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4 | Wednesday, November 28, 20011 The Red & Black
Samira Jafari | Editor in Chief
editor@randb.com
Angela McConnell | Managing Editor
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Colleen Oakley | Opinions Editor
opinions@randb.com
0 ur Take
Majority opinions of The Red & Black’s editorial board
Good laundry care
A local exhibit reminds patrons of the
strife others face during this season
Canvas art usually hangs on the walls of
Starbucks Coffee. Usually, the art provides a
calming retreat for coffee drinkers. Usually,
patrons can admire the talents of local artists —
their uses of color and brush strokes.
But right now things are not usual.
T-shirts hang on the walls of the coffee shop.
They are startling and heartbreaking. They let
patrons understand the very real struggle some
Athens residents are facing.
Starbucks is hosting the Athens Area
Clothesline Project — a collection of T-shirts
splattered with phrases about domestic abuse.
Each item was made by an Athens area victim of
domestic abuse.
“You stain my life ...” reads a black T-shirt
smeared with red letters. The shirt continues
with a poem about how the artist’s abuser has
affected her life. In the end, however, the women
who created these T-shirts say they are stronger
women.
The exhibit — which features more than 20 T-
shirts — began in October, National Domestic
Abuse Awareness Month.
Preceding the project is a flier that includes
statistics provided by the Clothesline Project:
every 15 seconds a woman in America is beaten,
every 3 minutes one is raped, and every 15 min
utes an American woman is murdered.
It is all too easy for University students to get
caught up in their own realms.
It is easy for them to worry only about grades
and the Bulldogs’ bowl chances. But there is so
much more in this community with which stu
dents must concern themselves.
Students must give back to the community
that hosts them for four years. Athens is kind to
us, and many of its residents — people we will
never meet on campus — are hurting.
The easiest way to understand what they feel,
to give back to this community, is to hear what
they have to say.
It’s easy to stop by and look at the exhibit. It
may seem like a small way to grow closer to
Athens, but it’s definitely a start.
Get up, stand up
Discussion of a campus memorial
will start up again this afternoon
Students should take advantage of an oppor
tunity today to help the University with some
prior planning.
At 3:30 in the Tate Student Center, a forum
will be held to discuss the proposed campus
memorial to members of the University commu
nity who died in U.S. miliary service.
“We’re trying ... to see if students think a
memorial will be useful, what it should look like,
and where it will be,” said Loch Johnson, chair
man of the University Council Facilities
Committee.
The memorial was a hot topic in the spring,
but now it’s time for students to give the
University details on what they’d like to see — if
the memorial’s construction is possible.
In addition, we’re glad to see Johnson and
company are soliciting student opinions. If this
campus is truly aimed at being student-orient
ed, the University must follow the Facilities
Committee’s example of allowing students to
map out the institution’s future.
Oar Staff
NEWS: 543-1809
News Editor: Kathleen Baydala
Associate News Editor: Dena Levitz
Sports Editor: Gentry Estes
Variety Editor: Parker Davidson
Recruitment Editor: Jennifer Moore
Photography Editor: Brooke Morris
Photographers: Megan Lovett, Leah Givens
Chief Copy Editor: Lacey White
Student Director of Online Operations: Frank Harris
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Editorial Adviser: Chris Starrs
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Ree. Rex Richardson, J. Taylor, Jen Trevino
News Writers: Hilary Hilliard. Greg Bluestein. Jon
Tonge, Melanie Horton, Amber Billings, Mitchell
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Sports Writers: Chandler Coffee. Graham Garrison,
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Edtonai board members include Samira Jafan. Angela McConnefl Cdeen Oakley and Mack Wliams.
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Learning Socialism in Easter eggs
O ne of my favorite quota
tions of all time came
from one of my favorite
figures in aU of history.
Winston ChurchiU said,
“A young man who is not
liberal has no heart, and an
old man who is not conser
vative has no brains.”
Churchill is simply trying
to say that everyone is lib
eral and innocent early in
their lives, and then an
event of sorts happens
sooner or later in life to
completely alter their social
and political views.
What that event is varies
by person, but as to the
time frame of the view-
altering event, mine came
sooner than most.
The year was 1986 and I
was five years old. Spring
had rolled around and the
time for my church’s annual
Easter egg hunt was rapidly
approaching.
My record as of late had
not been great in these
annual battle royals.
In fact the last year had
brought about much pain
and suffering as I had got
ten in the way of two kids
the sizes of Toyotas on
their way to victory (foot
note: Victory is attained, or
so I thought, by accumulat
ing the most eggs).
So having suffered a bit
ter defeat at the hands of
two monstrous eight-year-
olds the year before, I was
motivated and focused to
succeed this year.
Being the shrewd, calcu
lating strategist that I was
at age five, I began prepar
ing in advance. I formulat
ed a plan of attack. I had
pretty much figured out
where every single egg
would be hidden, don’t ask
John Loftis
how, just trust me.
So when game time
rolled around, I was ready.
When they blew the
whistle, I was off. Sticking
true to my game plan, I was
fortunate to round up
about 40 eggs.
Sure there were some
kids crying because they
hadn’t found any, and they
just plain sucked, but who
cared?
I was in business!
My preparation and
determination had effec
tively derailed any possible
chance of an abomination '
such as the one in ’84.
I had triumphed.
The teachers blew the
whistle again to inform us
it was time to go inside.
Little did I know that it
was time to go inside to
practice socialism. The
teachers took my basket
before you could say Karl
Marx and immediately
started dividing up my
spoils from the before men
tioned crusade.
I think these benevolent
souls gave me about five
back. Whoa! Wait a minute!
That’s the same number
everyone else now had.
What was going on here?
They had taken what I
had planned and worked
for, and divided it up equal
ly among the group that
either weren’t effective egg
hunters, or flat out didn’t
give a crap because they
knew win, lose or draw that
they would get the exact
same thing.
So, all my hard work,
albeit for an Easter hunt,
for nothing.
Does that sound familiar
to anyone? Any Social
programs or admissions
policies come to mind?
Hasn’t anyone ever heard of
“To the victor go the
spoils?”
Well, they hadn’t heard
of it around the Episcopal
church, and I am becoming
more and more aware that
it is a dying phrase.
I was introduced to
Socialism very early in life
and I flat out couldn’t
stand it.
Oh, I know. I am an
infantile brat who just
“doesn’t know or care”
about the “real problems”
in society.
I don’t care if you call me
childish (because I was a
child), I am sticking to my
life lesson learned on the
playground behind my
church, that it is a whole
lot easier to ride in the
wagon (of life) than it is to
pull it.
It just so happens more
and more people are hitch
ing rides.
Can you blame them?
Next time I think I’ll just
let some other young, naive
person find all the Easter
eggs while I sit in the shade
and contemplate what col
ors I want.
— John Loftis is a junior
in political science.
Mailbox
E-mail, letters and faxes from our readers
Sarrio misinterprets church and state
Someone needs to
inform Jaime Sarrio that (in
her column “People should
have the right to die,” 11/26)
misinterpretation of such
ideas as “separation of
church and state” only
weakens otherwise strong
arguments.
The purpose of such sep
aration is to ensure the U.S.
government does not
impose one specific religion
on the population in order
to increase its power.
Such practice was com
mon centuries ago when
monarchies dominated
much of Europe.
While Americans are
luckily free to choose their
own faith practices, we still
pledge allegiance to a
nation “under God” who
ideally is just and
compassionate.
For shame, that one of
our elected officials should
attempt to follow the guid
ance of such a being an
attempt to defend the value
of life.
Todd Zeigler
Freshman, Journalism
Snellville
Column should have
shown more respect
I was pleased to see the
inclusion of Jaime Sarrio’s
article on the very impor
tant topic of the “right to
die.”
And I was gladdened by
Sarrio’s courage in present-
E-MAILING US
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ing her point of view.
I only wish that, in her
thought-provoking column,
she had maintained respect
for her opponent. In chal
lenging right-to-die legisla
tion, it seems that her
opponent of the day, John
Ashcroft, either “thought
that he was doing God’s
work or maybe he just
didn’t give a damn.”
Talk about options!
