The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1984 Page: 4 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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THRESHING IT OUT
Profane misclass
not inappropriate
To the Editor:
Rice students are typically
content to allow the events of the
world to pass without comment.
However, there are times when we
must stand up for those things
which we enjoy. Backpage
vulgarity is just such an issue. I am
one of those people who reads the
backpage and "Bloom County"
and then goes to whatever Friday
night party seems most attractive.
There being no particularly
attractive parties this weekend, I
chanced across an alarming
editorial. What 1 found most
startling was that people who are
much larger than an entire stack of
Threshers could feel threatened by
just a few words on the backpage.
They argue that offensive language
is the antithesis of good literature.
They are welcome to read my copy
of The Catcher In The Rye. They
say that the backpage publishes
only "grotesque innuendo, blatant
filth, and sexual commentary."
The backpage that accompanies
their letter's printing has only five
misclasses that would fit into these
categories and all of them refer to
sex. Sex is, by nature, neither
disgusting nor insulting. Clearly,
this belies the assertion that only
"filth" can or has been printed on
the backpage. Furthermore, not
only am 1 not embarassed by the
backpage but 1 make it a point to
show it off.
The crux of my argument,
however, does not lie in the
presence or absence of filth in the
Thresher, nor does it deal with the
relatively innocuous nature of sex;
it deals with the propriety of
obscenity on the backpage. 1 will
admit that wit and literary merit
are preferable to a string of dirty
words meant onlv to shock;
however, obscenitites are not
inherently destructive. In fact,
because of people's general
unwillingness to speak openly
about sex, over the past few
centuries obscenities have been
injected with so many different
meanings that they have become
the perfect vehicle for the punster.
Euphemisms, for example, are
humorous merely because people
find it necessary to use them.
Finally, swearing is a large and
natural part of the Rice
vocabulary. Eschewing such
language may involve deep
personal commitment, but it is not
indicative of the general Rice
mentality nor is it fair (or correct)
to criticize the backpage for
reflecting the speech patterns used
so frequently among the Rice
populace.
I would not attempt to defend
the literary merit of all of the "filth"
printed on the backpage, but 1
would also avoid trying to defend
the literary merit of all the
"innocuous" misclasses. Clearly,
language and content are not the
deciding factors in determining
literary value, but, instead, its
ability to invoke a laugh, raise an
eyebrow, or expose a foible in
American middle class values.
Daniel M. Price
Eric Wasserman
Will Rice '87
Johnson gave his
share already
To the editor:
So. The school needs S3.5
million in order to get 500 grand
for the new RMC expansion
program. They can't get it from
industry, traditional benefactors
have been picked clean, and the
administration's already blown
their wad on coach Brown and
three new buildings — one of
which is a perfect example of a
OPEN LATE.
KINKO'S business day
starts early and ends late,
so we're here
when you need us most!
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2368 Rice Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77005
(713) 521-9465
Southwest freeway
2035 Southwest Freeway
Houston, Texas 77098
(713) 520-9753
Downtown
2811 Main Sheet
Houston. Texas 77002
(713) 654-8161
U of H./Gulf Freeway
4727 Calhoun #B
Houston. Texas 77004
(713) 747-8088
Clear Lake Area
989 Nasa Rd #1
Houston, Texas 77058
(713) 480-6420
kinkcs
A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF ELECTRONIC PRINTSHOPS
Copies ■ Reductions • Enlargements • Passport Photos • Binding • And much more!
"pretty" building with zero
functionality (ask any comp jock).
And nowwww... (wait for it)...
they're looking for other sources:
like you, me, your underpaid
college secretary, my broke
parents and, I guess, the kitchen
ladies. All for a shiny new building,
and the glory of some Pelli guy
from Colgate or Harvard or
wherever the hell he lives. Have
you guessed the exact amount of
money I'm ready to donate? Good.
So don't even ask. Don't call me,
don't fill my O/C box with hokey
letters telling me about all that
Rice has done for me, and don't
ask me to make your money-
grubbling phone calls. My rear end
is already in the sling for roughly
twenty thousand, and if you think
I'll put out one more stinking
nickel for some god-forsaken
building that 111 never see, you can
kiss my proverbial "seat" of
learning.
Rodman CJohnson
Hanszen U6
Students' public
interest too low
To the Editor:
Six days ago, the future of
public interest research here at
Rice appeared to me as being
highly uncertain, if not dismal;
however, the response to Ralph
Nader's message of social
responsibility, expressed in his
speech of 11 September, has re-
affirmed the commitment of Rice
students to rational progressivism,
in spite of the label apathetic
branded upon them by years of
passivism. Student interest in the
environment, the consumer
marketplace, and the political
arena has not been dormant, but
rather muffled by the academic
and social pressures according to
which we have been told to deform
and to leave our other interests
aside. A list, collected at the Nader
speech — the RSIO's first big
undertaking of the year — of over
125 student-volunteers interested
in voter registration this fall
further demonstrates the existence
of student desire to be politically
effective, for during one hour
spirits were made fertile again for
the idea of civic duty that may be
time-consuming and rugged but
nonetheless enjoyable and wholly
fulfilling when done as part of a
group with common purpose.
