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The Broncos' Voice D ecember 5.1997 EDITORIAL COMMENT Perceptions, Baby, Perceptions by Roger A. Harris Roger Harris, Editor-in-Chief Perceptions form the cor nerstone of what we call ex istence and represent the back splashed and tangible water shed from the deep “see” of reality. Likewise, perceptions provide the raw natural re source that societies use to build, bask, and bind within the security of their self-cre ated structure and safety. Yet on the whole, perceptions are somewhat akin to playing Blind Man’s Bluff by yourself or trying to find shadows in the shade—are they even there at all, do they even ex ist? Well, the question’s an swer is both yes and “know,” for while you and a thousand others may perceive a rain- bow, we know that it is really just an optical illusion; water fractures light into the million- prismed brilliance of an image whose whole is seemingly more powerful than the sum of its parts—except for the fact that without the parts, the whole wouldn’t exist at all. So, if “seeing is believing,” then we may, in fact, be believing in some thing that doesn’t ex ist; blindly claiming and ac cepting the sum with little or no understanding of its parts (sorta like asking the question “If God made all, than who made God?”). World-re- nown Howard University an thropologist Dr. Michael Blakney taught me that one must examine not only specific data, but also related relevant data, if one hopes to understand the es sence of a specific circum stance. I’m trying to under stand who we are and what we are about as a people at FSU, in Fayetteville, -america, and the world. For now. I’ll confine my queries to and about FSU. For instance, it really inter ests me that at this university, we still schedule mandatory classes that are required for graduation on the same day and at the same time. Worse, we often offer these mandatory classes only once an academic year, so that if a student misses the class for some reason, the student will have to wait an entire year to retake the class. It’s strangely ironic that on any given day you will find more students walking away from rather than towards im portant events such as: the re cent forums with 1996 Pulitzer Prize Honoree Dr. George Walker; the selection of our new police chief Jerry L. Mon roe; or any campus, local, or national election in general. ..///'s/ sorta like asking Ae ques- twn, god made aUj^en who nu^e god?\” Either we don’t know what’s going on, don’t give a damn about what’s going down, or don’t care about what will eventually happen both be cause of and in spite of our common impotence. What is worse is that we won’t even offer to excuse classes to help boost attendance or to make their attendance mandatory (sorta like having to take Criti cal Thinking). Our collective actions (or inactions) speak reflectively about this a glar- ing contradiction in terms. The silver lining to this swirling black cloud is that even though you will only have seven to fifteen students who attend any of these events, they are usually the same ones: formal and infor mal leaders who have chosen to get involved, eflfect change, make a difference. Are you amongst their number? Prob ably not. Did you know that at this university, the selection pro cess for the national Who’s Who list is a screaming farce; that Capel Arena’s opera- tional hours are impractical in that they pirati- cally prohibit most students from using it; that we don’t have a weekend college (even though three- fourths of FSU students are non-traditional); that we do have very limiting library hours of operation; that we won’t see and shouldn’t ex pect a 24 hour computer lab in the near future; that we now have to pay for events that we used to be able to at tend for free (no offense, SAC); that the new and ri diculously high six foot speed bumps (I am not exaggerat ing) on Seabrook Road have made the new parking lot they boarder a driving hazard (driv ers would rather weave through the people and cars in the park ing lot than risk destroying a transmission on the bumps). Is this picture (like the glass) half fiill or half empty? Semantics? No: perceptions, baby, percep tions. Until the SGA senate and its presidents organize FSU stu dents into a non-partisan vot ing block of between one to three thousand voters who will respond on their representative command to issues that affect both this university and this community, they are doing nothing more than playing house and building ice cream sand castles in the sun. Their focal point and my primary concern should first be you and I, here and now, one to one. Do you hear me? Can you feel me? Once it’s all been said and done, how we do what we do at FSU has more to do with the dances we brake and the chances we take than with what FSU’s musicians induce us to do, because we can always say “know” to its happening. The time and space between know ing and doing is called life; its shared, conceded, and collec tive reality shaped by the ham- see “Perceptions, ” pg. 5 THE BRONCOS’ VOICE copyright 1997 Faculty Advisor Student Advisors Editor-in-Chief Office Manager Religion Editor Entertainment Editor Sports Editor Web Page Editor Photography Fashion Editior Staff Allonease Readdy Urshala L. Brown Kesha Miller Jason Arthur Rayshone Hodges Dr. Linda Barlow Yolanda A. Barnes Lesli D. Sample Roger A. Harris Scherrie Strayhom Jonathan Tupuloa Joanna Lowe Deitric Davis Doug Barnes Jason Dooney Rencia Bennett Alicia Davis Latoya Bozier Alysia Wilson Tameka Kenan Sonya Wagstaff The Broncos’ Voice 1200 Murchinson Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28301 Ph. (910) 486-1357 Fax (910) 486-1857 email: ebonimooB@aoLcom Disclaimer Opinions expressed in the Broncos’ Voice are those of the individual writers and donot nec essarily represent the views of Fayetteville State University, its employees, the University of North Carolina, the Voice staff and editors, or our advertisers. Submission Guidelines All submissions should be limited to 250 words, typed and double-spaced, free of grammatical and typographic errors, and should include the name and telephone number of the author. Whenever possible, articles should be submit ted in person at the Voice office, located in the Taylor Gymnasium, Rm. 3. For most expedi ent publication, articles should be submitted on a 3.5” 720k or 1.44M disk saved as a text (.txt) file. Electronic files may be sent through e- mail or by fax. Corrections Previous Edition: —The article, “On Matters of Race,” by Gloria Siler was co-authored by Shawn Torry. —The article, “Residence Life to Boost Stu dent Participation, Community Service,” was written by Jessica Brown. For this Edition: —The Bronco’s Profiles and Religious View points will continue beginning with the Janu ary ‘98 edition. - iiM m ■ *Beginning January 13, 1998, submission deadlines for all material to be published will be by the close of business every Tuesday. On behalf of the Broncos’ Voice staff, we would like to wish FSU and the surrounding community a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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