April 14, 2000 Photos and Interviews by Lindi Lagman OPINION Campus Voice: How would you define your self-esteem? Average self-esteem. Seiko Yoshimoto I define my self-esteem as low at times, but I have friends to bring it up. Jason Hensley At this point in my life, my self-esteem is very high. I have learned, over time, to value who I am and who I am becoming. Dee Dasburg I define my self-esteem, for my age, as being average. Amy Hembrough I react to the people around me. If they are happy, then I am happy. If they are sad, I try to cheer them up. Anne Ridge I define or see my self-esteem as being ok. Dr. Llewellyn Middle of the road. Sean Muq^hy Citizens’ bane? Calm your census fears COLUMN BY SARA O’NEIL THE DAILY CARDINAL (U-WIRE) MADISON, WI —People really like to cornplain. Okay, I’m one of those people. But 1 like to complain about things that make no sense, like people acting like complete slobs and not cleaning, or DNA replication or people refusing to wear de odorant. But why complain about things that make sense? Wearing a seatbelt, good idea. Turn ing on your headlights at night, good idea. Chewing with your mouth closed, good idea. This is why when the government decides to do something that is worthwhile and actually a good excuse for them to spend millions of taxpayer dollars, I find no reason to complain. This is the case with the U.S. Census. Think of how many worthless things the government spends money on. Just this weeV I saw a Supreme Court case that was ^ deciding wKetHer'feiriafe*strippers who wear Q_strings and pasties wouldn t lure as many drunks to strip clubs as those clubs where dancers go nude. People complain endlessly about how much money the government wastes which is true about 99 percent of the time. But the one time out of a billion, when the government isn’t doing worthless things like testing the effects of weightless ness on inch worms or deciding if strippers should wear plastic adhesives, people still find the need to complain. Haven’t you seen the commercials? The one where the waitress has to take her kids to work at the diner because there isn t enough daycare in her town? Or how about the one where the teacher is teaching in a janitor’s closet because of school overcrowding? Do you want your waitress’s kid’s snot running in your food? Do you really want to have your kids learn ing the ABCs with mop handles up their butts? Another cdmplaint I have heard in the ' news is ftiat {hose'peopte w1i6“feceived the long form of the Census, about one in eight homes, think it’s too long. Okay, there are 53 questions on the long form of the Cen sus. But if it takes you more than 10 sec onds to find the answers to any of these questions, you’re a complete moron and shouldn’t be included in the Census data anyway. How long does it take you to get to work? Have you served in the military? What do you do for a living? If you can’t remem ber the answers to these questions within a matter of seconds. I’m going to be awfully scared if you are serving in the military or you’re an air traffic controller not remem bering what you do for a living. But prob ably the biggest complaint people have about the Census is that the government is asking too many private questions. I have two answers to this. One, people will tell a) a talkshow host who they’re sleep ing with and in what position and b) when thev're drunk, they wiH tell the sarne thing ' 'to anyone wlTo witrlTSteiT/ I think you can tell the government whether you live in an apartment or a house. And, number two, the government already knows everything about you anyway, they’re just lazy and need it compiled for them. Did you file your income taxes lately? Then doesn’t the government probably know how much money you earn anyway? Embarrassed to admit things you have no control over, like race and gender? Then you’ve probably got issues way beyond filling out a Census. Don’t want the government knowing when you leave for work? Quit being para noid, you really think they care enough to stalk you? So for once, because the government is trying to do something worthwhile, don t you think you should fill out your Census and get your tax dollars at work for some thing useful. Then again, maybe it’s just the huge federal taxrefund l ^ot inthe rnail

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