Page 2 AL Press And GoverUnment EDI Newspapers don't bperate the way a campus newspaper does. One of the big differences is that the reporters don't come in contact with the people they are writing about as often. We practically live with you. If something appears for you to read, and you don't like what you see, you do several things. Possibly you would walk into W-129 and bitch. Or you might write a letter to the editor, expressing your point of view so as to be heard by over two-thousand people. Or you might consider it your duty to reprimand the perpetrator with physical force. Whatever you choose, you've the right to your opinion. And we have the right to ours, as long as its seen on this page, page two. Problems can arise when those opinions seep through and show their faces in news. News is objective. There are-supposed to be no sides taken when reporting the news. If you were to agree with Uncle Lum From Londonderry, an editorial opinion expressed by a ficticious character, written in the vernacular and found weekly in the Middletown Press And Journal, that the press is to government as barking dogs are to chicken theives, then newspapers can't be objective. They would be from the start set on opposite sides of the fence. So here we are, the press. And what is thrust before our eyes? None other than the government. What our student government does in news. Although some senators have been elected by as few as three votes, indicating the lack of concern with which the general student body views student government, what they do is news. Everything Is news. Some items are not ranked as high as others on a priorities list, but, here is where the editors discretion arises. And editor's discretion says, "What student government is up to is news", realizing, full well how many people even remotely concern themselves with student government activities. This would then mean that whatever appears in the newspaper in reference to SGA would be ignored. That's unfortunate, but, it must be reported anyway. It seems now, finally, SGA is doing something, though, not by chance, for they've had these problems pushed on them. The situation involves money, and how various clubs and organizations spend their alioted funds. What the SGA will do between now and the end of February is as yet uncertain. The end of February is when they will "hopefully" have held the vote, "cast by at least ten percent (10%) of the student body," to decide if Article XVIII will be revised. Presently Article XVIII is open to Interpretation and doesn't follow specific guidelines as to how student organizations spend money. After finally doing something, we find that SGA will attempt to make more rules, tightening the screws, so to speak. When any government makes more rules, regulations, or laws it makes for a less free society. The new amendment has not yet been proposed. When it is though, it will consist of more rules and laws for our society to follow, a lessening of freedoms. It's your choice, we still work by voting here, do you want more or less freedom? 1 71 m vir-771. of the Pennsylvania State University The Capitol Campus RTE. 230, Middletown, Pa., 17057 Office W-129-131 Phone (717) 944-4970 Editor-In-Chief Assistant Editor Copy Editor Advertising Manager. Business Manager. Staff. .William M. Kane. Tim Adams .Robert L Fisher Jr. Wayne Stottmeister Carol Andress Ann Clark, Greg Hall, Young inyang, Ray Martin, Brian McDonough, John O'Neill, Ed Pemxie, Karen Pickens. Perspectives Logo Hot Lion Sketch... The Capitol Campus Reader is the school newspaper of Penn State's Capitol Campus. It is published by the students who attend this school. We of the Reader Staff try ko accurately represent the voice of the students, and keep them informed as to current events and relevant issues. We ere blished on a week! basis. Perspectives Page .Jonlno M. Ronnels Beth Koper C.C. Reader Whopper By Ray Martin (Author's note- This minor insanity is for those poor sick people who enjoy the editorial.) Why do college • students think in broad philosophical strokes? Why does mankind laugh so uproariously at their own reproductive activities? Why does the Israeli Air Force call their C-130's Hippos? Why is the small room in Vendorville painted blue? What is blue? DlSCussk*s By Greg Ball Pure rock n' roll energy is a rare commodity in these days of disco and pop schmaltz. Not too often someone will come along with excitement enough to send your tapping foot into convul sions and leave yours ears begging for more. Such is the case of Graham Parker, and his band The Rumour. The new album, Parker's second, is called Heat Treatment. By challenging curently popular formula and conventions with those Parker chose to resurect from the past, Heat Treatment becomes an instant rock classic. Listening to songs like "Back Door Love" and "Hotel Chamber Maid," Parker's main influences can easily be picked out. Pre-seventies Rolling