The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 44, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 4, 1992 Page: 2 of 8
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Opinion
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Optimist
Keith Alewine Editor in Chief
H. Todd Thomas Managing News Editor
Lance Fleming Opinion Page Editor
j: Editorial Board
"Keith Alewine Chris Anderson. John Barlow Brian Belt Malissa Endsley
fcCance Fleming Bobby Gombert Deana
IRIossey Matt McKlnney Michael O'Connor H. Todd Thomas Levi Turner
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rie Optimist la a twlce-a-week publication of tho atudenta of the Dopartment of Journalltm
.. M rnmmiinlrailnn nl AKItana Christian llnKnrh miH tnrvn nil n Inurnnllam Isihnra
)ory for tho deportment's students. The unsigned editorials are the opinions of the students
;ph the Optimist Editorial Board and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the
'Wlveralty. The signed columns cartoons and lettors to tho editor are the opinions of their
'creators and do not necessarily reflect the views of tho Optimist Editorial Board or the uni-
JJpre'ty administration.
iPrayerful patience love solution
to tn-college devotional debate
-i
;:The debate over the propriety of stu-
Jclents conducting a tri-college devotion-
fton the ACU campus is a new twist to
;n ancient problem.
:;Christians have struggled with legiti-
. " .
;m.aie aiuerences oi opinion since me
Jdhurch was established.
;In the case of a proposed devotional
Cwjth McMurry and Hardin-Simmons
JjrtUdents ACU administrators believed
prohibiting the meeting on campus Feb.
31 was in the best interests of the school
land its students. Supporters of the devo
tional uisagrccu.
University administrators have been
; given autliority to operate this school
'for the glory of God and the benefit and
'education of its students. Their deci-
sions on issues such as the tri-college
devotional must be based on these prin-
ciples. ;: Though the university has not restrict
jfect students from attending devotionals
:p'rt the other campuses supporters of the
)mcrcuueg-uu; ucvuuunai limit uic
ACU administration's action demon
strates a closed-minded attitude.
The proposal of a new idea or a
?A tough question lurks:
Jyoung Elvis or old?
5'-Scattered thoughts in the fragmented
.lfght of midwinter
J'AVho says there's no substantive public
discourse anymore? Right now we are
grappling as a society with the ques-
tion: Would it be better for the common-
wealth if people licked the gummed back
of the young ingenuous droopy-forc-ilocked
Elvis or the older thicker mut-Jj)n:-choppcd
Elvis?
5the US. Postal Service will issue an
glyis Presley stamp. But we have two
very distinct memories of Elvis: There's
ihesveltc swivel-hipped blatantly
SfexUal young man and the fleshy sub-jstance-addlcd
Vegas freak in a gigantic
spangled toddler's playsuit.
' Interestingly this exact same quandary
ajiie up with the Martin Van Buren
gtsmp.
jjijwo designs have been drawn up. The
intrait of old Elvis it should be said
fcfcars little resemblance to the dissipated
jjjipii-conscious person we remember. He
;jJoks more like a television evangelist
ytqm space.
I postmaster General Arthur M. Frank
explains that people can vote their
References as often as they want by
Siding in the postcard ballots with any
i¢ stamp. (I happen to like the one
Showing Arthur Treacher before the
Rjnflc injuiy.)
That's a lot of stamps bought. Then
When the winner comes out all the
people who rank Elvis cosmologically
somewhere between Odin and Vishnu
U-jfl buy enough of those stamps to wall-
paper their basement rec rooms.
".Do you get the feeling that in these
tough times the talents of Arthur M.
Frank are being wasted at the post
office? For example he could be running
the- United Way. By the time you read
this the current national United Way
president William Aramony may have
loads of time to weigh his Elvis stamp
preferences. Aramony is under pressure
to resign in light of reports he
Cut slick deals that netted him a fancy
New York condominium a limousine
lifestyle etc.
What's more astounding is that Ara-
mpny's totally legitimate uncontested
institutionally sanctioned annual take is
$463000 in salary and benefits.
Mo wonder they keep telling us
"Thanks to you it's working"
.
What the Postal Service is doing with
Elvis the Smithsonian is doing with
"Star Trek." The Air and Space Muse
Hamby Wendy Hornbaker Roger
change often evokes emotional respons-
es. Quick solutions however often are
quick failures.
