Newspaper Page Text
4 « The Red and Black ♦ Friday, September 28, 1990
■ QUOTABLE
OPINIONS
"If you've got fields of pot, everybody who drives by is going to
put the brakes on."
— NORML organizer Leon Singleton on why commercial farming
of marijuana might not work should the drug become legal.
The Red & Black
Established 1693—incorporated 1960
An independent student newspaper not affiliated With the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Lose the list
Georgia’s state textbook committee rejected a
reading series called "Impressions” on Wednesday
after being cajoled into the decision by fundamentalist
Christian parent groups.
They complained that the books dwell on witches,
ghouls and New Age ideas.
The books, which are published by the respected
publishing house Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., use
real children’s literature for teaching rather than
sample paragraphs and phonics exercises (remember
those?). The series has been praised for its creativity
and decried for its supernatural content. The
publishers maintain that only 22 of the 822 stories in
the series mention ghosts or goblins.
Most of the people who argued against the books in
Atlanta admittedly never even reviewed the series.
Instead they used published guidelines on how to fight
them. This is certainly an indication of their
mentalities.
County school systems in Georgia that wish to use
books not approved by the state committee must do so
at their own expense — something that isn’t likely to
happen.
What troubles us is that county school systems
must operate under such a system in the first place.
County administrators and teachers are certainly
in a better position than members of a statewide
committee to decide which textbooks are suited to the
needs of the children in their area.
The textbook committee serves as nothing more
than an outlet for the screaming banshees of the
religious right. It’ll take a whole lot of documentation to
prove to us that reading “Hansel and Gretel,” and
“Cinderella” is harmful to children.
In light of the budget cuts mandated by this year’s
revenue shortfall, the state department of education
should eliminate this unnecessary and oppressive
committee. The money which is now budgeted for its
operation is surely needed elsewhere.
Thank you, too
This week The Red and Black received the Society
of Professional Journalists’ award for the nation’s best
non-daily college newspaper. We certainly are honored
to be recognized by such a noteworthy organization, but
we would be remiss if we did not thank the University
faculty, staff and student body for their continued
support.
For almost 100 years the staff of The Red and Black
has strived to present the University community with
the finest news coverage possible. During those years,
the staff received critical input - both positive and
negative - from the University community. As a result,
The Red and Black was able to grow and improve.
In 1980, we became independent of the University.
Many people thought it was a foolish decision. Ten
years later, we celebrate that decision with the plans
for a modem ten-thousand square-foot facility.
We hope the positive relationship with the
University community will continue in the years to
come.
A newspaper is directly tied to the community it
serves. We at The Red and Black believe this award is
not only a reflection of our efforts here, but also the
overall quality of the University and the people of this
area.
Your week may not start on Tuesdays, but it doesn’t
end on Mondays either. We work everyday to serve our
readers and produce the nation’s finest college
newspaper.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
Newt Editor: Jennifer Wilkin
Soon* Editor: Randy Walker
Entattainment Editor: Coiccn Brook*
A Mod at a New* Editor: Dera McLeod
New Writer* Editor: Beth Graddy
Front Pa*e Copy Editor: Craig Hester
In*Ida Copy Editor*: Chris Clont*. Sharon BervOov.
Kimborly Temboyrinc, Margaret Weston
UGA Today/ Wlra Editor Lisa Kendall
Photo Editor: Mana Clay
Chief Photographer: Tracy Stenbcrg
Staff Writer*: Gwinn Bruns. Lynn Barfield. Al
Diaon, Patrick Flanigan. Chns Grimes. Lance Helms.
Michael McLeod. Dan Pool. Sandra
Stephens. Dana White
Sport* Writer: Enk SchmxX
Trend* Editor: Morla Edward*
AMletant Trsnd* Editor: Stephanie Smith
Between The Hedge* Editor: Dav<d Pace
Assistant Between The Hedge* Editor: Eric Garber
Cartoonlat: Mike Morcu
Editorial Assistant: Doe Dee Varga*
Opinion* • (pressed In The Red and Black other vhan
unsigned edrtonals are the opinions of the writers of
signed columns and not necessarily these of The Red
and Black Publishing Company Inc. All rights
reserved Repnnts by permission of the editors
ADVERTISING: 543-1791
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Advertising Assistants: Niki Girardeau
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Cristina Faimft
Production Staff: Andy A/d. Staphanie Cutler.
Laura Fnednch, Lonn Marsh. Stacy Stenberg.
Michelle Wcgcrt, Hector Vargas
General Manager: Harry Montevideo
Advertising Director: Robin Stoner
Office Manager: Mery Straub
Production Manager: Marlcna Martin
Classified/Receptionist: Susan Anderson
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The Red and Black it published Tuesday throi«h
Friday fell though spring quarters and each Thursday
during summer quarter, with the eiceptions of
holidays and cram period*, by The Red and Black
Publishing Compcny Inc. • non profit campus
newspaper not affiiuted with the University of
Georgia. 123 N Jackson St. Athens. G* 30601
Third class postage paid at Athens. Ga. Subscnption
rato: $30 per year.
Q.WOYJ many Alumni
doss it t3ke to change
a lightbulb at a
home football game?
A. One to try and
Sere?/ it in, with
29,000,000 others
attempting to
m the available socket
Callous AIDS jokes cause for reflection
Lately, an acquaintance of mine has taken to
greeting me with rather callous jokes about
AIDS and my own HIV status; happening to
pick up his copy of The New York Times brings
a laughing inquiry as to whether I’ve “gotten
AIDS” on his newspaper, as well as other such
comments. The usual question of whether or
not to launch into a speech about how AIDS is
not a gay disease, and how one cannot catch it
simply by being gay crosses my mind, though
I’m all too aware that it would fall on deaf ears.
But I also ask myself how my death, or anyone’s
death from such a disease could be a laughing
matter to any other human being with a con
science. As an untested gay male, the question
of my HIV status is a constant, and such com
ments only serve to make each day more diffi
cult.
There is an experience I wish I could share
with my acquaintance, if I thought it would
cause any understanding to develop within
him. A few days ago, I visited a friend of mine
who has AIDS and who is currently hospital
ized for complications from the disease. He had
the beginnings of Kaposi’s Sarcoma when I first
met him, and had begun losing his hair due to
chemotherapy, but he still maintained a
healthy spirit that refused to stop embracing
life. He was the first friend I ever had, who had
AIDS. He would not hesitate to talk about the
virus and what was gong on in his life or with
his health. Most of all, he was, and still is one of
the warmest and most loving persons I know.
When he was healthier, he would always greet
me with a bear hug, a kiss and some bawdy an
ecdote. He made, and still makes those around
him constantly aware that no condition can
truly keep one from living and loving.
I had not seen him in many months, and the
last time I’d seen him, he was still able to walk,
and enjoy some independence. In the mean
time, I’d learned that his condition had wors
ened considerably, and I’d also come to some
Terrance
Heath
difficult decisions about learning my own HIV
status; that is, deciding to take the HIV test.
That decision alone brings a sobering sense of
mortality, even to a rather heady twenty-one-
year-old college student. There is no describing
the feeling one has upon realizing that one
could die, and possibly a slow and tortuous
death; there is no describing the fear one feels
at being uncertain of the future, and yet having
the answer so close at hand. It is, perhaps, one
of the loneliest feelings in the world.
I did not know what I would feel when I saw
my friend. What would I feel, knowing that I
could be lying in the same place five or ten
years down the line?
The purple lesions of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, that
remind me of bruised, tender goods, have cov
ered him more completely than the last time I
saw him. His teeth have been removed because
of opportunistic gum infections. His hair is al
most completely gone due to chemotherapy. His
eyes are sunken from weight loss because of in
ability to keep food down; the Kaposi’s lesions
have spread to his stomach. His legs, joints and
scrotum are swollen making simple movements
painful, and even closing his legs impossible.
Despite all of this, when we entered the
room, he smiled. His spirits were up, even
though our conversation took most of his en
ergy. During our visit, he talked of the future;
of living to see his infant niece grow up so that
he could see to it that she is raised a “proper
young lady.” I looked at him, at his eyes that
held so much hope and so much pain all at once,
and thought what a tragic loss it is that a
person with so much love is dying; I thought of
my own niece, my own future and the hundreds
of thousands of others that could be cut off so
easily. It is numbing to be able to see so plainly
what one’s death could be. It is like being in a
dark room, watching and hearing a door slam,
and seeing a light disappear. There is no
knowing what will happen. There is no imagi
ning.
For the first time, a very real skin began to
gro\A around the statistics I’d so often read, and
quoted to others; all too fragile, too easily
bruised, and as human as my own. As I stood
holding his hand, before kissing him good-bye, I
wondered what my callous acquaintance would
do if he could stand at the foot of that bed and
know this warm, loving, dying person as I do.
Would he find it within himself to laugh?
Would this death; happening close enough to
reach out and touch, be just another passing
joke? Would he still find some smug security in
believing that HIV is irrelevant to him, that it
somehow picks out only the “deserving?”
Those questions hang, unanswerable, in the
air, along with the one that swings there like a
pendulum that drops with every bruise that
takes too long in healing, and every report that
another friend has been diagnosed or has died.
To that question, there will soon be a very real
answer.
Whatever is answered, or remains unknown,
know this: AIDS is as real as each and every
breath that you and I draw, and as real as the
inevitability that we will cease to do so, some
day.
Terrance Heath is a senior English major.
Open-mind needed in search for truth
What is the truth? One might think that on a
campus like the University’s such a deep ques
tion as this would be often asked and seriously
taken, but is it? I wonder. Are we so single-
mindedly pursuing academic achievements and
honors that we have no time for trifling and
bothersome questions about truth?
Many people that do discuss truth do so only
for the sake of vanity. If they were honest with
themselves thev would realize that they desire
admiration and praise for their intellectual ca
pacity rather than answers for their questions.
Too often the real pursuit of truth is obscured
in this way by vanity and close-minded fear.
Almost two weeks ago, I and a group of ten to
fifteen Christians set out for a few hours,
posting leaflets to inform the University public
about an upcoming lecture series called “Does
God Exist?” Nearly every corner of the Campus
was covered with what must have been over a
thousand of these leaflets. That was Sunday af
ternoon. Monday morning, as I went to my 7:50
class I looked for them but could not spot even
one (although I did notice tiny sreds of yellow
paper on several posterboards where they had
obviously been torn down.)
We checked with the University administra
tion, thinking that perhaps we had not cleared
everything with them, but we had. The admin
istration had not taken them down. Who had
then? Who would have had the incentive to tear
down that many posters in a single night?
Did atheists pull them down? It is entirely
possible. The reaction of many atheists toward
the objective discussion of God’s existence is
shockingly close-minded at times. No one can
claim to be objective and still be so blindly an
tagonistic to differing ideas. So why should
atheists be so vehemently against exploration
of truth. Might the reason be fear? Perhaps
they are afraid that theists are right and that
God does exist. Are they afraid of being alone in
their belief?
Who else, aside from atheists, would have
torn down the leaflets? The only other conclu
sion that I could draw was that a group of be
lievers in God may have done it.
That might sound strange until you consider
what the leaflets look like. They depict a Bible,
chained and in darkness beneath the caption
“Does God Exist?." This might easily be mis
taken as an advertisement for an atheist
speaker coming on campus.
So why would theists tear down leaflets ad
vertising lectures on atheism? I believe their
reasons may be identical to the atheists’: Close
mindedness and fear. But what are theists
afraid of? If they really believe within them
selves that God does exist, why are they so
fearful of a seminar on atheism that they will
blindly persecute it?
Only their own doubts about the existence of
God would lead them to do such things. Or per
haps, if theist groups tore down our leaflets,
they did so in an attempt to keep other people
from finding out about the supposed atheist lec
tures. Is this an effective way of combating
atheism, to covertly tear dowm atheist litera
ture under cover of night?
People should approach everything, in
cluding atheism, with a truly open mind. Open-
mindedness is not accepting every ridiculous
idea that comes our way for the sake of the rela
tivity of truth. There is no absolute truth.
Open-mindedness is approaching everything
with an open and sincere heart, and accepting
or rejecting the thing based on its own merit.
This is the way to find absolute truth.
Honest and sincere thought on God and
Truth has always been suppressed in innumer
able ways by various groups throughout the
history of humanity. Universities are no dif
ferent, despite the plastic masks of “open-
mindedness” we put on for vanity’s sake.
What is the truth? Are we really interested?
If we are we must put aside the anger, fear, and
close-mindedness. We must take every opportu
nity to draw closer to the truth and we must
consider other ideas with a fresh and honest
mind.
If we do not care about the truth, but only
selfishness, then let’s tear the mask away and
grin foolishly at future generations. Let’s show
them how we are in the second Dark Age and
not care. The Bible pictured on the leaflets is
chained, locked, and in darkness. It is useless
and irrelevent for us to ask who locked the
chain. We must ask ourselves: Who will unlock
it? We all can if we want to.
Larry Hunt is a junior English major.
Rountree column is off-base
Brad Rountree, in his column on
Democratic lieutenant gubernato
rial nominee Pierre Howard
(9/26/90), is negligent in his blatent
failure to check the facts.
Rountree’s accusations are con
fusing and contradictory. At one
point, he labels Howard a “good ole’
boy” and compares his campaign to
that of Lauren “Bubba” McDon
ald’s, which ' as endorsed by
House Speaker Tom Murphy. Yet,
Rountree also critizes Howard for
jumping on the “Murphy-bashing
bandwagon.” In fact, The Atlanta
Constitution’s endorsement of
Howard praised him for his depar
ture from the back room politics of
Murphy.
Rountree bases his characteriza
tion of Howard on a campaign
quote that "Pierre is Frencn for
Bubba,” which he claims has be
come “annoying and monotonous.”
It is irresponsible to determine
Howard’s political philosophy on
the basis of an amusing joke about
his name.
Rountree claims that Howard’s
position on abortion is “unclear”
and that the Senator has been seen
at right-to-life rallies. Howard has
received the endorsement of Vote
Choice, NOW, and the Georgia
Abortion Rights Action League.
Howard was erroneously men
tioned in a pro-life pamphlet as
having been present at a rally he
did not attend. Howard’s stance on
a woman’s right to choose has al
ways been perfectly clear.
The only thing that is not clear is
where Rountree received his mis
taken information.
Stephanie Stuckey
Second year law student