The Daily Collegian Editorial Opinion Get a clue Running for office is not a simple answer to student apathy There is an old adage that should be retired once and for all . .. because what you don't know can hurt you. In fact, it can hurt an entire community. Lack of student involvement has long been a problem in State College, and it is high time stu dents got busy. Recently, two have taken the initiative to involve themselves by running for borough offices. But don't be deceived these candidates may not be all they are cracked up to be. Recent mayoral candidate dropout John Meredith has never been to a State College Borough Council meeting. Borough council candidate Adam Bender didn't know where the borough build ing was a year ago. At one point, both men wanted students to vote for them, despite their ques tionable records. Go figure. Although both candidates based their campaigns on the desire to get a stronger student voice in borough politics, neither seems to have a grasp on the issues or the students they expect (or expected) to vote for them. Taking advantage of already apathetic student voters by running without concrete plat forms cheats the student body and other local residents of the chance to vote for a worthy candidate. Campaigning without a solid platform is self-defeating, and only makes fools of the candidates and those who support them. Although student activism is desperately needed, empty voices fail to break the silence that student apathy creates. th dan gl y Collegian Tuesday, August 3, 1993 01993 Collegian Inc. Editor Mike Abrams Business Manager Walter F. Gorba The DaII) , Collegian's editorial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding Anal responsibility. Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Penn sylvania State University. Collegian Inc., pub lishers of The Daily Collegian and related publications, Is a separate corporate institution from Penn State. Board of Editors Managing Editor John Uncoski Opinion Editor Rebecca Fishkin Campus Editor Amanda Thompson Town Editor Amy Zurzola Neither makeup nor purple flowers can hide our flaws The farmer's market on Locust Lane was bustling with people on that cool autumn afternoon. I strolled by each booth, hoping to find a treasure, the one element missing from our half furnished apartment. There were posies, sunflowers and baked goods from a sunlit country kitchen ... then there it was the cactus. I don't know why I was so drawn to this cactus. The booth was full of shiny- leafed aloes and descending spiderplants. But it was the cactus with its thick stalk held up by a long rod. How awkwardly its arms reached, jutting out against the other almost-symmetrical botanical beauties. Each stalk supported a lovely purple blossom. For $B, I visualized the cactus' flowers add ing beauty to our collegiate flat. Sadly enough, I was disappointed to find my roommates were less than enthusiastic about my contribution to the household. They furnished the place with erect plants on the bal cony, post-impressionist prints on the walls and sweet-smelling candles on the living room table. My flow ering tangle of a cactus seemed awkward in contrast. After my roommates left for class, On that note, considering Meredith's failure to announce a definitive platform and his admitted lack of understanding of what the job entailed, it is better that he leave the local political stage quietly now instead appearing clueless in the fall. As for Bender, perhaps this will be a lesson. Like Meredith, Bender has not yet solidified an agenda. Although he seems to be focus ing on a wider scope of borough issues, Bender is so tied up in the political rhetoric of getting students involved that he too is giving off a one-dimensional appearance. Getting student candidates elected is not an effective rea son for trying to mobilize stu dent voters who usually lack a pulse. It is a sad assumption of the student population to expect they will vote for a candidate simply because that candidate is a student. State College residents whether students or not should not vote for candidates with nothing more to offer than pie in-the-sky wishes for greater student involvement. It takes knowledge of town/gown issues to be a viable politician in the borough, and students must keep this in mind before they endorse any new candidates. The Fall Semester is just three weeks away. That may be enough time for Bender (and other potential candidates) to study the constituency, set an agenda and take a piece of advice from Meredith: get a platform or get out of the race. Naves Editor Michelle Dorfman Copy/Wlno Editors Todd Gernert, Amata E.B. Kapp, Wendy Kops. Sally Kuzemchak Day Sports Editor Ann Talko Night Sports Editor Michael Weinreb Arts Editor Josy Warminsky Photo Editor Rick Griggs Chief Photographer Mark Plan Board of Managers Assistant Business Manager Mad J. Bower Office Manager Danielle M. Gray Sales Manager Ronald R. Lichtinger 111 Layout Manager Frederick Craig Deakin Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be mewled b the business manager. If a complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, some grievances may be filed with the Accuracy and Fair Play Committee of Collegian Inc. Information on filing grievances is available from Gerry Lynn Hamilton, executive secretary, Collegian Inc. My Opinion I scrutinized my new aquisition. Its thorny stalk was already brown at the base, a foreshadowing of its inevitable demise. I knew the cac tus' time in the apartment would