Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Sept. 30, 1994, edition 1 / Page 6
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%\yt (guilforbian 6 Simple Pleasures Chris Weber Staff Writer "I swear Guilford is the dullest place on the entire earth!" "Nothing cool is ever planned for us!" "This place is about as exciting as a morgue!" Along with other Guilford stu dents, I have made statements simi lar to these, and few a good reason. This campus can be ghosdy quiet on weekends. There simply is not a hell of a lot to do here. However, the Student Union is not to blame. We are, because we are picky about what we consider fun. In his column last week, Perspec tives Editor Hardy Wallace astutely called us the "generation that for got how to have fun." While I'm not interested in psychoanalyzing our generation, I agree. We're of ten too busy looking for excite ment —the instant gratification huge universities hawk—to appreciate the simple pleasures around us. Certainly, Guilford will never be called an academic Celebration Sta tion, but this place is only as dull as we make it. This column is a re- Mayibuye iAfrica —Come back home, Africans! Shingai Jaravaza Staff Writer The increasingly regular phenom enon of African scholars residing abroad is, at best, disturbing. Its im pact is felt in every comer of the con tinent, dealing Africa a heavy blow. Large groups erf people suffer from the negligent attitudes of those who choose not to give back to the com munities from whence they came. The saddening reality of such un scrupulous insistence on remaining outside the borders of their own coun tries keeps our scholars and profession als ossified in an emotionally claus trophobic trap. They are unable to con clude that their services are, person ally and communally, more fulfilling at home. Africa's lack of resources has passed its toll onto its sons and daughters, many of whan emerged from severe poverty wrought by the oppressive pie-independent era They left home with the ambitious, yet noble goal, of acquiring an education that might aid them in ameliorating the conditions of the general populace. Such social awareness is part of the moral fabric inculcated by the ex tended family structure. In Africa it is anathema to pledge allegiance only to the immediate family. Rather, in grained in the language is a structure where my uncles and male cousins are minder (a five hundred-word Post- It note) that fun need not be com plicated. Here are a few basic, es sential joys to seek when the Stu dent Union does not tickle your pickle: 1. Eat: In my opinion, eating is one of life's greatest pleasures, de spite the Cafs daily efforts to make meals painful. In addition to being fun, eating is also quality bonding time; it's a ritualized pleasure simi lar to showering. So enjoy your meals for a change. Order out. Better yet, cook for yourself. Plan a picnic. Acquire good food and good company and savor both. 2. Get dirty: Americans have a cleanliness fetish, but I assert that being clean is no fun unless a per son appreciates being nasty. Sweat, dust, mud: choose whichever you like, but wear it. Passionate exer cises like running or hiking are ex cellent ways to acquire filth. Get ting dirty is a wonderful stress re lease, and it makes your next shower Oh! so sweet. The transition from stench to freshness is the epitome of a simple pleasure. 3. Watch a Disney movie: This one is self explanatory. While of Jaravaza all my father. Similarly, my aunts and female cousins are my mother. Their children are my brothers and sisters. Throw in a century of Western in doctrination, and suddenly there is enough confusion that some wonder if indeed those whom the West identi fies as cousins are really brothers. The issue of community disinheritance is the heart of the problem African scholars, rightly or wrongly, harp a mournful song of how oppres sive their governments are. They ar gue somewhat convincingly, yet un realistically, that they cannot live un der the tyrannical rule of their respec tive slates. They understandably blame the unfavorable economic structures for their personal inertia and lack of upward mobility. Why unrealistic? In times of pre modem learning the most advanced schools of sophic thought and learn ing were in Africa The Greeks went iPetfpectibetf fering first-rate entertainment, clas sics like "Aladdin" and "Fantasia" will also take you back to the sim pler days of youth, which leads t0... 4. Hang out with kids: Spend ing time with young'uns will prob ably entail baby-sitting or commu nity service, but it's worth it Kids give off better vibes than anyone, and they truly understand simple pleasures. Pick up some of those kid vibes. Read a story to a five year-old or build a Lego mansion. I spend one night a week playing with kids at a homeless shelter, and they never fail to cheer me. 5. Enjoy a back rub: My favor ite simple pleasure. Have someone knead those stress-knots from your back, forcing you to relax. 