features STUDENT VOICE by Vail Weller and Nan Quatchak Feature Editors We decided to ask students about their views on homosexuality here at Behrend, because Behrend represents a part of society also. These are the responses that we received: Photos by Mary Beth Zawistoski Poetry Corner Mistaken Trust by Mark Malice You are more important than the sun, yet equally welcome or missed when not part of my everyday. You glow brighter and smell sweeter that the fragrant fruit your strawberry hair was named for. The linger of your scent wherever you've been excites me. Just knowing you is the best feelng I've ever known and the expectation of your touch unlocks emotions I never knew existed. With you, insurance against hurting or being hurt is not required. The ease with which you make me happier than I've ever been scares me with a fear I gladly welcome for the rest of my life. The inspirations you give me create unlimited willingness and effort to be the best I can in every way for you. You have made it possible for me to believe that it is better to love and risk losing than to never love at all, for the hope of our love alone has made my short life a newfound success. My fear of losing you only increases my appreciation of you every time you are near. ' My only goal in life is to please you, attainment of which will in turn make me happier than any man alive. A rose is but a mere symbol of all the beautiful things you have realized in me. Love may be blind, but my eyes follow your every move. Your gaze and your smile invade my strongest inhibitions and I - tingle at the mere thought of them. Simple words in writing or speech cannot begin to express the hope you have given me. Pride and happiness are finally mine, a dream realized in a beautiful form. Reading the above I see that I was unknowingly in love with a mirage in the desert when I originally wrote it, seeing only that which I wanted to and ignoring the explicitely obvious. What I did wrong is a question for which I still need an answer... Gene Edwards, 6th semester, Biology—"It doesn't bother me. They're people, their sexual orientatiion happens to be dif ferent but they're people just the same. As long as they're not walking around and hitting on me. If I knew anyone, whether male or female, I wouldn't avoid them like the plague. I see homosexuals as people." "Let me check my mailbox. Hey, I got a letter!'!.. . Last year we were a couple this year we're not together. "It's a Hallmark." Definitely an "I'm sorry" card. I'll wait till I'm alone, cause it might be hard- Paul Otijasczyk, 4th semester, Management—"l would say it shouldn't be done out in the open. If people are going to do that, 1 think that they should do it alone. I don't think that we have too much of a problem with it. I'm not really for it, I'm against it in general, but if people are going to do it, it shouldn't affect the other people on campus." Lynn Popovich, 4th semester, Elementary Ed.—"l don't think the idea of having homosexuals on campus is a very good one, but everyone has equal rights. For them to live in the dorms with other people around them isn't fair. I'm opposed to it. I don't believe in it." I remember our first date. Oh, she. was. asig ht to see; Her tight red shirt and those_faded blue jeans. It was just a little party, ten to twenty friends. We talked till the wee hours which came to a fantastic end bring us 3 saviors no! consult the book kill? interpret it your own way! 2 friends on a suburban rooftop the sirens tell us its begun. the radio tells us to stay calm the cars on the highway have already panicked it happened. not like i expected. a dull red noiseless flash in the east; then heat. no 1 tells us what to do now. SUN YOUR BUNS 1988 TANNING PRICES 10-20 MINUTE SESSIONS - $3O +O-20 MINUTE SESSIONS. -! $57 MONTH MEMBERSHIP - $lBO Each Extra 5 Minutes $1.50 !I ON BUS . Haircutters Salon & ROUTE NO. 1 f! Indqor Tanning Center 898-0180 2648 Buffalo gird Drive, 'Erie, PA Mike Forbes, 4th semester, Accounting—"l don't believe in it, but I don't condemn anybody for it, just don't try to impose it on me." .words from the east. The Bth Duke of Tarmac Kathy Harris, 2nd semester, Liberal Arts—"l feel that being a gay person is not a matter of choice, that it is a matter of body chemistry and genetics. I have had gay friends and I feel that it is a real shame that America is so homophobic- I know Europe isn't that way. Erie is rather con servative, and I would hope that a college campus would be a place that would be a little more liberal and kinder to people that are different. I feel real sorry for gay people in Erie. Given the climate of the area, it's going to take some real courageous gay people to do much. I know that they're here. I certainly think that there should be some kind of rules that would protect gay people from being harassed." After a few months the shit hit the fan appLwe exchanged a few.words,- "Ali good things must come to an-end." It's true, but it hurts. Well I'm alone now; why are my hands trembling? HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Love, "Mom and Dad...." By Robert Eggleston 1 A FOR ALL SEASONS 4 FRESH-WATER FISH S 'THE YOUNGER" 12 rouND IN NUCLEUS OF 13 ALTER OF "AH GOD!" 14 CORROSIVE 15 MOTOR OIL BRAND 16 FLOWER SMELLING BULL 18 WOODWIND INSTRUMENT 20 PHYSICAL PERSON 21 TO MISREPRESENT 23 EXAMPLE 25 PARADISE 26 TREAD 27 GENDER 30 PAST 31 IRRELIGIOUS 1 OPERATIONAL DEGREE 2 FORMICIDE 3 PASTRY 4 "HYMN TO THE PILLORY' 5 TO ONE SIDE 6 PULLMAN 7 REVEL t.O IN ACADEMIA 8 KIAK 9 PLATO 10 Philit. 11 MAN OUT 17 NORW. POET 19 GRAIN 21 DROP 22 MARGIN 23 CUBAN 24 ARAKS 26 FALSEHOOD Collegian ACROSS 32 IRON 33 SCOUT GROUP 34 LACKA' DAY 35 PIMPLE 36 VENISON 37 ESTIMATES 38 GK. GODDESS OMIT EARTH 40 DESERVE 41 DECLINED 1939 NOBEL PRIZE (GER.) 44 ORRA 47 DRY 48 KEG 49 TOY 50 OWINGS 51 SCORCH 52 GK. NUMBER SEVEN DOWN 27 ANNOTATE 28 CANAL 29 DRIVE-IN ("AMERICAN GRAFFITI') 31 HYMN 35 FORBID 36 FEAT 37 YACHT 38 TEACHER 39 A CRAVAT 40 ICELANDIC LITERARY WORK 41 BASE 42 REIECT 43 A BOOK OF THE BIBLE 45 PERIOD 46 ADM. DEGREE Page 7