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The Banner
February 6, 1997
Opinions
The Banner
Editorial
Financial aid, anyone?
President Clinton recently endorsed the largest increase in Pell
grants in twenty years, which may help provide a great source of
opportunity to needy college students, according to an article in
Wednesday’s New York Times.
Maybe he should work on cutting out some of the paperwork as
well.
For those of you who have applied for financial aid this year, the
members of the editorial board apologize. Prepare to wait with us m
endless lines, have your telephone calls constantly put on hold, and
carry a pen with you at all times to fill out a mountain of forms.
Pray that your car doesn’t break down, you don’t need groceries, or
rent doesn’t come due. Because you certainly won t receive your
financial aid award letter. When you need it, at least.
Ever wondered why the government uses up so much paper?
Bureaucracy. That one word describes the heart of UNCA’s financial
aid office. First, you fill out preliminary forms strictly to apply for aid
at this university. Then, you must fill out the FAFSA (surely you are
familar with the terms), receive your SAR in the mail, make correc
tions, and send it back to the government. Then, they send it to your
university. ^ ji -ru
Seems like the process would end there, doesn t it? Hardly. Then,
trek continuously up and down the stairs to the financial aid office,
where you will be told that your forms are in jthe next file to be sorted
through,’ or, ‘we have other things to do than process your applica-
The world would be a much happier place if students could actually
afford to pay their way through college without the help of student
loans, grants, and scholarships. But reality eventually sets in, and the
process begins all over again.
It might be okay if students only had to fill out the pile of forms
once, maybe at the beginning of their college career, but every year?
It becomes such a headache, and hardly worth the effort when you re
starving to death waiting for your loan check to come through.
Prepare yourself by gathering those tax forms, sharpening up your
pencil, and rationalizing whether you really need financial aid after
all.
If so, look forward to paying off student loans for the next ten years.
Get ready for post-college debt.
Editorial Board
Michael Taylor
Jennifer Thurston
Renee Slaydon
Brian Castle
Kyle S. Phipps
Del DeLorm
Matthew Gibson
Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
News Editor
Features Editor
Sports Editor
Photo Editor
Copy Editor
Stafif
Rafrica Adams, Bonner Butler, Lara Barnett, Shelly Eller,
Gary Gray, Robert Hardin, Andrew Hart, Kristi Howard,
Stephanie Hunter, Tracy Kelly, Erin King, Melinda Pierson,
Adrien Sanders, Kristin Scobie, Chanse Simpson,
Catharine Sutherland
Wendy McKinney
Thomas Estes
Nate Conroy
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
Electronic Editor
Columnists
Nate Conroy, James Hertsch, Pam Williams, Tracy Wilson
Mark West, faculty advisor
The Banner is the student newspaper of the University of North
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It's Valentine's, so let's talk
I was at the mall one day when I
saw a sign in the music store. It
read, “Romeo would have given
Juliet a CD.”
Oh, really? Would a young lover
in Verona who spoke in fluent
iambic pentameter and died for
his true love give her a little metal
lic disk that he paid much more to
purchase than the company paid
to manufacture? I don’t think so.
So, as Valentine’s Day lumbers
toward us with all the grace and
style of a bright red greeting card,
I am forced to complain. Without
a doubt, we are afraid of silence,
especially in the realm of emo
tional intimacy.
The fear of silence leads music
stores to believe that a CD is a
romantic gift. Don’t know what
to buy your lover for Valentine’s
Day? How about something to fill
up the silence that will surely be
there when the two ofyousee each
other again.
Why are we so afraid of quiet?
Beyond the fact that we’re condi
tioned to be talkative, silence has
a presence beyond our control. It
exists until we interrupt it. It does
not disappear until we force it
away with sound.
Since silence frightens us into a
state of perpetual chatter, we say
things we don’t mean. Not only
are our statements insincere, of
ten they just don’t make sense.
But, if we could just keep our
Tracy
Wilson
columnist
mouths shut long enough, we
might just realize that silence is
much more powerful than small
talk and cliches.
Two summers ago, I went hik-
the trees. When I got home, I
happened to mention them to my
father, who was kind enough to
inform me that hawks are soli
tary. The most I’d see together
would be two, and then only if
they were mating.
“Then what were they. Dad?”
“Turkey buzzards.”
Now, my young male friend is a
biology major at Florida State.
He’s a fountain of wilderness wis
dom. That he would mistake buz
zards seeking carrion for hawks
flying over the mountains is quite
unlikely.
ing with a guy I was dating. When
we reached the observation tower
at the highest point in the park,
we saw a group of very large black
birds soaring around the tops of
the mountains. Their wings re
flected silver, and their shadows
played along the mountains’
curves.
He told me they were hawks.
Over the winter break, I visited
the same park, alone. I hiked to a
different ridge, and there I saw
the birds again, gliding around
Maybe he thought I would be
impressed, seeing such a phenom
enon in his company. My suspi
cion is that while I gawked, the
silence made him nervous. He
decided that hawks must be more
poetic than turkey buzzards, and
made a convenient substitution.
Creative? Maybe.
But he didn’t have to say any
thing in the first place. He twisted
what he saw into something he
thought was romantic when he
really didn’t need to.
