PAGE 4 — THEDECREE — MARCH 3,1994
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Crime penetrates
into sports world
By the time this issue Crime is not a new prob-
comes out Olympic fever lem for America. There has
will be over. The Icegate af- always been crime in some
fair can finally be pushed nature since the beginning
to the side except for the of time. The fact that it is
upcoming legal affairs. The now moving into the con-
entire affair says more about ceived safe haven of sports
American society than should not be surprising,
many may have realized. Sports have become a big
Connie Chung made an business in America. What
interesting comment during should bother people is that
the Olympics about the someone would attack their
whole affair. She made the competitor to gain an edge,
comment that the reason the It is not surprising that ex
whole affair has affected treme competition has
American society in the spread even into the sports
manner it has is because the world — even to the point
whole affair brought the that this competition leads
number one issue facing the people to attack the athletes
American society, crime, themselves,
into the usually safe world Ask any professional ath-
of sports. lete and they will teU you
What people fail to re- the horrors of living in the
member in this account is spotlight. Many of the su-
that crime has spread into perstars travel under as-
the sports world over the sumed names and stay at
past years. It was not the different hotels from the rest
Harding affair which of the team, all because of
opened the eyes of people, the increased media and fan
Need we forget the attack attention and safety con-
of Monica Seles last year? cems.
She has not yet returned to If people have become so
competition and may not involved in the Icegate af-
this year either. fair maybe we can finally
The same week that work on solving the issue
Icegate rushed to the spot- of crime. Unfortunately it
light a NBA basketball speaks badly of society if it
player was attacked in his takes something like Icegate
home near Baltimore. Po- to open our eyes to the prob-
lice said that it was clear lems of society. If this is
that the attackers knew who the case, then we are in big-
they were attacking. ger trouble than many think.
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Distributed by Tribur>e Media Services
AIDS robbed us of his talent
A caring reporter is gone
By DR. STEVE FEREBEE
Meanwhile, back in the real
world, Randy Shilts died — re
ally died — of complications due
to AIDS. Probably no tender bed
side kiss for him as the credits
roUed.
You may be having two reac
tions: “There he goes again about
AIDS; other people die, too.” Or,
“Who is Randy Shilts?”
Several years ago, I was in
D.C. for a fundraiser, where I
talked to a bearded, curly-haired,
soft-spoken, bespectacled, pudgy
guy who asked me about grow
ing up as a military brat. I re
member talking quite a bit more
than I usually would to a stranger.
He listened intently, and then we
wandered away from each other.
Just a moment in my life.
Not long afterwards, I read
Dn Steve
Muses
And The Band Played On, a de
tailed and readable account of the
politics that kept AIDS funding
so low and research so difficult
and controversial in the 1980’s. I
had been involved in AIDS at a
minute level, just a solitary
worker ant trying to move boul
ders. But having felt the lack of
hospice funding and having lis
tened to blitheringly stupid poli
ticians and having watched the
health care system lick its corpo
rate chops, I recognized the im
portance of the book.
I went to the to find
some reviews and some inter
views with the writer. One had a
photograph. Wasn’t that the guy
I had talked with at that
fundraiser? I couldn’t believe it.
My brush with fame and I didn’t
realize it.
And the Band Played On did
become an important book (re
cently a movie with Matthew
Modine, Richard Gere, and oth
ers). Shilts was an openly gay re
porter (the first) for the San Fran
cisco Chronicle when AIDS
started, and he reported on it early
and open. He called it an epi
demic, and he warned people
about casual sex. He knew that
“people I cared about and loved”
were sick and dying. So he re
ported straightforwardly and hon
estly.
The articles for the Chronicle
(Continued on Page 5)
Overseas study was beneficial
Dear Editor:
I am writing to you again in
retrospect about my semester
abroad and also to enlighten you
as to how beneficial it can be.
Also, this lettCT poses a plea to
the administration to enhance
such study abroad programs, giv
ing all students the opportunity
to see and experience the evo- so
diverse world that surrounds us.
Locddng ba^' on my e]q)eri-
eoce abroad I sometimes feel a
little misty-eyed. This stamnent
may sound Ua^riiemous, but the
Letters to
-art
the Editor
experiences I have incurred and
the ultimate knowledge I have
learned abroad is unobtainable in
theU.S.
When I first arrived in France,
my gravest fear was to overccmie
the language banier. I had taken
Reach fw 5-1/2 years (four years
in high school and three semes
ters in college), but not until I
was forced to communicate solely
in French, was I evw able to speak
fluently.
Sure I could say “Bonjour!”
and such, but nothing of too much
merit. I would have to think and
translate to say the most simple
things, such as, “May I have a
cup of coffee?” or “Eto you have
a light?” Such phrases I need not
think twice about saying in En
glish. As a result of this language
(CoDtinaed on Pi^ 5)