The most urgent need at this time is
prayerful patience.
In disputes such as this one all partic-
ipants also should earnestly strive to
understand each other's points of view.
Taking time to grasp the other side of an
argument clarifies our own beliefs.
But understanding alone is not
enough to solve disputes. Love is the
key.
Christian fellowship is based on a
common love for Christ. Christians do
not agree on all matters pertaining to the
Christian life nor do they need to. They
are called to love each other and glorify
God.
Open discussion of issues such as the
tri-college devotional proposal can cul-
tivate understanding of each other's
beliefs. Consequently stretching our
minds builds our faith.
When Christians give careful loving
deliberation to each other's viewpoints
God is glorified. And that is what we
are here for.
"The portrait of old
Elvis It should bo
said bears little
resemblance to the
dissipated semi-
conscious person we
remember."
Colin
McEnroe
Hartford
Courant
Guest Column
urn has opened a major exhibit on the
original television series.
I suppose some of you soreheads will
argue an august government institution
has no business opening its doors to a
collection of hypothetical outer-space
misfits except for Edmund Meese III.
The Smithsonian says the series ren-
dered a vision of a benevolent and wise
future in which humans would use sci-
ence and technology to travel into space
and have flstfights with other species.
I am forever wondering what I want
done with my ashes when I join the choir
Invisible but I was not at all inveigled by
the news about an Iowa company selling
a service where the ashes of hunters are
loaded into shotgun shells and taken on a
memorial hunt. Joe Buckshot.
I am not all that squeamish about cre-
mation but do we really want Uncle
Sheckey rocketing into tlie backside of
some poor deer?
All manner of spiritual and aesthetic
claims have been made for the Boston
Red Sox over the years and most of
them are absurd. I truly believe howev-
er that no other team has a comparable
decades-old tradition of multitudes of
flinty little old ladies hunkered next to
radios living and dying with the fortunes
of the club breathing mild curses at the
Yankees and Tigers. My grandmother
was one
I don't know much about Jean
Yawkey the Sox owner but I always
thought she was a great symbol of that
tradition. She died recently at 83.
If they can do it with shotgun shells
maybe they could find a way to load a
teaspoon of Mrs. Yawkey's ashes into
the core of a baseball. Then have some-
body throw a fat one to Mo Vaughn.
I think she would enjoy the view sail-
ing into the firmament over the Green
Monster.
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Where did
Keebler came out with Magic Middles
not too long ago - at about the same time
I realized I had one.
But my magic middle is not nearly as
appealing as the little elves' chocolate-
fllied cookies.
My magic middle made itself known tq
me sometime during the fall semester. I
looked down and realized that out of thin
air a big gut had appeared where my
stomach muscles used to live. The magic
middle.
Abracaflabra. There it lies.
I was always afraid it might happen to
me - getting fat around the belly button
is almost like a rite of passage into man-
hood. Very few men escape the jiggly
menace.
But I figured I would see the growth .
start. I would slowly sec the muscled
stomach give up definition methodically
filling fat in the little spaces between
muscle.
Nope the fat just appeared and now I
walk around all day with the button on
my pants unbuttoned.
It's kind of like wearing a fanny pack
but you can't take it off when you feel
like it. And it gets harder and harder to
hide.
I now have to tuck my shirts in and
then carefully untuck them a little bit so
Media heats up '92
This was supposed to be the year of
media redemption for the sins of 1988.
Responding to widespread criticism the
networks promised to present serious
substantive and less-obtrusive campaign
coverage in 1992. What went wrong?
Campaign journalism has long been
attacked for telling us more about who
wins and how than what the winner
stands for. But in 1988 journalists
became character cops in addition to
horse-race handicappers and inside-
dopesters.
Instead of refereeing the fight they
tried to knock out most of the contenders;
the process degenerated into a series of
embarrassing media-driven campaign
controversies. Call the roll: Gary Hart
Joe Biden Dan Quayle. George Bush vs.
Dan Rather. Attack ads recycled as news.
The public was angry at the candidates
and their handlers but mostly at the
media.
In a series of Op-Eds and internal
memos the networks and the prestige
press resolved to do better. 1992 cover-
age would be serious even-handed
focused on substance rather than style
featuring scrutiny of the candidates'
messages rather than their private lives.
