12
Tuesday, April 8,1997
iailg ®ar 3M
Jeanne Fugate EDITOR
Office Boars, 2-3 p.o. Fridays
Lanra Godwin managing editor
fS>
A
Worldwide Web Electronic Edition
http://www.UDC.eduydth
Established 1893
104 Years of Editorial Freedom
BOARD EDITORIALS
Unfair playing field
Performing to one’s full athletic potential is
a bit difficult with dust-filled lungs. Equally dif
ficult is improving a club sports team when the
slightest amount of rainfall renders a practice
field unusable.
The condition and quantity of sports fields
available to UNC’s club sports teams is both
lamentable and ludicrous.
Ehringhaus field, the practice field for club
men’s and women’s rugby, men’s and women’s
ultimate frisbee, softball, women’s lacrosse, soc
cer and other club sports is an embarrassment
to UNC. No grass grows on the center three
fourths of the field. Rain floods the field and
turns it into a giant mud puddle. Without rain,
the field is a windswept dust bowl.
During football season, the field doubles as
a parking lot for alumni and other visitors. At
practices the week after big football games,
teams dodge the remnants of tailgating parties
left on the field.
The problems with the field also affect club
teams’ ability to host other club teams for
In memory of a titan
The world lost one of its greatest inspira
tions to to modern-day art, music and politics
when Allen Ginsberg passed away Saturday.
His inspiration will continue to live within
all who knew his work.
Ginsberg was a counterculture guru, serving
as poet laureate of the Beat Generation. His
inspiration is immeasurable.
Ginsberg’s poetry lifelike words fueled by
drugs and clear confusion —made people think
and react and think again.
His writing was composed of unexpected,
powerful verse that shocked, scared and defined
the figures that define today’s young people.
Bob Dylan called Ginsberg one of the great
est influences on American poetry and song
writing. Billy Corgan of the Smashing
Pumpkins agreed.
His words told us of his homosexuality, the
death of his mother, his relationships, frustra
1N MY OPINION
‘Swiftly’ fixing government’s woes
Here is a modest proposal of my own. We
have problems with student government: stu
dents are apathetic, many representatives have
big egos and decisions take hours of fighting In
light of these problems, I propose that we dis
solve Student Congress and replace it with a
chancellor’s Task Force on Student Fees.
The new task force would take the power out
of political students’ hands, and put it in grips
of a few executive branch toadies. Teachers and
administrators would also be involved. Such
involvement would mean that students would
lose some say over their student fees, but wiser
professors could help define worthy activities.
Anew task force would also increase effi
ciency in campus administration. Task forces
usually create only seven subcommittees to
study issues, and can reach a decision in a
whopping 10 months.
With the power to create subcommittees,
and even subsubcommittees, the new task force
B( Radio Personality'
CHARADES AT HOWARD STERN'S WouSE
Juba Coriin editorial page editor
Bailees Jmh university editor
Etib HarfcfieU university editor
Min-Kithryn Craft city editor
Sbarif Durham state a national editor
Alec Morrison SPORTS EDITOR
Graham Brink special assignments editor
Jeica Banov features editor
Todd Darting ARTS 6 DIVERSIONS EDITOR
Michael Kanarek COPY DESK EDITOR
Amjr Cappielio photography editor
Lethe Wilkinson DESIGN EDITOR
PyhpMolaro GRAPHCS EDITOR
Hyae Alley graphics editor
Rohm Unehan editorial cartoon editor
Susan Haiddean STAFF DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
Erica Beshean writing coach
games. Lack of usable field space makes
arranging home games difficult for clubs.
Hundreds of students participate in UNC’s
notably strong club sports program. Known for
teams with winning records and high partici
pation, the club sports program is a selling
point to potential UNC freshmen.
One wonders if those campus tour groups
ever take their little treks past Ehringhaus field,
an unsightly blemish on an otherwise strong
program.
A quick-and-relatively painless solution to
Ehringhaus field’s problem: spread some grass
seed, and stop mowing the dirt. Indulging in a
little fertilizer wouldn’t hurt, either. However,
some things must be changed if the field is to
remain usable in the long-term.
Parking for football games should be moved
elsewhere, which is easier said than done, but
still doable. Also, bringing in more dirt and
grading the field for better water runoff would
lessen the erosion of the field and keep grass on
it longer.
tions and the pleasures of simply living.
His controversial poem “America” opened
him to an onslaught of criticism for putting
truth on the line.
“America I’ve given you all and now I’m
nothing,” he wrote. “I can’t stand my own
mind. America when will we end the human
war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.
“America I used to be a communist when I
was a kid I’m not sorry. I smoke marijuana
every chance I get.”
Breaking the rules was a way of life for
Ginsberg.
