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out
Mike Livingston
Copy £dltor
President Clinton's "Read
My Lips" tine from his inaugural
address is: "There is nothing
wrong with America that cannot
be fixed by what is right with
America." That's comforting.
Um.„ Bill, what's right with
America?
Relax —-I'm not going to say
"nothing." Careers in cynicism
went out with the Bush regime.
But the President, perhaps wisely,
left this pivotal question to others
anxious to clarify the electoral
mandate—e,g. legislators,activ
ists, and (happy happy joy joy)
newspaper columnists.
' No, seriously: the mandate is
garbled, and beyond broad themes
like "poti tic aire form "and'health
care"and "sustainability," the new
government must rely heavily on
public discourse as a thresher of
specific strategy.
I call public attention, then,
to the beginning of our public
discourse not justfor pinstripe -
suited eggheads anymore, Alexis
de Tocqucville and his accidental
primer on how to bea meaningful
American citizen.
We complain about interest
groups and PAC\s as if they're a
plague of modem avarice, but ii
was de Tocqueville who first ob
served that Americans (and not
just Quakers) form new commit
tees and civic organizations with
obsessive-compulsive frequency.
He also recognized that, with a
little self-discipline and a com
mitted sense of purpose, citizens'
groups have as great potential to
achieve as to annoy.
Revisiting this thesis, Wash
ington Post coiumnist William
Raspberry and Minneapolis pun -
dit Ned Crosby suggest that gov
ernment, overcommitted by na
ture (For every thousand points of
Discrimination in the military
Bemle Smith
Staff Writer
If you were a homosexual, would
you enjoy being denied your rights?
Would you enjoy not being hired,
or dismissed from your job on the
basis of your sexual preference?
This is something most of us don't
even think about, yet it still occurs
today in places we think least
likely.
I am specifically referring to our
military' services which have not
quite provided the ideal role model
concerning treating everyone
equally. They may boast that
women were not discriminated
against during the Gulf War. but
light, five hundred wishbones),
find new ways to listen to people.
Assemble panels, they suggest,
of expert or even non-expert
folks, private citizens who
aren't responsible to any man
date or constituency, and listen
to them. These "citizen juries"
couldmake the Hard Choices the
CI inton adm inistraiion keeps noi
quite-talking about, free from the
spectre of political repercussions.
Of course, it remains the
power and duty of the elected to
take such panels' recommenda
tions or leave them. It raises
touchy questions of legitimacy
and accountability, going back
to another early influence on our
brand of democracy: Edmund
Burke. (He argued that legisla
tors should not only listen to their
constituents, but also think for
themselves. It's risky, but it's
worth a try. Some voters make
sense; others advocate
Randleman Dam.)
These are classical ideas tak
ing on a timely importance. For
the first time since 1982, the
White House and the Capitol are
on speaking terms, and The
People arc, conditionally, sup
portive of both. The scenario
makes the government unusually
powerful its potential to fix
dungs is magnified, as is its po
tential to screw up.
Freedom of expression—in
particular, freedom to criticize
the government is "what's
right with America," and the suc
cess or failure of the new govern
ment hinges on our collective
exercise of that freedom.
The (iuilfordian received
more than the usual number of
letters to theeditor last week, and
it's not because there's more to
complain about than usual. I'd
like to think it's due to a re
kindled interest in community
dialogue* and the start of some
thing big.
what about the Navy sailor in San
Diego who was recently discharged
because of his sexuality? This
sounds as if it involves just a tad of
discrimination. What do you think?
The sad part is that his perfor
mance was just as good as anyone
else's. Were he not gay, he would
have been treated just like every
body else because nothing about
him stood out.
However, it was soon learned
by his fellow shipmates that he
was different from the others, and
they immediately ostracized him.
They wanted to have nothing to do
with him, for fear of running the
risk of being called gay as well.
Soon top military officials heard
Perspectives
Leigh Kramer(L) watches as Bradley Aldous(C) gets a slap from Kristen Kopcsak(R)
in the production of "The Fox," Feb. 3-6.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Meredith Drum
Staff Writer
On Tuesday evening, the 26th of
January, I went to a program called
Voices For The Earth , hosted by
Theater of Understanding director
Andy Fraenkel, as part of Rel igous
Emphasis Week. I came into the
program feeling very skeptical. Yet
I left feeling like a child- not fool
ish but rather more wise.
I walked into the Gallery, where
the event was held, and sat down.
I noticed a man without his shoes
sitting on a Persian rug surrounded
by various instruments, mostly
rattles. I noticed he was burning
sage.
So I felt skeptical because I tend
to be very apprehensive when I
encounter certain forms of ritual
that remind me of the Sixties. I
think many of my peers feel this
way. Why? Probably because we
feel that this certain type of behav
ior, //ascertain type of belief, ioen
tified by such ritual as burning
sage, did not work for our parents'
generation; so we disregard and
that he was gay and he was offi
cially of the Navy. His
crime: being what he believed in..
Can you believe his nerve for be
ing a homosexual?
This is a complete disgrace to
our entirecoun try, not just the mili
tary. Sadly enough, many kids look
up to and glamorize fighting by
using the military as a role-model.
What kind of example is being set
with discrimination? This case is
currently being reviewed and the
former sailor may be reinstated.
But unfortunately it's too late; the
damage has been done and the bad
taste in the military mouth will
lineer.
mistrust it.
I soon had to confront my mis
trust, for Andy Fraenkel asked us
all to take a piece of sage to repre
sent our weapons of defense, of
attack, of deception, of destruc
tion, etc... He asked us to put that
piece of sage on the fire to burn
away our "weapons" and allow
our selves to relate peacefully to
one another. Thus my weapon of
defense, namely "I don't like this
hippie crap," was called out and
laid on the fire.
But this wasn 'tan exorcism. And
I did not get rid of my apprehen
sion so easily.
Yet when Andy began to tell us
the story of the Rime of the Ancient
Mariner , quoting passages from
Coleridge at length, I began to no
tice the man's talent for telling a
story. I began to respect him and
listen to what he was teaching.
Then he told us a Native Ameri
can story about a white beaver who
was the healer in an animal iodge.
And I reaiized that my own values
were being expressed here: love
"I Just had the most existential experience I've had all semester. A
sixteen-year-old girl Just tried to pick me up at Taco Bell."
-Matt Levy
"What we have now that we dldnt have before Is a future."
-Mike Livingston on the number of first -
year students In campus organizations
Tm convinced this Is what drove Manson insane."
Eddie Ptke on early Beatles songs
The Gutlfordlan 1$ always looking for amusing quotes. If you hear anything
that strikes you as particularly poignant then submit it to us: Box 17717 or In
the boxes in Founders Lobby or the Underground.
SJanuarp 29, 1993
for the earth and all her creatures.
Then Andy and his friend put on
a skit about an Indian holy man
who meets a hunter. The holy man
teaches the hunter about the bad
Karma which the hunter has gained
through killing animals. The hunter
understands his wrongs when he
sees a vision of all the animals that
he has killed coming back to haunt
him— a la A Christmas Carol.
Then I remembered a time that 1
was vacuuming out my car and I
was destroying webs and sucking
up the spiders who lived there into
that angry and loud modern-floor
cleaner. In the midst of my clean
ing I had a vision that a huge spi
der, the size of a Mack truck, was
approaching me. It slowly lifted up
its leg and tapped me on the shoul
der. I turned to face it, and while
staring into one of its many eyes, I
apologized.
Seriously, though, I felt some
thing like this when the program
came to a close. The mama spider
had come to tell me thai I have a
few things to learn.
Photo by Sara Karpenske