Last summer, the same guy and
I were halfway to a ridge in the
same park when he noticed a deer
watching us. Behind her, another
appeared. We could hear several
others heading down the moun
tain around us. The two we could
see froze while the rest continued
on.
I have never seen so many deer
in one place. Neither had he.
Neither of us had been that close
to them before. We probably
won’t be lucky enough to be right
in the middle of so many ever
again. What a perfect time for a
moment of silent intimacy.
His response?
“This is the ultimate in cool
ness.”
Did he realize that he didn’t
have to say anything? Probably
not. But, there is a grand inti
macy in silence. His idle chatter,
brought on by the immediate pres
sure of silence, did a wonderful
job of spoiling the mo'ment. Be
ing awestruck and being in love
are two perfect times to just be
quiet and notice what else is
around you.
Oh, I’m just as guilty of useless
prattle as anyorie else. So, I re
mind myself, “Shut up, Tracy.
You don’t have to talk every sec
ond of your life.”
Greeting card companies would
have us believe that emotion is
something to be bottled and sold,
to be consumed once a year. All
that’s left is insensitivity and
cliche.
We have red hearts on pink back
grounds and hideous “I love you”
blurbs on the insides ofValentine
cards. I suppose that’s convenient.
It means we don’t have to listen to
the silence. But there is more to
intimacy than the words “I love
you.”
How to be cool at the game
Nate
Conroy
columnist
The basketball team is kickin’
ass this year.
Losing the last two games is just
the reality check they need (after
an incredible 11-game winning
streak) to get ready to win the Big
South tourney and make it to
March Madness. Even the mas
cot is better this year.
But let’s talk about us, the fans.
First of all, we have an entire
side of the gym choc’ full of stu
dents, and we act like we’re not
allowed to be loud.
It’s so quiet, you’d think you
were sitting in a library, a church,
or a funeral home. You’d think
this was the Asheville school for
mimes. Or maybe school for the
blind, if you can keep quiet after
a Stevenson dunk.
Well, I’m here to let everyone
know that housing does not en
force “quiet hours” in the Justice
Center. The fact that musical in
struments are allowed should have
tipped you off to that!
At least the quiet people are
watching the game.
The really annoying people are
the ones that don’t pay attention
at all. This ain’t socializing time,
dammit, there’s a game going on!
And the team is good, so get up,
make some noise, and you could
even stand up once in a while'.
If something good happens, get
loud! If a player on the other team
acts like a tool, yell at him!
When the other team is shoot
ing free throws, try to distract
them. Count down the shot clock
for our team, and count it down a
couple of seconds ahead for the
other team.
If the ref is acting like a jackass,
let him know it. Hell, if you’re in
front row and the he’s acting like
one, you can trip him. (Just kid
ding, there’s no need to resort to
physical violence.)
What you can do is stand up and
make as much noise as you want -
it’s easy once everybody gets go
ing!
Unfortunately, some people see
basketball games as just another
social event: another way to ad
vance in that neverending quest
for coolness.
This is their story.
How to be cool at a UNCA bas
ketball game:
• Come to a game for the first
time and start talking about it like
you’re expert.
• Stay turned away from the court
talking to your friends the entire
game.
• Wear your best clothes, hair.
makeup and stroll up and down
the gym walkway as if it were the
runway at a Paris fashion show.
• Make the cymbal noise during
the national anthem.
• Buy a drink from the concession
stand and carry it with you every
where you go.
• Sneak under the bleachers and
steal coats that people drop.
• Never sit in one place for more
than five minutes so you can
“make the rounds.”
• Walk down to a corner or some
place where you’re not supposed
to be and watch the game from
there.
• Leave early to “beat the traffic,”
even if it’s a 2 point game.
• Do loud, obnoxious play-by-
play for the entire first half
• Become the ball boy, then act
like you’re too good to move
quickly or get down on your hands
and knees to wipe up sweat. Act as
if the only reason for being there
is to shoot three-pointers during
halftime.
• Run furiously up and down the
hill outside the gym entrance
when its muddy. Play king of the
hill.
• Walk up and down the gym for
the entire game.
• Yell and scream while eating
popcorn and and spill and spit it
all over the place.
• Bring back the “farmboy” chant.
• Secretly, wish the halftime
unicyclers would fall.
• Join that elite fan club thing so
you can eat cookies and drink
coke at halftime. Don’t come back
until well into the second half.
• Count down the correct shot
clock time for the other team.
• Participate in a halftime shoot
ing contest, miss all your shots,
then walk back to your boys with
a grin and make excuses that you
didn’t have on your right shoes,
etc.
• Bypass the easy shots in the
shooting contest for tough ones,
then airball all of them.
• When one of the players does
something good, start talking
about how you know him or how
he was in one of your classes two
years ago, as if you deserve some
credit some for the play
• Claim a seat as “your” spot.
Fight people over it.
• Mug for the newsreel, then get
completely quiet when they turn
off the camera.
• Yell at Craig Korbin.
• Watch the first half, sit through
halftime, then leave at the begin
ning of the second half because
you have to study
• Pick up a loose ball and throw
up a brick.