He injected passion and emotion into his
writing and wrote what he wanted without fear.
His influence will live for many generations.
Called beatniks, Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac,
William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassidy
embraced life, living and love with a undying
energy maybe we’ll learn to do the same.
could grapple with
problems that Student
Congress has never
dealt with: funding lim
its, guidelines for distri
bution and the color of
the checks. The task
force could adjourn to
sub-committees for
months to study the
issues and would not
have constituents to deal
1 CAROLINE PAPA ]
with when the funding process went past sched
ule, as Chancellor Hooker has yet to complete
his tour of N.C. counties.
Students would not have to bother remem
bering which district they live in when it comes
time for elections. Think of all the paper that
would be saved from needless campaigning If
no one cares anyway, why should we even both
er?
EDITORIAL
How can you ignore race with it in your face?
Tara PoweH's column will return next Tuesday.
Remember me? I was a legend on the
Morrison hoops court. No help? Me
and the guy with the blinking hat
were the ones who woke you up for the num
ber checks during the basketball campouts.
Hmmm, possibly you caught me pimpin’ at
Players on a Thursday night. For those of you
who still don’t remember me, and for those
freshmen who might not have had the privi
lege of meeting me, perhaps a physical
description is in order. I’m about 6 feet tall,
short dark hair, green eyes, freckles and a
complexion somewhere between cinnamon
and honey. I was the one you were always
dying to ask “the” question:
“So, like, you know ... what are you? I
mean no offense, I was just wondering if you
were of racially mixed ancestry.”
“Your features remind me of a friend of
mine from high school. He was 3/8 black, 2/8
white, 2/8 Native American, and the rest was
Indian just to spice things up. So ... what
about you?”
“A friend of mine thinks you’re cute. So
she was wondering what race you are?”
If I had a nickel for every time some inquis
itive, red-faced whomever approached me
with that question, I’d come close to paying
off my student loans.
Ever since 1 started bubbling in the race
question on those standardized tests with
other students looking over my shoulder, I’ve
wondered why. Why are people so interested
and perplexed by my physical appearance;
their minds struggling, evaluating and re-eval
uating, to resolve the apparent enigma? Why,
after two years, did a friend who could no
longer stand the mystery enlist a third party to
complete a racial reconnaissance mission?
Why do people have trouble falling asleep at
night because I can’t be neatly tucked away
into a racial box?
It wasn’t until I came to Africa that I was
able to get answers to my questions. An out
sider trying to gain acceptance into anew cul
ture and community, I was able to observe the
application of race filters instead of being
THE “HEAVEN’S AM
IRON* IC. I W \5 \
EDITORIAL WRITER
Homosexuals deserve better
than just 'common decency 1
TO THE EDITOR:
Andrea Main’s column from March 27,
titled “Believe Me, I’m Not Checking You
Out,” presented a request to our campus that
is not difficult to fulfill. In fact, it is one that
should not even have to be made: that of “a
little common decency and consideration.”
Before we learned that Andrea was gay, we
loved her and accepted her as our friend
because she is kind, honest, easy to talk to
and so funny. After she let us in on what was
her secret from most of the world until last
Thursday, we still loved her for all of those
reasons, and no less because of what we had
learned.
Take Andrea’s words seriously. Offer up
the decency and consideration everyone
deserves, but try to find a little compassion
and understanding in your heart as well.
If one of your friends were gay, would they
be afraid to tell you because of something
you’ve said in the past?
Alison Pratt
SOPHOMORE
BIOLOGY
Not recognizing famous work
shows lack of school system
TO THE EDITOR:
This is in response to Rebecca Todd’s letter
of April 1, “Categorizing women as weak
degrades half of human race.”
In 1730, Jonathan Swift wrote a piece
called “A Modest Proposal.”
In it, Swift outlines his proposal to take
NATi; BROOKS
inextricably entan
gled in them. It
became clear that
racial recognition,
GUEST COLUMNIST
prejudgment and prejudice join with experi
ential knowledge to determine our actions,
thoughts and emotional responses. This
modus operandi dictates that we draw con
clusions about others at a distance, keeping
our hands clean and free from the sticky awk
wardness that always seems to accompany
crossing the color line.
Rarely do we, as Americans, make honest
efforts at crossing the racial divide through
meaningful interaction in an atmosphere of
mutual acceptance and respect.
More often we sit passively and become
socialized by the misinformation and factoids
in easy-to-swallow capsule form. Although it
has become popular in the United States to
claim color-blindness, even this small contin
gent sees in black, white and shades of grey.
We live in a society that says race matters.
“According to a 1993 study by the US
Sentencing Commission, blacks were 88.3
percent of all defendants convicted on crack
cocaine distribution charges. Fifty-two per
cent of crack cocaine users are white com
pared with 38 percent for blacks, and whites
are 75 percent of powder cocaine users, blacks
15 percent.” (Emerge May 1996 p. 50)
“When asked if participation in social
groups and interest groups was affected by
race, 65 percent of white (college) students
and 84 percent of black (college) students
agreed.
“Approximately one half of all the black
(college) students have been the target of other
students’ racial prejudice and experience
racial prejudice nearly six times as often as
their white counterparts.” (Journal of Black
Studies Nov. 1995 p. 126)
"Illegal immigrants: pushing for a hard line
approach, Dole will try to pit Reagan
Democrats and blacks, who generally favor
strict controls, against ffispanics ...”
(Newsweek, Aug. 26,1996 p. 34)
How can you not see in color with race in
your face?
HEADERS’FORUM
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and
criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer
than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced,
dated and signed by no more than two people.
Students should include their year, major and phone
number. Faculty and staff should include their title,
department and phone number. The DTH reserves
the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgari
ty. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104,
Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel
Hill, NC 27515 or email forum to: dth@unc.edu.
care of a "problem” involving the large num
ber of poor Irish children choking the streets
of Dublin, looking for handouts.
“A Modest Proposal” is one of the most
famous satirical works, and the phrase “mod
est proposal” has become identified with
satire.
Or so I thought.
Ms. Todd’s response to the March 24 let
ter of Scott Schwartz (‘“A modest proposal’
opens topic of guarding weak ones”) struck
me with a great feeling of incredulity, as well
as some dismay.
Mr. Schwartz’s very use of the words
“modest proposal” should have been a warn
ing sign that the contents therein should not
be taken at face value.
For whatever reason, be it blind rage or a
©jr Saiig ®ar Bfri
That lam not instantly recognized as black
or white “Us” or “Them”— presents an
interesting dilemma for those on both sides of
the color line. I become a porthole, a corridor,
a mirror in which one catches the occasional
glimpse of internal prejudice. The mind tries
to place me in the proper mental stereotype,
distinguishing friend from foe.
Thus am I:
■ the affirmative action set aside who
sucks up scholarship money or the guy who
puts in die work and got a few breaks just like
anyone else?
■ the sell-out who forgot his history when
it was time to march for a free-standing Black
Cultural Center or the brother who fights
racial battles on his own terms?
■ the upstanding, trustworthy, good
natured role model or the lying, cheating,
thieving ghetto punk you can’t turn your bade
on? I
■ the tragic mulatto who can’t deal with
dating an African queen or the guy who is not
scared to follow his heart instead of a blood
line?
■ the student athlete who is trying to bal
ance college life or the jock who got accepted
to UNC but probably can’t cut it academical
ly?
Somehow by asking me “the” race ques
tion, the grey areas are deared, making it eas
ier to fit me into a racial cage.
Alice Walker stumbled upon this truism
when she went to Cuba: “I realized that as I
had sat listening to them, I had separated
them, mentally, into black and white and
‘mixed,’ and that I had assumed certain things
on the basis of my own perverted categoriza
tion.”
A critical self-examination of our radal
subconsdous is a necessary first step.
Bridging our radal divide can only be
accomplished by unlocking my cage and your
comfort zone with the same keys of mutual
understanding.
Nate Brooks is a 1995 political science graduate of
UNC who has spent the past 11 months teaching
English and mathematics as a volunteer in Namibia.
complete lack of understanding of the con
cept of satire, Todd chose to ignore the mean
ing of the original letter.
I find it a damning indictment of the edu
cational systems of this country and/or this
university itself that we are admitting students
to this university who do not have a basic
background in the works or elements of liter
ature.
However, for those of you out there who
are satire-impaired (or perhaps humor
impaired), I will be happy to explain to you
the real message behind Schwartz’s proposal.
Finally, a personal suggestion to Rebecca
Todd: read “A Modest Proposal.”
It’s only eight pages long, and it can be
found at Davis Library under the call number
PR 3722 1995.
And if, after reading it, you honestly
believe that Swift advocated eating Irish chil
dren to reduce the burden they imposed on
society, I will eat my hat.
Jonathan Hart
SENIOR
POLITICAL SCIENCE/JOURNALISM
Get sucked in
Spread your opinions across the back page of
The Daily Tar Heel.
Applications are now being accepted for edito
rial page editor, editorial board writers and colum
nists. All applications are available in the front
office of the DTH (a k a Suite 104 of the Student
Union).
Editor applications are due to the DTH by 6
p.m. Friday. Editorial board and columnist applica
tions are due by 5 p.m. April 18.
Questions? Call Editor-select Erica Beshears at
9624086.