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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1975)
utmxi utiMimr tint t - -'- editorial , . . -.-J -wjgtt, jHigfgtJ, flu 'T-" -" . . ,, . .t., . Hir. gM H mm n flffllfi Hf ihhiiiiii IgBrHriil in M Vietnam never go back to it, never rorgei n 'You do understand we mean well?" There's a detestable smugness, an air of "we're not involved anymore, so who cares what happens?", in the American reaction to the approaching demise of South Vietnam, suggesting that perhaps it is not cowardly South Vietnamese soldiers but the American people who should be subjected to international scorn. With the growing unlikelihood of renewed American military involvement. Americans who only a few years ago paraded the horrors of war before the world in hopes of bringing peace now seem all too willing to forget those horrors. Some, counting the days to Saigon's fall like a child counts the days until Christmas, seem to find a certain pleasure in South Vietnamese losses, as if they are finally watching the curtain fall on a play they long ago guessed the ending to. What we seem willing to forget is that the Vietnamese who are dying in South Vietnam now are as human as the Americans who died there only a few years ago. We need not feel guilty' about refusing to re-entangle ourselves. The crime lies in attempting to isolate ourselves emotionally from that which so appalled us when it was our soldiers' faces being framed by a rifle sight. Vietnam is a monument to death and confusion. Its people are blown by the winds of war from one end of the nation totheother. Refugees have drowned or died of exposure while waiting for U.S. rescue efforts. The nation is being gobbled up bit by bit. Soldiers rape and steal from their own people. One bombed the presidential palace in Saigon. The curfew there has been moved up two hours, to 10 p.m. A plane cradling Vietnamese babies headed for the security of the, U.S. crashes. Thousands of Americans awc-t new babylifts, hoping to act out on a one-to-one basis what they did on a much larger scale until that became too costly. Those parents will be confronted with some interesting questions when their adopted Vietnamese child takes his first U.S. history course. Perhaps we will have the answers by then. Villages inhale and exhale their populations. Dirt roads play mother to a nation of refugees. Soldiers try to answer the riddle: "Nation or self?" Mangled bodies. Faces twisted into portraits of agony. This is Vietnam today-perhaps always. May our soldiers never go back to it. May our people never forget it. " Wes Albers v. 1 ... AND THE FOR BEST A PICTURE MWUTE IS I 00 but M., sihatra1, Am i - in nn.i. nn-. tncn. n "FraWW """"i i;11;;1" imrMnusxrmwmSm iij-hii jumi'iwi- w I. ij 1 1. ;i 31, j , iM iijiii.fliiMaw wwiwfrMttiw I DOtSTCMU Y0V5E GUYS SAID DA WOULD MKE A CLAV 8LT...6ur,., YOU CAUyT HILL MB OK) STfc( 1 73 tr I: '. IfcMPDE COULDMT REFUSE1. WASTE him soys! ilMi at aia ' TO WIM THAT THESE A'MDS AREtfT EHWZLI NOM-POUTICAL LACIBS - GENTLEMEM, Sif RECovvr OF VOTES, IT TURKS OUT Dm OA fMS ooh) OJCZ MAIN, M 00 ! Beauty forgotten on campus I would like to take this opportunity to say "thanks" to whoever is responsible for doing such a fine job of making this campus ugly, 365 days of the year. In the name of (God help us!) progress, we see a constant and seemingly endless ripping up of sidewalks and tearing down of bujldings, followed by the construction of new sidewalks and buildings. Unfortunately, in the wake of this brick and mortar deluge, one thing apparently is forgotten, namely beauty or, at the very least, what is pleasing to the eye. On process has an inherently built-in ugliness and drabness, which we are forced to put up with. First, the trees are cut and the grass plowed under, and then the tearing down begins. This is accompanied by lots of noise, dust and piles of debris. Next, the building up takes place. Mud, diesel trucks, more noise and a completion date never met, mark this stage of the building process. While this mess is to be expected, what is not expected is the bleak result of many of these construction endeavors. Three quick examples come to mind. The new library addition, for one, looks like it was designed by a ninth grade, drafting student. A real eyesore, even its .attempted frills, such as the overhanging concrete squares, detract rather than add to the building's appearance. Oldfather Hall is a good example of what a lack of imagination can create. A inundane piece of rock, it's too bad Oldfather is the tallest, and therefore, most obvious building on campus. The final example, the new coliseum, looks like an overturned box. The only good thing to say about this "thing" is that it's located at the page 4 State Fairgrounds and not on camous. Certainly, such things as cost, practicality and efficiency were very important factors involved in designing these buildings, but nevertheless some attention could have been paid to style, without detracting from the above three. After all, what is it these structures were designed for-a factory or a university? Perhaps though, this question would be better left unanswered. In all fairness, there is at least one building on campus which is pleasant to look at-Sheldon Art Gallery. joe dreesen SfTOHfti Sheldon, and the area behind it "including Architecture Hall, make up one of the few places here with any real aesthetic appeal. No doubt though, before many years pass, the wrecking balls will go into action, the diesel trucks will move in and this area also will be ruined to make way for progress. Slowly being buried in a sea of cement, it won't be long before we'll be able to enter campus and never see a tree or plot of grass, just wonderful world of concrete and drab buildings Strangely enough, die design of this campus parallels our education-cut off the frills and make everything dull and sterile. - "1 Hi. Just go about your routine. Go to work. Eat your lunch. Talk to a friend. Eat supper. Go to a movie. Go to bed. Your IRS, t EI and CIA want you to enjoy yourself." thursday, april 10, 1975 daily nebraskan 1