The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 37, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 2, 1994 Page: 2 of 8
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Opinion
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Sharla Stephens; Editor in Chief
m Serene Goh Managing News Editor
Debbie Crawford Opinion Page Editor
Melissa Stallings Opinion Page Editor
Dr. Charlie Marler Faculty Adviser
Editorial Board
Serene Goh Kathy Colvetl Brian Shaw Mark Houston
John Carroll Jodi Bain Melissa Stallings Debbie Crawford
Marty Reves Sharla Stephens Eileen Tan
The Optimist is a twicc-a-wcek publication of the students of the Department of Journal
ism and Mass Communication of Abilene Christian University and serves as a journalism
laboratory for the department's students.
The unsigned editorials arc the opinions of the students on the Optimist Editorial Board
and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the university.
The signed columns cartoons and letters to the editor arc the opinions of their creators and
do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist Editorial Board or the university
administration.
Education demands equality
Our Founding Fathers determined that
"All men are created equal." If this
' country still lives under the rules and
laws they established in the Constitution
'people should not be prohibited from
'.exercising equal freedoms.
' Men cannot be considered equal and
free when universities strive to maintain
exclusive entrance requirements. Some
J schools still do not allow different races
sexes or acaucmic levels 10 aucna ineir
..institutions. Students must Tit a standard
present in all accepted members of these
universities.
. Universities such ns Tftn AAM nnH
rTexas Women's represent examples of
( scnoois inai once uuoweu omy one sex 10
attend. Both of these universities and
many others reversed their rules register-
ing both sexes for classes and degree pro
grams. Officials determined that allowing
uuiu sexes iu micnu creaicu more luvur-
able names for their universities and
improved the learning environment for
the students.
. Some schools still resist the change.
. A recent gender case involved a denial
Renovations worthy high prices
IJccent renovations to Moody Coliseum
I la
and the rest of campus have cost the
university more than one million dollars.
Although these facelifts have cost large
amounts they also have provided much-
flecded changes in the older structures of
ACU. The question is whether the
'revamping was worth the money.
! MnnuV miller. .In1ln. nn.mA:n
C-Surgcry has left an fresh look on the coli-
Seum. Although Red Section A no longer
Exists the newly upholstered maroon and
:'t)luc scats are a refreshing change from
Mjieir comparatively gaudy predecessors.
! The Optimist reported new bathroom
Wjnd dorm room facilities in Nelson and
;.Mabee Halls were appreciated by stu-
dents who live in them. Those who have
Experienced the changes now And the
trails welcome homes after classes and
jSqgrce that their refurbished surroundings
S The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but we
preserve the right to refuse to print letters that contain personal attack obscenity
rjflefamation erroneous information or invasion of privacy.
: J The Optimist refuses to print any letters that do not include a signature or letters
.'t (hat bear requests for the writer's anonymity.
jjj We reserve the right to limit frequent writers and edit letters when length or gram-
matical errors become a problem.
Letters submitted to the Optimist should be limited to 350 words or less.
Address letters to:
'" "Optimist Editor"
ACU Box 7892
or bring the letters to Room 308 of the Don H. Morris Center.
Chinese delicacies represent differences in cultural palates
Oh gross!" Snicker. That sort of standard
response I receive when I happily
enlighten my American friends on selective
Chinese eating habits.
The response when they actually sample
certain Chinese delicacies is even better.
Double snicker.
I have in recent years taken upon myself
tho delightful task of advising unsuspecting
Americans of Chinese gastronomic oddi-
ties. Writing this column has provided the
opportunity to perform my duty mass-
media style. Triple snicker.
Where should I begin? Well our long
and illustrious culinary history has seen the
creation of more than one unusual dish. For
example the next time you sec u rat do not
of Shannon Faulkner to attend The
Citadel in Charleston S.C. The case fac-
ing the Supreme Court show that Faulkn-
er was accepted by the school. However
when the academy learned she was
female her acceptance was revoked.
Faulkner waited without completing
the courses in which she was enrolled
until the Supreme Court made its final
decision.
Even though she is a woman she
deserved an equal education with any of
the enrolled men. If she can compete aca-
demically and pay her fees the university
should not to bar her from its doors or its
classrooms.
The time has come when all good men
should recognize the same qualities in
women that cause them to excel.