And so the appeal to the Rice
student body has begun, that every
one of us should take on a role in
shaping the course of our world,
not as arm-chair editorialists but
as astute and active participants in
the world of politics in which we
live. A student has the talent and
the time for civic activity, be it
helping study the ways in which
our public utilities are either
robbing our checkbooks, our land,
or our health; monitoring financial
institutions, so we might reap the
benefits of both knowing
regulations on banking and seeing
broken into simple terms the frilly
plans offered to us; gathering
current information on tenants'
rights and responsibilities;
surveying shops and stores, in
order to produce guides on pricing
and on quality of products;
reading about our congressmen
and senators, in order to note their
responsiveness to student and
public needs; attending meetings
of area civic organisations, such
that we know what's up in the big
H; or helping to register voters on
this campus and in the community.
No matter the extent of your
affection for this place, you are for
the duration of your stay at Rice a
member of the Houston
community and should fully
participate; your voting in your
home community will amount to
zero when it comes to either the
question of the T exas drinking age,
the support of the Texas
Equalization Grant system, the
sales tax that you pay on items for
nine months of the year, or the
effectiveness of the Rice student
body as a potential political group
which should be appraised by local
politicians and economic
institutions.
All members of the Rice student
body and faculty are welcome to
participate in the Rice Student
Interest Organisation for the
causes above and more, given that
work is undertaken without
partisan intent. Through October
7, the RSIO will have a table in the
RMC where one may register to
vote in Harris County — the City
of Houston thinks we cannot get
continued on page 5
THE WHEEL STILL ROLLS/by John Cunyus
Maybe it's that it's there staring
at me in the face every morning
when 1 go to work. Maybe it's
because of the unfortunate fact
that the rudest, most disrespectful,
and least sensitive customers I
encounter inevitably list it as their
home address. Or maybe it's
because its endless houses and
tree-lined streets appear so perfect,
marred nary a bit by the criminal
vices of poverty and want or by
those criminals the rest of us call
the poor. Maybe it's because of all
these reasons that I wonder what
will become of River Forest after
the revolution.
Oh, granted, there doesn't seem
to be any danger of a revolution
now, now that the Republicans are
again bound for the White House,
now that the economy is booming,
now that tense times seem to be
settling down. But, nevertheless, 1
can't help recalling that though
Babylon was not built in a day it
certainly fell in one and that
though the inner city and its
problems are at arms length from
the River now, they won't always
be. So, I wonder...
I wonder when rioting breaks
out in the city over inadequate
housing, infant mortality,
malnutrition, and pathetic
schooling, if the good folks in the
River will suffer the tired, poor, the
huddled masses of the city to come
share an upstairs room or even
sleep by the pool in the backyard. I
wonder, when the Ayatullah mines
the Straits of Hormuz and oil
prices skyrocket, will the good
folks in the River pitch in to
help the elderly in the city pay their
heating bills and so avoid freezing
to death in the winter. I wonder,
when hunger and cold become too
pronounced to be ignored, will the
barriers be barriers enough
between them and the Great
Unwashed to allow them to sleep
comfortably at night.
Of course, if they're not, they'll
be able to take their fancy cars,
their gold rings, and their patrician
accents south for the winter, which
will be allright, really. Because
when they are gone, the people
who are freezing on the city's
streets less than a mile away will
have houses to move into. When
they are gone, well be able to
wander down the streets at will
without fearing their hatchet-
armed police force. And when they
are gone, fewer of my customers
will think they are doing me a favor
by deigning to notice I'm alive.
m
H
/hat does It take to give the]
Rice sports fan the whole
picture? That's right,
(REPORTERS! We need people
(with a passion for the world of
Women's sports, along with
}other assignments! Get Into
the game! Write for Thresher
sports!
Yes, the one sitting there,
reading this ad..You can have
a voice In the Thresher. Write
for us! We need people for
news coverage, and fine arts..
or what passes for It.
Experience Isn't necessary,
but It sure comes In handy.
Get off your butt! Join us, It's
easy, and It's FUN!
©tuft waua M
If
<r *
Yeah, you with the camera...]
did It ever occur to you that]
news photos get a lot of ex-
posure? (Pun Intended) We
need your skills! Especially at(
football games, at campus
theatre, and of course your
standard mug shots.
Get published! Print for the
Thresher!
D\7 ©(Jiff (DiMgB
%
The Rice Thresher, September 28, 1984, page 4
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1984, newspaper, September 28, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245569/m1/4/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.