2 The Daily Collegian Editorial Opinion Penn State glasnost Soviet students at the University are a sign of the changing times It's refreshing to see glasnost take place on a local level. During the past few weeks stu dents from the Soviet Union have been making the mountains, the prairies, Stone Valley and Penn State their home sweet home. University officials have agreed to participate in the People to Peo ple Youth Science exchange pro gram which brings 83 academically gifted high school juniors and seniors to University Park to take classes. The foundation contacted the University and asked them to take part in the program. Programs like this one are help ing to dissolve the heavy red cloud surrounding the Soviet Union, and to bring people and nations togeth er. Coming to terms with people of other cutures is the first step in making the cold war a thing of the past. And while most of the students do not speak English well, they will certainly take home with them an understanding of American people and lifestyle that can't be learned from a text. The students, who arrived at the beginning of July, are taking classes in astronomy, astrophysics, com puter science and physics. This dn; Collegian Thursday, July 19, 1990 E)1990 Collegian Inc. Editor Ted M. Sickler Business Manager Ty D. Stroh! The Daily Collegian's editorial opinion is deter mined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. Opinions express ed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania State University. Collegian Inc., publishers of The Daily Collegian and related publications, is a separate corporate institution from Penn State. Board of Editors Managing Editor Lori Shontz Opinion Editor Jesse Fox Mayshark Campus Editor Stacy S. Niedecker Town Editor Mark Jones News Editor Linda D. Wahowski Copy/Wire Editors Laura A. Ward, Chino Wilson, Lisa Zollars Sports Editor Tom Esterly Assistant Sports Editor Laura Eckert Arts Editor Caryn Brooks Photo Editor Mike Orazzi Assistant Photo Editor Chris Gaydosh Art Department Art Director Amy R. Glass Board of Managers Assistant Business Manager Anne Cunningham Playing tennis in white and other menstrual myths Early in the sixth grade, the athletics instruc tor one day took all the boys to the gym. Then the completely starched school nurse gently herded the girls into a cramped room where we received our first formal instruction about men struation. My Opinion Words like "uterus" and "follicles" and "pub ic symphysis" descended into the electric air around us; impressive words, we knew, designed just to confuse and delude us about the reality of this ominous and inevitable thing blood, and more years of it than we could imag ine. But not to worry. The nation's leading tampon manufacturer had taken on the responsibility of allaying the fears of millions of tittering pre pubescent girls. In a film called The Curse, we learned that menstruation had been long maligned through- sharing in the classroom is a new start. Before, Russian knowledge was locked behind the iron curtain, and American technology was clo sely guarded. Now our understanding of the uni verse is universal and can be shared in a classroom populated by both Americans and Russians. This is the real meaning of glas nost. The students will also be taught the basics of teenage social life in America : golf, picnics, plays and pizza parties are included in their curriculum. Perhaps "The Simp sons" will be added as an extra -cur ricular activity. The teenagers will be able to make comparisons between the two cultures to create better under standing. And even if burgers don't taste better than borscht, at least the Soviet students have the chance to try new things and bring their knowledge home with them. University students can become a part of this cultural exchange by welcoming the students to our cam pus. By going out of their way to talk to any of the visiting Soviets they meet on campus, Penn Staters can help break thorugh cultural barriers. Accounting Manager Michele Beccarelli Office Manager Wendy L. Frank Sales Manager Selene M. Yeager Layout Manager Courtney L. Caswell Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. If a complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, grievances may be filed with the Accuracy and Fair Play Committee of Collegian Inc. Information on fil ing grievances is available from Gerry Lynn Hamilton, executive secretary, Collegian Inc. 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All letters received become the property of Collegian Inc. Letters and forums from University Park and State College: Please deliver any submissions in person at the office of The Daily Collegian; 123 S. Burrowes St. All authors must be present with picture identi fication either University ID or photo driver's license when presenting the letter or forum. Mail other letters to: The Daily Collegian; 123 S. Burrowes St.; University Park, Pa. 16801-3882. About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are published by Collegian Inc., an independent, non-profit corporation with a board of directors composed of students, faculty and profes sionals. Students of The Pennsylvania State Univer sity write and edit both papers and solicit advertising material for them. The Daily Collegian is published Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during the summer, and Mon day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday dur ing the semester. out the dark centuries. But with the invention of a Space-Age plug of cotton, we wouldn't have to suffer the way our foremothers had, hiding themselves away during their periods, secretly wringing out bloody rags far from the scorn of men. Instead we could bike, play tennis in white, swim and ride a horse in complete confidence. The tampon fixed everything. And the best thing about it was that "No one will know." After the movie, we were given complimen tary tampons and attractive carrying cases ( if a boy got into your purse, you certainly wouldn't want him seeing those things there). The art tea cher then distributed informational pamphlets liberally decorated with flowers