The time has come for all academic
institutions to open their doors to mem-
bers of society beyond their elite. If all
men ure created equal all men and
women should be free to choose where
they will cam their educations. Universi-
ties should provide not limit
education.
have provided a good environment for
studying.
Even the Campus Center has not
escaped the renovation. Fresh carpet with
pastel swirly not floral designs
with matching drapes and sofas have
replaced the worn ones in the Living
Room part of the $50000 budgeted for
Campus Center renovations.
These changes have not gone unno-
ticed. The last time the campus experi-
enced a little brightening was 1969. Until
now the campus has aged. Unlike fruit-
cake age does not become a university
campus. As long as the latest additions
arc expected to endure they will prove
worth their expense
The renovations arc investments in this
university's upkeep. The money not only
will serve current students but AC U's
future scholars too
merely think of it as a lowly rodent. Ruthcr
think of it as a delicacy belonging on the
dining table. At least one obscure village in
China does. Mmm ... mm! Oh by the way
did I forget to warn readers that this column
is not for the weak of stomach?
And uh! Of course the infamous dish of
dogmeat. Chihuahua anyone? Seriously
dog lovers need not fear for the lives of
their cuddly canines. Most Chinese nowa-
days never have sampled "fragrant meat"
which is the dish's literal translation from
the Chinese language.
My family used to frequent a restaurant
that among standard fare served fried scor-
pions fried centipedes and tiger genitals.
However let me be quick to point out that
iil!MirjwtTJiiiiT'''fiitirrfii'ir''f'"m"''''"'' ' ' ' v- ...... .T
Adam and Eve
Eden couple at fault for modern fashion philosophy '
Adam and Eve are to blame. If the first
couple hadn't blown it in the Garden of
Eden clothes would never have been
invented and nudity would be no big deal.
Our lives would consist of prancing
around the garden wearing only the smiles
that result from living in paradise.
No death no responsibilities and no
clothes. Picture an overcrowded nudist
colony.
However Eve's fetish for forbidden fruit
caused mankind to move in a slightly dif-
ferent direction. Instead of enjoying a sin-
free skin-full world people now dress
themselves.
As a result pf having to wear clothes over
the centuries society is obsessed with the
idea of people in their birthday suits.
You scd it everywhere. Sharon Stone
becomes famous by crossing her legs' in a
very unladylike manner. A bumper sticker
says "Tarty Nuked!"
And I could have done without the USA
Today story about actress Shannen Dohcr-
Sadism in movies emerges in life
The movie Fatal Attraction was violent
but bluntly stated a point. Glenn Close
played the psychotic woman who terrorized
Michael Douglas' character because he jilt-
ed her and I recall female audiences
whooping in the cinema as she stalked him
with a kitchen knife.
That movie impacted my father so much
that as we walked out of the cinema he
swore to my mother that he never would
have an extramarital affair.
Then I thought the movie was unrealis-
tic. Now I sec a strange parallel to it in
Lorcna Bobbin's case. I hear women quiet-
ly cheering "Yesss yes yes" as Lorcna
emerges from her case almost scot-free
after pleading temporary insanity.
Perhaps the reason why the public is so
interested in the case is because many peo-
ple can relate to the Bobbins.
Although Lorcna hardly represents a role
model for women she unwittingly might
By Bob Herbet
Tho Now Yotk Times 1994
Is there reason for hope or is that naive?
Is the country really waking up to the
enormity of its problems of crime and vio-
lence or is this just another phase driven
by the media and lasting only until we are
diverted by a killer blizzard or a celebrity
sex scandal or a surprise locker-room
attack by a Buffalo hitpcrson to the knees
of Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith?
A serious national effort to combat
crime never has been needed more than
'My grandfather
used to make special
trips to Thailand to
drink anake blood
straight from the
snake'
Eileen
'Kin
Tanning
my family never has ventured to sample the
crunchy anthropods nor have we tried the
Chinese version of mountain oysters. But
we have made a meal of a big black bat.
HBKBaCT 1
'H Eve had simply
refused the serpent
nakedness would ba
a way of Hfa Instoad
of a sick fascination.'
Dcana
Nail
Not Quite Blonde
ty's upcoming nude appearance in Playboy.
Oh of course a spokesman said the pho-
tos of Dohcrty are extremely tasteful. How
tasteful is exposing your nudity to millions
of pconlc? Ever since the eviction from the
garden nudity only can be shared tastefully
withvybucmom who has seen you naked
even if you don't remember and your
spouse. And a few occasional doctors.
If Eve had simply refused the serpent
nakedness would be a way of life instead of
' ... recall famala
audiences whooping
In the cinema as sha
stalked Mm with a
kitchen knife.'
Serene
Goh
Megawhat
have carried out the deepest darkest unspo-
ken desires of some women. No wonder the
public's interest in the case borders on the
obsessive. Like the women who emitted
whoops of approval when Douglas' charac-
ter fled for his life many women probably
identify with Lorcna and sympathize with
the way she was treated.
now. Americans are being murdered
raped beaten robbed and otherwise ter-
rorized in numbers that suggest an extra-
ordinary evil has been loosed upon the
society.
No one is immune not even toddlers or
infants and no place is exempt not even
schools or houses of worship.
The reality is more horrible than most
fiction writers are capable of imagining.
The Children's Defense Fund has released
a report that says nearly 50000 children
and teen-agers were killed by firearms in
the United States between 1979 and 1991.
Before you think Chinese are Indiscrimi-
nate in choosing our nourishment allow me
to add that many of these critters arc con-
sumed for their medicinal value. For exam-
ple my grandfather used to make special
trips to Thailand to drink snake blood
straight from the snake which is best when
fresh Among the more distasteful and
bizarre even by modem Chinese standards
are cockroach soup and dried lizards
Food preparation also has a way of turn-
ing my friends' faces an odd purple color.
One delicious treat that creates that effect is
the century egg. The innocent duck egg is
cured in a mixture that includes among
other things horses' urine for one hundred
days. Actually this dish tastes pretty good.
ftYmmm
i i iiimiMi
a sick fascination. My bet is that people
would buy magazines featuring centerfold
of fully clothed people.
No one would arrive late to work because!
of the failure to find something to wear.
The concept of laundry wouldn't exist. !
Grunted the entire blame docs not rest on; u
Atlnm nnit Rvi Thi whntr thinn no '
Satan's idea. Besides even if Eve had
resisted temptation Cain would have killed
Abel In the next chapter and introduced sin
into the world.
Actually life without clothes may have
been more complex. Everyone would havc'l
to remain in impeccable shape without
clothes to conceal bulges and ccllulitc
colonics. Hiding that new tattoo from your
dad would be no easy feat cither. Also
shopping would bore individuals.
Besides: God knew evil would enter the!
world. And he knew wearing clothes' fi
wouldn't be such a bad idea.
If only Shannen Doherty felt the same
way.
Already I've heard women joking with
their husbands about using sharp objects on
them for various reasons. Has Lorcna
unwittingly justified what many women
have felt but not acted on for so long? And
as a member of half the world's population A
is there some sick side of myself that I
didn't even know I had?
One of my friends remarked as she heard-
Lorcna's verdict "About time a woman
won after all those rapists and wife-beaters"
never get caught" Despite the fact that
what Lorcna did was wrong people still 4
feel sorry for her.
What arc the implications for men then?
Docs Lorcna Bobbin's case mean that mcr
no longer will be safe in kitchens alon'e
with angry women? Will temporary insapjj
ty henceforth be the excuse for crisfv.
kitchen crimes involving utensils? UnrcalU-
ticv Jo was ratal Attraction just a few
years ago.
More than 24000 of those deaths were
homicides the remainder being suicides
and deaths from firearm accidents.
A child growing up in the United States
is IS times more likely to be killed by
gunfire than a child growing up in North-
ern Ireland. An American child or teen-
ager dies from gunshot wounds every two
hours.
The only thing more remarkable than
those statistics is that the violent deaths of
so many young people could occur with-
out a frenzied national outcry a collective
expression of anguish and outrage.
I suppose the adage one man's meat is
another man's poison rings true where mat-
ters of the stomach arc concerned. Perhaps
it rings true of life as well. People tend to
measure another culture by the standards of
their own. That explains why we suffer cul-
ture shock.
Culinary habits arc perhaps the least
important of cultural differences; however
they do reflect the kind of shock one can
experience when in contact with another
culture.
When one is tempted to judge unothcr
culture that appears to violate the rules of M
one's own rememben Century eggs may be
your poison but they arc someone else's
delicacy.
m
i.
k
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 37, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 2, 1994, newspaper, February 2, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92221/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.