In 1991 the networks began running
long profiles of the Democratic candi-
dates leaving in quotes as long as 40
seconds (In 1988 the average sound bite
lasted 9 seconds.)
Then the 1992 race began in earnest
and the high-minded approach went out
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that roll come from?
the shirt is not pressed smooth against the
outline of my little gut. This is called a
guttuck.
And I even find myself sucking in
every once in a while when I feel the fat
showing.
I've resolved not to buy any new
clothes even though Ive out grown some
"Nope the fat Just
appeared and now I
walk around all day with
the button on my pants
unbuttoned."
Keith
Alewine
Piece of My Mind
of them. I just figure eventually I will be
able to get myself down to my ideal
fighting weight.
Eventually all of the blood will be cut
off from my legs for so long that I will
die of gangrene or something but at least
I will have saved a few bucks by not pur-
chasing a pair of Levi's that fit my new
body.
How docs it happen? How does a
healthy guy who has been thin all his life
the window. Six weeks before the Mew
Hampshire primary the media anointed
Bill Clinton as front-runner with cover
stories in Time and the New Republic
along with stepped-up television cover-
age. Then the hapless Clinton managed
to combine the foibles of Hart and
Quayle into his own "character issue."
Now Paul Tsongas has emerged from
the debris as the latest beneficiary of a
media boomlet. The same study identifies
"Now Paul Tsongas
has emerged from
the debris as the lat-
est beneficiary of a
media boomlet. "
Robert
Lichter
Los Angele?
Times
Guest Column
Tsongas as the only candidate to
receive high marks on the evening news
for both his personal qualities and his
electability - a winning ticket in the
media momentum sweepstakes Journal
ists prize unlikely candidates who tell
voters what they don't want to hear and
Tsongas has become the John Anderson
of 1992. But he didn't get the full bounce
from his New Hampshire victory because
journalists still didn't take him
seriously as a national candidate.
In the Republican race Bush was
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grow a gut?
The truth is that magic has nothing to
do with the process. Responsibilities ore
the cause.
Back in high school I had plenty of
time to ride and run and lift and play but
these days have brought very little of that J
kind of activity. F JV
Now it's work and study and work ;
some more and pay bills. Without a
whole lot of free time it's hard to set t
aside time to take care of a growing mid-
dle. So in a strange kind of way getting
that litUc middle must be some kind of a
rite of passage - into a life of responsibil-
ity. I say all of this to introduce a little bit
of advice for this semester's Sadie
Hawkins Week.
Because of the natural correlation
between responsibility and a growing
gut a responsible man is pretty easy to
identify.
Just look for one with a pronounced
magic middle.
Picking a good man these days is kind
of like finding a good tomato at the gro-
cery store. Before you ask some man out
on a date this week give him a good
squeeze around the middle to test his
worth.
campaign
.v
pummelcd for not living up to expecta-
tions in New Hampshire a cardinal sin in
the race for good press. The coverage
was driven by inaccurate early exit polls
that inflated Buchanan's totals.
Thus the media are back in the thick of
the action creating and destroying
front-runners substituting their own
expectations for delegate counts in i
calling the race holding up the candi-
dates' dirty linen to the cameras and
generally acting very much as they did
four years ago.
If the structure of campaigns in the
media age accounts for the rapid rise '
of Bill Clinton the culture of journalism
explains his fall. Journalists
legitimize their enhanced political role by
casting themselves as the permanent ; )
opposition protecting the public by ;
attacking the powerful. The standanl U
not balanced reporting but compensatory
reporting which props up underdogs and
topples top dogs. This also means that
incumbents can expect no quarter. Even
the storm of criticism that broke over
Clinton cannot match the steady rain of
disapproval that George Bush has
TO2UA Although the Center for Media i
and Public Affairs study finds that Clin-
ton has received the most negative televi-
sion coverage among the Democrats
Bush has gotten by far the worst press
of any candidate. As the ultimate front-
runner he COn eXIrt mnn .f. ..-..
And journalists should expect a response
in the Spiro Agnew tradition.
4
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 44, Ed. 1, Wednesday, March 4, 1992, newspaper, March 4, 1992; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth96292/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.