Stones licks and early Beatles harmonies are combined for potent rock songs with catchy melodies. Parker also borrows heavily from other sources, among them early-to-middle period Dylan and Richie Havens. His most obvious debt, however, is to Bruce Springsteen. Parker draws on Springsteen's intel lectual punk style, as well as his arrangements for the horn section. This blending of styles, however derivative, makes for a great case of genuine rock n' roll excitement. •••••• • • • • • • Gary Wright's new album,The Light Of Smiles, is a repeat performance of his first album, last year's commercially successful Dream Weaver. In fact, the new album is almost an exact duplicate in style, songs, and instrumentation. Rather than refining, or even changing his • direction, Wright lifted intact his proven formula from Dream Weaver. All of Wright's music incorpo rates combinations of synthe sizers,organ, electric (and some acoustic) pianos, Moog balm, and drums to carry the melody. There are no guitars, brass, or strings present. The gaps are filled by appropriate arrange ments for multiple synthe sizers. While it seems a good idea on paper, the recorded results are calculated and impersonal. and Us professional journalists get worried shitless over these huge and useless questions because life would be pretty damn boring if we didn't. For instance. why isn't U.S. News and World Report as funny as National Lampoon? Why do I get sick on strawberries? Why is toilet paper pink? Why are sheep dangerous? Why did WITF take Monty Smiles also lays bare the limitations of the Moog as a lead or soloing instrument. Wright's solos are repetitive, predictable, and gimmicky; as are the electronic sound effects introduced on Weaver, and used in excess on Smiles. An artist cannot interpret his work with any personality or human feeling using elec tronics; they only provide modulated sound. The use of a keyboard bass as substitute for a stringed bass illustrates this poidt: as a result the bass lines are mechanical and cold. Wright's biggest flaw is that Light Of Smiles sounds as if it could be programmed and played by a computer. **•**• • * * * * * New album releases this coming week: Rumours by Fleetwood Mac; the long awaited Animals by Pink Floyd: George Benson's In Flight featuring more Benson vocalizing; and Journey's Next. Bob Dylan has released a new single "Rita Mae." possibly from a forthcoming album. You see, sir, we would like the funds to find an alternate for the mind, what some would call the "soul" or the brain, or any one of a hundred names you choose. In time we might lose a rat or two, a monkey, a man, the integrity of our researchers, one or two free-thinkers, and a slide or , two. But it would all be done in reality, in a land of objects and things and processes, under the most ideal conditions that money can buy. It would be done in the name of science, in the name of any wall you hang your plaque on, in the name of directed thinking, of course, the directions will be numerous, and so on, and so forth. You see, sir, we think we have found man's mind in its simplest state of being: underneath layers of neurons, we've discovered something which is nothing. Unfortunately our instruments are not designed for nothing. they are really things designed for things and can detect anything but not nothing. We would like to redesign our machines, to make something out of nothing so that we could isolate it, for we believe like any reasoning man in the conservation of ideas. Februa%it 1977 Fries Python off the air? Why is there a wall safe in Vendor vine? Why do air conditioners only work in December? Why is coal so abundant and diamonds so rare? Why is there air? Or as one of my heros, Dr. Stuart Goldman often asked, "Why Russia?" What is Jack Albertson going to do for a living now? Why does pain hurt? Why is money so expensive?. Why does write these damn things? Why do the Arabs have all the oil? Why did John Dean talk? Where are we going? When will we get there? Why are you reading this shit? Yes, dear reader, you have a point. But writing these things is a lot more fun than playing dodge the cars in front of a run-down state store in Upper Darby. Why do esoteric editorials seem so esoteric? Define esoteric. Define define. So come on you gutless wonders, stand up for your right to stand up and think about mystical and strange things. It's a lot more entertaining than worrying about your laundry. Your objections to bloating your cognitive percerption with terrifically obscure thoughts and worries won't make you any different than your friends and neighbors. As a test, the next time someone says, "How are you?", reply politely, "I've got smallpox!" or "I'm highly radioactive!" Watch their re action. You'll see they too are wondering why a whopper and fries taste better than seaweed See Paw 4 The Ultimate Request by 208-42-2619
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers