Newspaper Page Text
♦ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2008
4A
OPINION
Swimming upstream
Young people are rejecting the status quo, challenging their peers to join them
Young people these days ...
Teenager and young adults
in America today are often
characterized as irresponsible, self
centered and lazy. Of course not all
of them are, but it always catches my
attention when I hear about those who
are rejecting the status quo and choos
ing to do things that are difficult and
countercultural. In other words, they
are swimming upstream amidst the
accepted social norms of the day, even
when everyone else seems to be going
the other direction.
Janie Fredell is a college student
who never would have guessed the
notoriety she would earn when she left
Colorado Springs in 2005 for Harvard
University. Janie is committed to sav
ing sex until marriage and was shocked
by the sexual culture at the university.
Not just at Harvard, but on col
lege and university campuses across
the country, random sexual encounters
(also known as “hooking-up”) are com
mon and widespread. Men and women
are having sex with people they don’t
really know, or have any intention of
committing themselves to. Sex isn’t
even being reserved for the confines of
a committed dating relationship, much
less a marriage.
It may not come as a shock to know
that lots of college men are seeking sex,
but what is surprising (and troubling),
is the growing ease with which young
women are offering themselves freely
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Contributed/Porky!
The old Muse Theater has been getting a facelift. Workers have begun renovating the old theater - work has been
constant - but the owners declined to comment on just what exactly was going in the theater.
These here events ain't a-muse-ing a-tall
Hey, y’all. We done had us one
busy week, what with Danny
Evans runnin’ Piggette outa
the Muse Theater buildin’ an’ doin’ the
campaign. I’ll tell y’all ‘bout Piggette
firs, an’ leave the best for last.
See, the way it was, Piggette was all
set up in there with her ol’ sofa with the
lace doilies on it an’ her tea cart, an’ all
her figurines, an’ she was getting’ ready
to hold a tea party for all the lady hogs,
and a few high falutin’ possums.
She was gon’ make her famous
Russian Tea with Tang in it an’ a whole
buncha pimento cheese sammiches, an’
write a story ‘bout it to sen’ to Julie
Evans, an’ here comes Danny Evans
tearin’ everthing up.
Anyways Piggette had a nervous
breakdown - which is what you call
it when a lady hog has a hissy fit and
don’t win - an’ Aunt Porky Lou and
Cousin Ima had to go see ‘bout her
and then they made me and Lil’ Bubba
Junior and 80-Diddley go over there
and move all Piggette’s furniture and
china cups and saucers out to the spec
buildin’
Now, we tryin’ to fine out what ol’
Danny’s doin’ with that there pichur
Stephen
Daniels
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
to their sex-seeking male classmates.
Her sophomore year Janie decided
to respond to the continuous ridicule
in the student newspaper of a campus
student group committed to premari
tal abstinence by writing an essay. It
was published in the school paper The
Harvard Crimson.
Here are some of her thoughts, elo
quently put: “The woman who suc
ceeds in resisting this temptation [she
is referring to premarital sex] is she
whose sex appeal transcends her sex
ual aptitude. Such women boast the
intelligence necessary to make healthy
life decisions, the charm to win the
attention of men without promise of
physical compensation, the maturity
to acknowledge the difference between
love and lust, and the confidence to
demand the former in situations where
they are pressured to compromise
themselves for the latter. The mysteri
ous allure of virginity is not rooted in
an image of innocence and purity, but
rather in the notion of strength: the
ability to withstand temptation even in
Porky’s point and shoot
Porky's
Renderings
porky@evansnewspapers.com
show buildin’, cause knowin’ him it’s
prolly sumpn I can use in my campaign
for city council and be either for it or
agin it
I done consulted with my ace political
team an’ we decided we gon’ support
impack fees cause thas a good way right
now to get some free publicity, an’ get
our pichur took.
Since the other side already got the
red shirts, we got us a catalog and foun’
some real cheap green t-shirts which
has “Save the Long-Toed California
Salamander” printed on them, which
we gon’ wear to that nex’ public hea
rin’, if they get here in time from
California.
We ain’t got no position on California
salamanders one way or tother. We just
ain’t got much money, and them was
the cheapest shirts we could fine in
XXXXX large.
■H9T
the face of societal norms and expecta
tions.”
And to the guys she points out: “Men
underestimate the impressiveness of
self-control, strength, and rebellious
ness in the face of popular opinion and
the degree to which abstinence makes
them desirable to women. Confidence,
not compelling hook-up stories, is the
key to sexiness.”
Ms. Fredell’s essay and defense of
the student group known as “True
Love Revolution” garnered plenty of
response - much of it from her detrac
tors who dismiss her as Pollyannaish
or even anti-woman. But she points out
in a recent New York Times Magazine
article Written about her that women
suffer when they have sex before mar
riage. She believes it is actually more
of a feminist act to control her own
body and not offer sex to men without
strings attached.
Janie is challenging the status quo.
She is swimming upstream. That takes
guts; especially in an environment like
a university campus where choosing to
be abstinent until marriage is openly
mocked (despite all the rhetoric about
welcoming a diversity of thoughts and
lifestyles). And to take such a public
stand is particularly courageous.
There are other examples as well.
Alex and Brett Harris are two young
people who are choosing to reject
what many teenagers believe is
See DANIELS, page
It they come in time, we gon’ turn
them shirts inside out and get us a
magic marker and write “Save the
Taxpayers What don’t Live Past Perry
Parkway” on the front, and “Porky for
City Council” on the back.
If they don’t come in time, I reckon
we’ll see if we can squeeze into that
new paint store and get us some green
paint to roll in.
Mayor Jim has got him a timer now,
so we can only talk for three minutes,
which is why we gon’ let 80-Diddley be
the first talker.
80-Diddley can speed-talk. (He
oncet said the whole “Song of the
Chattahoochee” in 60 seconds.) He’s
gon’ read all that stuff from the
Brookins Instytoot ‘bout impack fees in
three minutes flat, and then we prolly
gon’ have to use a defibrillator.
Then Lil’ Bubba Junior’s gon’ get
up there an’ ask ‘ol Joe Kusar what he
thinks about the Brookins Instytoot.
Me, I’m just gon’ han’ out sack sheets
and try to keep a straight face, which
gets hard at Council meetins some
times.
"One voice can make a difference"
A soldier’s ‘real’ story
Editor’s Note: The following is passed on
from one of our Warner Robins residents, in
turn passed onto him from his granddaughter’s
boyfriend, who is a platoon leader in Iraq. (The
granddaughter is a signals officer stationed
in Anbar Province.) Needless to say it paints
a true picture of the great job our men and
women in uniform are doing (not to mention the
unfortunate friendly fire they sometimes suffer
from us in the media).
To all,
Thank you to everyone for all the packages,
it helps out just getting the little things to make
life easier.
Everyone always asks what I am up to ... so I
figured I would write what I could. Just a little bit
of what actually goes on here ... figure some
one has to write it.
As you walk through the Jamilla Market of
Sadr city your senses can be immediately
overloaded. The constant sounds of honking
horns, the smell of freshly cooked food from
the stands that litter the streets, and the view
of thousands of people getting back to their
normal daily activities. Business is back.
If you had visited this same area three weeks
ago you would have found a market that had
been crippled by the fighting with Jayish al
Mahdi along what is known by Coalition Forces
as RTE GOLD. The sounds of commerce and
good business that you currently hear would be
replaced by the steady sounds of AH-64’s over
head, the heavy armor presence of Bradley
Fighting Vehicles and M 1 Abrams rumbling
down the street, and the persistent sounds of
small arms fire and RPGs coming from across
RTE GOLD.
We have had numerous reporters come into
our area of operations to “cover the story” but
very few have given the American people an
accurate portrayal as to what currently going
on.
A few of the reports that have come out have
had gross misinterpretations as to what is
going on. A British reporter came here and it is
my opinion he had written the article before he
had even arrived at our location. The reporter
did not state one accurate piece of information
in the entire article. He titled our unit wrong,
messed up names, did not have accurate duty
positions for the people he spoke with and
placed quotes extremely out of time and con
text.
It was a gross misrepresentation that we in the
military are used to, but let us look on the bright
side, he did screw up our unit so this fictional
unit he used received some fictional report on
what they are doing in imagination land.
Another reporter that has graced us with her
presence was escorted around for three days
and so far the only written products that have
been generated by her visits are on how sur
prised she was that she actually could use her
Blackberry in this area and how the porta-pot
ties were gross in 115 degrees.
I am sure that the American public is very
See SOLDIER’S,page *4
pbuston Journal
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