6. Make a road-trip: When all else fails, get the hell out of Dodge. It doesn't matter where you go or if you arrive—the drive is the impor tant part. A road-trip will bond people together as nothing else can. And remember: any good road-trip ends at The Waffle House. Next time you look for something to do, don't look so far. Keep it simple. Make it fun. to Africa (Egypt) to study yet, unlike Africans, they always returned home, to share and impart the fruits of their education. This gave rise to some of the most revered thinkers and schol ars of all time...Plato, Socrates etc. Additionally, a perfunctory exami nation ofWestem revolutions presents a scenario that Africans ought to take heed from: during American and French revolutions, an educated class of scholars and professionals rallied the peasants into a cause that sought an end to the systematic exploitation inherent in the feudal system. This class allied with the voiceless underclasses to spearhead the revolu tion toward a more egalitarian, mod em-day system. Evidently the cream of our societ ies are engaging in acts of self decep tion captioned in self hatred and mani fest in their adamant refusal to be part of the revolution that will turn Africa from beggar tomajor player in the glo bal arena Through feelings of impotence in capacity or will and perhaps both, Af rican scholars tend not to return home. They lack the initiative to counter power structures they feel militate against them; thus, overtaken by greed and blatant disregard for their commu nity, the most astute sons and daugh ters of Africa offer their services to the West In their quest to achieve a comfort level that cannot, today, be afforded Questions Without Answers 'This issue, we are introducing a new column in the Guilfordian.', students will be the writers. We want to print the questions you have have about campus issues that you have no answer to. Your questions can be simple or complex, humorous or thought provok ing. We would like to give you the oppurtunity to express them to the community. Here are our first six questions with no answers: 1. In an average day, how many Bryan residents are burned in the showers when a toilet is flushed? 2. Why are there cigarette butts on every square foot of campus lawns? 3. What are the squirrels on campus trying to tell us when they begin to growl and chatter at passing students? 4. Why are there handicapped showers (Hi Milner's second floor, but no handicapped access to the second floor? 5. What is going on with the football team this year (they haven't lost yet)? 6. Why did only one guy take the oppurtunity to model nude for the life drawing class? If you have an answer to any of these questions or any questions for next week give us a call (x 2306), or drop your answer in the Guilfordian's mailbox. All submissions will be anonymous. under the limitations of African po litico-economic infrastructures, ideal ism usually gravitates to frustration, moral and ethical inadequacy, as well as loss of self-esteem through denigra tion of cultural identity. This phenomenon, which is also common among Black American successfuls, signals a break from the traditional community-based ap proach to life, and a proclivity toward the Western ideal espoused by Adam Smith.. .the selfish ideal of self-aggran dizement. Now squarely entrenched in the nuclear family model, an alien con cept to Africans, they begin the plum met into assimilation and the dilution erf Africanism. An epitomic example of this is the case of a Dean of Engineering at NC A&T who denies his heritage and re fers to his native Kenya as "that coun try". Others are less blatant; they send token sums of money home. Such individuals seek approval and acceptance firm thefr family and com munity at home; while here they also seek the approval of their hosts. Many are pampered with labels of being a "different black person" or not like other "lazy uncultured black Ameri cans". To their behest however, they become unhoused individuals. They never gain acceptance from the larger family at home, never quite fit in with black Americans because they play into the white-man's hands, and never September 30,1994 approach acceptance by white America because they are not white, and therefore can never enjoy the privi leges of the white establishment Unfortunately for our brother and sister scholars, their children grow up in this system that actively yet surrep titiously represses black individuals Moreover their children grow up sub jected to such pressures, without the support system rendered by Africans at home, kemelled in the proverb "It takes a whole village to raise a child." These children usually turn out to be the black American youth that their western parents despise. The same is true for black American children of up wardly mobile families, as they (chil dren) fail to identify with the more popular ghetto culture. Africanism is progressively diluted in the first and second filial genera tions; resultantly, the initial purpose of being here, that of bettering their fami lies, is nullified. Not only does Africa (the black community) lose its most progressive individuals, but the most progressive individuals ke Africa (the black community), disinherit them selves of their heritage. The dream of helping the mother land dissolves to a nightmare erf self disenfianchisement through cultural disinheritance. Our African and Mack communities will only develop when all the members recognize this neo colonialistic bluff.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Sept. 30, 1994, edition 1
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