Of course, a question
that one wants to ask
Sarrio is: What evidence do
you have that Ashcroft
doesn’t have good reasons
of his own to champion a
perspective different from
yours — a perspective in
fact shared by millions of
Americans, who are (per
haps?) not evil and indeed,
like you, give a damn?
The real trouble is
broader than this unfortu
nate jab ad hominem, how
ever. The real trouble is
that the sort of mocking in
which Sarrio engages here
happens far too often in
“dialogues” in our society.
Rather than respecting
one another as we sincerely
debate the big issues from
various angles, we end up
resorting to the schoolyard
of heckling. I give a damn
about the civility of dia
logue. This is one thing that
I am sure we ought never to
allow to perish.
Andrew W. Lamb
Professor, Department of
Philosophy
A reader questions
meaning of diversity
In reference to “Diversity
Suggestions Compiled,” I
cannot express how thor
oughly outraged I am by
this policy! What moron
would think that grades
and test scores should be
an important factor in get
ting into a University whose
focus is on “higher educa
tion”?
Rather, they want diver
sity to be a major factor in
the admissions process.
They prefer political cor
rectness and define diversi
ty as students of a racial
minority, not the dictionary
definition of diversity as, “a
point or respect in which
things differ.”
I suggest that if they
plan to overlook the fact
that the best indicator for
admission to and success in
college is success in high
school and on standardized
tests, the committee should
strive for true diversity.
Eric Crawford
Senior, Criminal Justice
Suwanee
George Azih
▲
When the
numbers
don’t work
T oday’s topic is mathe
matics — a word that
inspires terror amongst
even the bravest of
heroes. Millions of years
ago, there was no math in
the world.
People traded using
the barter system, where
in you exchanged goods.
For example, ancient peo
ple would exchange one
cow for, say, a Georgia-
Florida ticket.
One problem with the
barter system was that it
was very difficult for
ancient people to fit cows
into their wallets.
There also was the
problem of assessing
value.
How could you com
pare a watermelon —
which clearly had some
value — to a diploma from
the University of
Tennessee?
So the barter system
had its concomitant prob
lems, but ancient people,
had to cope with it,
because no one knew any
math.
When roommates got
their power bills, they
didn’t know how to split
it. They just stared at it
with that vacant expres
sion commonly displayed
by stupid dogs.
“Jeez, we’d better learn
some math,” some of
them said, and thus math
was bom.
My earliest memories
of math were in kinder
garten, where I learned
that 1+1=2.1 loved this
kind of math.
In kindergarten, I fig
ured out that was the
answer to every question,
and that was always my
reply.
If you asked me who
assassinated Martin
Luther King Jr., I would
frown thoughtfully, then
cheerfully reply,
“1 + 1 = 2!”
All my teachers
thought I was gifted. By
gifted, I mean stupid.
“The kind of math I
detested was algebra.
Algebra consists of
adding, subtracting and
performing other sorts of
unnatural computations
to alphabet letters,
instead of numerals.
Here is a typical alge
braic question: Anne is x
years old, and Jane is
twice as old as Anne. If
Lauren is four years
younger than Jane, what
is the probability that you
have stopped reading this
column and flipped to the
crossword puzzle?
Math teachers relent
lessly emphasize the use
fulness of mathematics.
Now I have learned a
whole lot of math
throughout my life, but
the only time I ever find it
useful is when I consider
biggie sizing my fries.
I don’t care what you
say, but there are some
professions where pro
found mathematical apti
tude is not a necessity.
I doubt you will ever
find the words “Senator”
and “cosine” in the same
sentence.
Now I’m not suggesting
that math is useless.
Several careers require a
whole lot of math. Take
football.
Football players need
math so they can calcu
late how many yards they
need to get a first down.
Professors also need
math to calculate class
averages and use the Bell
Curve, made famous by
its creator, Graham Bell.
Even columnists need
to know some math, so
they know when they
reach the 600-word limit.
And for those of you in
Boyd Studies considering
responding critically to
this column, let me assure
you that doing so would
make you extremely
gifted.
— George Azih is a
senior in general studies.
His column appears
Wednesdays.