at
tention to it. Culture isn't about color. As
soon as we acknowledge that our common
experience as humans can begin to form a
whole unity and richness in diversity that
makes us all important.
the most people in the 17-34 age range
AND earn the most moneN doing it.
Now. I know that there are still people
out there that realise that clothing is just
clothing and not a statement or
popularity gauge. hut please.
Clothing labels, while ad er
tising Ralph Lauren. Nike,
American Eagle. Victoria's
Secret, and so forth. could
he a gauge for clothing
categor . hut it's a
hig enourli issue to
discuss on its ow n. I'll admit that I am
a sore hypocrite in the shoe category.
however. I include myself w hen I say
that a closet full of shoes is just plain
greedy. I complain when I scuff a sole:
others don't make a peep when their toes
are sticking out the front end of their 111-
year-old sneakers.
And, as for my jewelry, you don't see
me wearing a Id-pound medal ❑round
my neck. (literally) pairs of earrings
or three rings on each of my fingers.
That's just plain stupid. walking around
like we're Christmas trees. We were
horn with a body to care for others and
work hard, not to show off who's got
the best "duds."
All right, this is a very short, biased
and clipped example, hut you get the
idea. Our editorial page editor is hav
ing a rough time, so I'll go easy this time.
But watch for me again - by the time
you read my next editorial, you'll be on
your way to finals. Now isn't that a
lovely thought for a hellish semester'?
Weindorf's column
appears every three weeks
You know you
want to tell
Write a letter
to the editor
behrcoll2@aol.com
Please
include your
name, major,
and semester
standing.
us.