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Page 7 « SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT October, 1988
Stop The Madness
By Donna L. Terry
You guessed it. On Thursday, Sep
tember 15 and Friday, September 16, the
Spelman student body once again fell
prey to the all-mighty tow truck syn
drome. This disorder is particularly dis
heartening because it involves the render
ing of legal tender for a most unrequested
service. If that’s not enough, one suffers
the extreme mental anguish of witnessing
their automobile in tow while remaining
mindful of the fact that the cure-all for
both malfunctions is $10.00.
The tow trucks were in full force at
7:15 a.m. Many students saw the tow
trucks and immediately began operating
the “say girl friend alarm system”
throughout the campus. However, many
were too late. Betty (not her real name)
hurried Thursday morning to move her
Sunbird before the invasion of the auto
snatchers moved in, but once again our
sister was too late. When Betty found her
car it was already attached to the tower.
She asked, pleaded, and begged with the
Automobile Removal Specialist if she
could simply pay the fine on the spot and
therefore keep her car on campus. Unfor
tunately, Betty’s efforts were in vain be
cause the security guard shouted, “Just
take it away. We need to teach these girls
a lesson.” And that’s the way it was.
Now this is the way it is. In order to ob
tain an on-campus parking permit one
must be unquestionably a junior or senior
and pay the cost of $10.00 a semester.
Spelman College according to the 1988-
89 Student Handbook issues on-campus
parking permits. As of September 20,
1988 parking permits were still being is
sued. However, if one is a freshman or a
sophomore she will not be issued a per
mit.
Let’s re-evaluate the problem. Most
likely if she is a junior or senior with a
car, she resides off-campus. If a junior or
senior lives on-campus it is usually a con
venient arrangement because of transpor
tation problems. Therefore, parking per
mits are usually available after the official
registration period.
In proposing a possible solution, the
administration could establish a deadline
in the month of September for junior and
senior priority for on-campus stickers.
After that date, the purchasing will be
come available to all students of Spelman
College. By working together and
brainstorming various solutions the ad
ministration and student body can trans
form large dilemmas into pleasant topics
of conversation. Let’s stop the madness.
Unconditional Love
By Teresa Elaine Leary
Not long ago you walked into
my life, smiling the smile
of a man in love.
I listened to you tell me all
about your hopes and dreams.
I listened to your voice
read my poetry through the
telephone lines.
I gave - and you stole
some of my best poetry
by allowing me to believe
that one day you’d write
some for me.
You heard my silent cry for
attention, answered it and
then ignored me.
As a strong Black woman
how could I be so taken
by a suave, senstivie,
handsome, intelligent Black man?
How.. .? Because I forgot and
thought you were all there was.
“A man’s troubles are always half dis
posed of when he finds endurance the
only alternative.
Frederick Douglass
It is finally here, my Spelman sisters.
For many of us, the years of our matricu
lation at Spelman is almost to an end. I
look back at the new faces, new friends,
the Morehouse brothers and the newly
found relationships, the many goals that
we have set for ourselves, and our hopes
and dreams of becoming strong, indepen
dent Spelman women. As I write this ar
ticle, I wonder my Spelman sisters, have
we truly developed into Spelman women
or only imitations of the stereotypical
black women that are portrayed through
the media? I wonder, are we truly engros
sed in this loving Spelman sisterhood, or
are we merely faking a true sense of to
getherness among our race?
Are we really the women of diverse
goals, diverse beauty, and diverse back
grounds, or are we breeding the freshmen
to look, act, talk and even think like the
ideal Spelman woman? Have we taken
the importance from education and com-
Let’s Get Focused
By Darralynn Hutson
munity service and placed it upon fash
ionable wardrobes, chic haircuts, conver
tible cars, popular relationships, apart
ment parties or greek symbols? Have our
grade point averages rapidly gone down
while our social standings gone up? Do
we aimlessly seek easy A’s and easy
men? We are all guilty of it. You ask
what it is. It is holding grudges from
sophomore year, fighting over
Morehouse men, competing for the per
fect formal dress to wear to Genesis and
angrily leaving, hating the Spelman sister
that had on YOUR dress, and alienating
those who jut do not seem to fit into your
mold of an ideal Spelman woman. This
message is not critize, because I am not
by any means, without guilt, but I see a
disheartening problem developing within
our class. We have become unfocused.
I wonder where and when we became
unfocused? Was it during freshmen
week? Was it during the Junior Pageant,
JJomecoming Coronation or perhaps dur
ing greek stepshows? Ladies, when did
we lose our focus? When did we start
talking about each other behind our
backs, secretly sleeping with each others
men, stealing each others clothes, or dis
respecting each other as the black upper-
wardly mobile Spelman women we are? I
guess it really does not matter when, as
long as we become focused again.
Establish bonds that will last beyond
Spelman’s gates, include a sister who
does not own a BMW, hug a sister who is
crying over her Morehouse man, and
most importantly, respect your sister for
whom she is, not for the clothes she
wears. As Dr. Benjamin E. Mays once
said, “We have only but a minute, only
sixty seconds in it. . .” My $pelman sis
ters, love each other now while we still
have the chance. Time is leaving us so
very quickly and regrets a life time. We
must become focused again!!!