and smelling suspiciously pink. The school nurse showed us a chart of our internal sexual organs, pointing to the fallopian tubes and saying they reminded her of fingers. I thought instead of cow udders. One girl with an older sister told about a secret little calendar marked with red circles hidden in a drawer. Someone else admitted her mother still wore old-fashioned sanitary belts (this was prior to the advent of peel-and-stick pads). Most of us were simply embarrassed. We all left that room in straight lines, our par ty favors hidden away. I wondered if I'd ever feel those fallopian tubes-fingers-tiny udders fluttering deep inside me. We felt uneasy, but somehow older, and when we finally met up with our male classmates, we knew that everything had changed. a IN . Opinions MOP LIMITED I'IANG•OUT ROUTE STONEWALL 4111. %7tki. Quote/Unquote Question: What would you say to the incoming University president? (,__ Do something about the parking situation for undergraduate stu dents. Increase the parking area for us. I live way off campus; I have to drive in, and the closest I can park is eight blocks off or Lot 80. Reader Opinion Justice? I find it rather laughable, however sad, that there is not equal justice in America if you are black or poor. It is ironic that Charlotte Keene embezzled "about" $23,000 from the College of Agriculture and was only sentenced to six This is the 1970 s message I got about men struation: It's a woman's thing and should only be discussed with other women, particularly those in sanitary uniforms, but it's something to be endured privately rather than discussed publically. Ostensibly, tampon manufacturers had liberated women, but this freedom was Toms OF NE UNKNOWN TAPES DRP-Six KISSINGER POND GARDENiIII~ /Mtn VISITORS GUIDE TO 11. IE NEW RICHARD NIKON UIPARY. Ted Starinshak senior-nuclear engineering Collegian Graphic/Mark Smith I think diversity is an important issue that needs to be thought about in terms of getting more minority students up here. Not only that, but also making awareness more known about for students oth er than African Americans gay and lesbian students, Asian stu dents and such. Aaron Lecoin senior-engineering months in-house detention and a half year's pro bation. Yet David James, a former Undergrad uate Student Association member, "embezzled" less than $l,OOO and is threatened with with 12 years in prison. Of course Charlotte has to undergo counseling and pay back the University for funds and items taken; that must be the JUS- granted to us on the condition that women never really admitted something extraordinary hap pened to us every month. As long as we denied this and never actually let anyone aside from a few good female friends know that we per sonally bled, everything would be tennis-whites fine. The 1990 s message takes a different angle: Yes, women do experience radical, hormone induced mood swings, and talking about it in public is OK since premenstrual syndrome is now used as common fodder for talk-show hosts and stand-up comics, a defense for murder and a lousy excuse for why women shouldn't be pres ident. Once again, the media-and-manufacturing powers that be have passed judgment on the nature of women's bodies. The new decade has given us a sense of humor about menstruation. We've also got lots of little caplets billed as won drous cure-alls. Humor and pills neither approach considers women seriously. The unstated assumption of present-day attitudes about menstruation is that there's something that needs to be fixed, an atti tude not dissimiliar to the dark ages. I am a woman who cannot get through a men strual cycle without pain relievers, and even then I sometimes wake up from a deep sleep with cramps that I swear could kill a strong horse. I'll be the first to admit that a period is not exactly a joyful experience, but it is a time, I believe, that I and other women see the world most clearly. „.,,,,! 1110. You know, in Pennsylvania tuition is increasing $2OO or $3OO for Pennsylvania people. That's a lot. . . Control the budget. Leo Suniaga senior-exercise science Thursday, July 19, 1990 IBC* ERLKIIMANN. OFAN3IAMINwi•SIANS MIItHEU- MAGRUDER Get in touch with the student body, and try to maintain a good relationship with the students. Keep up with their opinions, because things change so much and so fast. Michelle Carlson freshman-chemical engineering Compiled by Jesse Fox Mayshark and Chris Gaydosh TIFICATION for her "GETTING OFF." If there is anyone out there who can make me understand this "JUSTICE" please attempt to do so. Saundra D. Edwards Assistant director, Paul Robeson Cultural Cen ter I recently saw a pin that read, "I'm not pre menstrual. I'm always like this." The descrip tive word most often linked with "premenstrual" is "bitchiness," and the image is not pretty for most people. Why? To beat an old feminist drum, men expect us to be nice. My husband's main complaint about my menstrual affected conversation is that my observations are ruthless and my language is strong. I cut to the bone, and I feel the chill of every incision. A few years ago I began noticing that my cre ativity fluctuated along with hormone surges, and that when I'm premenstrual, I'm innovative and energetic (albeit, intolerable to some). I've never read about this, nor have I ever heard anyone talk about it. But I do know that I don't want a pill to fix it. I always wondered what the gym teacher talked about with the boys the time I saw my first cross-section of a uterus. I had supposed they were seeing similar charts of male genita lia. I had hoped they were learning about the amazing potentials of girls' bodies and would forever regard us as creatures of deep mystery and power. When I went to my 10-year reunion last sum mer, I finally asked an old friend just what hap pened in the gym that day. "We talked about jock-straps for a while," he said, "then we shot hoops the rest of the time." Gigi Marino, a graduate student in English, is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. 1 119M44 ONO 6 IllekeUPlE ROSE WO WOODS MTLIE ■ ■ ■
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers