Seahawk
March 30, 2006 | Page 4
Viewpoint
Ruminations: random thoughts from a man on the edge
Finding peace, virtue in professional
sports and a reason to applaud a porn star
Seahawk Staff Opinion
nlhe 1 1
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Breh Henley
Senior Staff Writer
I’m starting to get quite good at rambling,
and I feel obligated to somehow, if only for a
fleeting moment, address a few events worth
noting. So, we venture aimlessly to the vaults
of electronic information otherwise knovm as
MSNBC. It’s a good place to fish for interest
ing little tidbits.
Pom star turns to passion for wine. Adult
fihn star Natalie Oliveros, a.k.a. Savaima
Samson, was recently lauded for producing
her very own wines, with the help of famous
Vatican wine maker Roberto Cipressso, a
project she avoided allowing her profession to
influence the degree of quality. No voluptuous
vixens or sultry, sexual innuendo printed on a
bottle’s label could sell a crappy Chardonnay,
I applaud her, though, as her wines have
been very well-received by wine gurus to
date, including the influential Robert Parker,
his reputation internationally famous. Kudos
to Ms. Oliveros, as it takes a good mix of
sagaciousness, guts and thick skin to put your
Kelli Mercurio
Correspondent
Minority scholarships, the Black Student
Union, and now diversity tours at UNCW.
Diversity Visitation Day is another part of
die diversity recruitment to encourage minor
ity students to attend UNCW. The day was
held by the Office of Admissions on Feb. 25
starting in Wagoner Hall and ending at Cor
nerstone Hall.
Linda McRae, associate director of admis
sions/diversity recruitment, said the day in
cluded a tour of the campus, an academic and
student services fair in the Warwick Center
and a financial aid session.
The tours were targeted toward minor
ity students who were accepted or those who
previously filled out a card requesting to be
invited.
There is another visitation day in Novem
ber, open to all students interested in attend
ing. McRae said both tours are identical and
that the only difference is that the second is
targeted at a specific audience - minorities.
She also said non-minorities are not excluded
during diversity visitation day.
reputation on the line in the name of a fine
wine. It makes the pom star in us all proud
that despite the negativity surrounding the
adult film industry, one of its own can still
transcend the institutionalized disdain for
sexual expression, and succeed at a business
that has spawned an entire cultural landslide,
all in the name of a grape. I really can’t be
sarcastic on this one, so I’ll pass.
Barry Bonds: a name that probably means
less to me than just about any other writer/
sports fan in the world. In fact, I may be the
only writer in recent months that hasn’t suck
led every last ink-filled drop from the teat of
steroid abuse issues in baseball. It’s not exactly
an original topic. Whether or not mainstream
media has forgotten how to produce actual
journalism, rather than recycling word gar
bage, doesn’t change the fact that Bonds is at
the forefront of the supplement scandal. This
is a man averaging 42 home runs per season,
slugging 49 in 2000, one year before the fate-
fiil, record breaking nm ending at 73. The
$22 million question: How does a man ascend
see RUMINATIONS page 5
However, non-minorities are not sought af
ter, either.
UNCW also hosts the Southeastem Afri-
can-American Student Leadership Confer
ence, every other year. Again, my question is:
Why can’t we just have a leadership confer
ence that’s open to everyone?
More than 50 years since the Supreme
Court’s decision that “separate is inherently
unequal,” it seems that the tables have turned.
In an effort to compensate for years of racial
injustice, we are simply perpetuating it.
An attempt to create a cultural center for
Caucasians or a proposal to set aside a day to
give tours targeted at whites would be con
fronted with cries of racism. However, the
university fiinds and encourages these activi
ties that specifically segregate different eth
nicities.
Diversity is an aspect of campus that we’re
lacking, and I agree that it is an issue that
needs to be remedied. However, this simply
is not the solution. If we want to encourage
minorities to attend UNCW and feel welcome
at our university, we should incorporate them
into the student body.
see DIVERSITY page 5
Whatever
happened to the
mehing pot?
Colorado Senator Tom Tancredo has
become the most vocal voice against the
nearly 11 million illegal immigrants living
in the United States today. Tancredo has
compared the U.S. to the biblical Tower
of Babel and has publicly aimounced that
immigrants are “a scourge that threatens the
very fiiture of our nation.” He has also gone
before Congress and proposed building a
700-mile long fence around Mexico to curb
illegal immigration. Recently, Tancredo is
taking aim against President Bush’s proposed
program that would allow illegal immigrants
to woric in the US for set period of time.
One can understand how some people
would be frTistrated with the amount of ille
gal immigrants living in the U.S. today. At
times it is hard enough to sustain our own
citizens; what h^pens when the economy is
supporting illegal immigrants as well? There
are hundreds of reasons why American’s
have the right to be friistrated with this com
plex situation.
However, there are several important
points to consider when engaged in a debate
about immigration. People escaping religious
persecution and desperately searching for
freedom founded our govertmienL The only
natural U.S. citizens were the American
Indians already living in North America.
And most importantly, Tancredo is over
simplifying the situation by implying that the
only illegal immigrants living in the US have
come from Mexico. This is most certainly
not the case.
According U.S. Immigration and
Nationalization, illegal immigrants in the
year 2000 hailed from all over the globe,
from places such as Haiti and Ethiopia to
Bulgaria and Canada. Many of these people
living illegally in the U.S. are doing so to hide
from rape, torture, mutilation, genocide and
countless other forms of persecution.
Those who want to deny entrance to
America for those simply trying to survive
should take a look at Ae Statue of Liberty.
The inscription doesn’t read “For Americans
Only.” It reads as follows:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your
huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the
wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send
these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I
lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Diversity tours - a step in the wrong direction