be brief. I touched the lavender flowers that appeared to be the cactus' only redeeming aesthetic quality. Then a strange thing happened. One flower fell, revealing its true identity. The purple beauties were mere plastic fronts for my poor decrepit cactus. This was no blooming cac tus from the desert, it was a man gled work of nature. The flowers were fake, and I was the victim of a scam. The next morning I showered, then glanced at the cactus. Another flower Opinions had fallen to the floor. The branch that had once suffered the foreign object looked exposed. The cactus was slowly. going through a meta morphosis before my eyes. I straightened my naturally frizzy hair, put on my makeup (not forgetting to sprite on some Fendi perfume) and took off for class. On my way, I passed by the bus stop where several people were waiting. They wore the typical uniform to hide their individual flaws. They wore tailored suits, had neatly arranged hair and smelled like the perfume counter at the mall. They all looked lovely, and I wondered what they would think of my half dead cactus rejecting its last beautiful flower from its stalk. The next morning, the cactus was finally devoid of flowers. It was now a drab olive color, its thorns jut ting out in all directions. It con cealed nothing. The cactus was in its original form, stark-naked against the otherwise colorful apartment furnishings. Its state was obsce nely real, and I saw all of its flaws and all of its organic imperfec tions. I then discovered a parallel between the cactus and my own Lion Eyes by Don Lemaire Columnists Wanted Are you ready and willing to write six columns this fall? Are you willing to let the entire University see your face in print? C;l;pokNy3lo,4l7-4E - OpievednoPam ISPi94, w -moo*. •\ :•• . • • \*. • ••,.,\`''` Vs` •:••••\ •. . %., ' ‘VV 4-4* "We want to be soft and smell lovely. We don't want our prickly outsides to be put on exhibition for all to see." habits. My daily preparation for class wasn't a ritual anymore; it was a series of conscious concealments. We all have our variations of lavender flowers, items that hide the physi cal traits we resent. My hair is too frizzy, so I must blow it dry. Makeup hides the zits that I cannot Oxy-cute. My breasts are too large, so I put on an oversized shirt. I go to class, like the rest of you, in my respec tive costume. But like veils removed from a painting, we are also exposed. Sometimes it rains and my hair goes curly. Sometimes my makeup wears off and freckles splatter my face. Sometimes even my breasts are noticed and I am ashamed. Some times those items, like plastic flowers, fail to conceal our flaws at the most inopportune moments. Maybe that's why I have such an affinity for my cactus. Its honest appearance represents what I am 0 1993 Calk* lan Inc. If you are interested in being a Collegian columnist, please contact opinion editor Rebecca Fishkin at 865-1828. ...fit MO VSONGRESSMEN 10 OE mow U%FUL ti PLUGGING 1101E5 IN CLE LN365., .• \ , N,, ~.,:::,', Nvz.:;,.• ' \`‘`. V , '" • • - . X. •‘ : , . :•-•\,,••• ..-. • •••..`.....` „'' .:,` '.` \ •!' • •'. ,:'' ,:. :• s's., . `.. s'' ' •Vez .`..V . I ...', \ „. • ••••••V; , , \' N.\ .• ‘`..' . •••\, • ~,.. •,•• . \ , ' ..-• ''..;. \•:' '" ' ~ .. N , . „•,:. ~:::‘,\ —, --- • • ~• ••••, •••• "V.:Z. •\\.. "..:, .8 • • \.. , „. ,k\s„..„,„ • • . .' ' .'""-••• \ Z.V.5.V...\-• s ". - -.: ~,'"kV•sZ.,.% ~.,` • ~ . -\,.. . : , '‘ , .:..,K•• , , e ' , ........,,\ \ N >..s.\\ 5.,•••,e,.,. ~ ,z...,:s ;:: unable to accept. We all aspire to be aesthetically beautiful. We want to be soft and smell lovely. We don't want our prickly outsides to be put on exhibition for all to see. The cactus is twisted in all directions, its thorny branches indecisively growing in all angles. The cactus is like me. This summer, in the humid heat of State College, the cactus with ered away. I thought this to be a timely moment, for in a few weeks I too will move on from Happy Valley. Bittersweetly, I carried the plant to the dumpster. After I threw out the cactus, I flipped by two remarkably differ ent images in a magazine. On one page was the scantily clad Cindy Crawford, so smooth and air brushed, the ideal of perfection. I was jealous of her physical beauty. Yet strangely enough, it was not this picture that enticed me. On the opposite page in black and Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1993 white lay a close-up of an aged Native American man. He stood alone against a backdrop of a barren field. His wrinkles displayed the paths of labor and pain he endured. His crow's feet stood out like an effusion of laughter. His face revealed more to me than Cindy's see-through lin gerie. He was provocatively naked in the story his face told. His beauty was not unlike the cactus'. I will carry this picture with me for a while, remembering beauty is not always the soft curve of a neck. Sometimes it can be a prickly cactus or the leathery face of a broken man. Maybe one day I will walk out with my hair in curly tresses, my eyes open wide and clear and makeup-free. Maybe one day I will be able to embrace those things of which I am ashamed. But for now, like the rest of you, I put on my uniform. Unlike the cactus, I can shield my imperfec tions. But I find beauty is some thing raw and honest; it is that which makes us human. Purple flowers will never conceal your true identity. Michelle Abarbanel is a senior majoring in French and a Collegian columnist.
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