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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
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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
