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daily nebraskan
Wednesday, january 23, 1980
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You may have noticed that today's Daily
Nebraskan is different.
In the function of serving our readership, we
feel it is our obligation to make news judgments
according to the importance an issue may have on
the university community.
It was our decision that "how the University of
Nebraska contributes to the state" is of utmost
importance to our readership, the Lincoln
community, and the entire state.
Today we devoted our front page to a contest
designed to encourage input into a subject we feel
is vital to the well being of the university.
Too many times we have heard the complaint
that students, faculty and Nebraska citizens have
little opportunity to provide input to the admin
istrators and the Legislature during the
appropriations process. It is hoped that this
contest may provide that opportunity.
It is our intention, as letters come in, to
publish the best entries on a day-to-day basis.
What better way of expressing student views and
providing a forum of discussion? :
And it may be interesting to-discover the many
facets of university contributions. For example,
did you know that 80 percent of all school
administrators in Nebraska earned degrees or
studied at UNL? Or that the Nebraska Energy
Plan, devised by the College of Engineering and
Technology, saved Nebraskans $460,000 in 1977?
How about the fact that more presidents of the
American Psychological Association have received
their undergraduate education from UNL than any
other institution?
And the contributions just begin. Research in
agriculture, water legislation, soil conservation,
energy, computer technology, engineering,
architecture, and a whole host of other areas not
only contribute to Nebraska, but have national
and international implications.
The comment that NU is an investment and
not an expenditure has been heard too. often. It's
now time to open the topic up for discussion by
people most immediately affected by the university-students,
faculty, administrators and
Nebraskans every where.
, Harry Allen S trunk
Cuisine changes tastes
5 -. -
The saying runs "yu are what you
eat." While that may be true chemically,
there aren't too many hamburgers attend
ing UNL.
; There are, however, about 900 foreign
students here. Most of them weren't
accustomed to Nebraska food before
arriving. For some, the difference has been
a headache; for others, an adventure in
American cuisine. .
o
.GCSfGfitt
Jehangir Methani, from Pakistan,
characterized the adjustment process. "In
the beginning the food here did not agree
with me. Now can. eat as many ham- ;
burgers as an American."
Was the change really so great? Francis
Nicol, from Sierra Leone (on the west
coast of Africa), emphasized that it was in
deed a big difference.
, "Here, I'm deprived of my basic food
stuff, which is 'foofoo.' It's made of
manioc or plantains, boiled and pounded.
It looks like mashed potatoes but is much
more sticky. ' ,
"The peanut is also an important part of
our main dishes, but here it's a snack. We
have peanut butter stew, and use peanut
sauces on most of our leafy vegetables," he
said.
The variety of food available here im
pressed him. "Especially in vegetables.
personally like it. My favorite food here is ,
beef noodle soup," Nicol said.
Dennis Law and Steven Tang, room
mates from Hong Kong, also picked beef
noodle soup as a favorite, but most of all
they like barbecue spare ribs.
Law said they find the choice of foods
here very limited. "Our foods are more
spicy. Maybe this is why we think there's
no variety here. We usually choose our
food by the sauce, but here all the sauces
taste alike. They have . different colors,
though."
Tang said he prefers to eat with chop
sticks, "but here the pieces of food are too
big, so we can't use them. At home, we cut
our food into small pieces before we cook
it." , -
Reiko Asano, from Japan, thinks dorm
food is "too fattening, especially for girls
from outside the United States. One of my
friends gained 15 pounds, and she was cry
ing. I don't know why she eats so much."
Asano thinks Nebraskans "should eat
more fish." But she added that, because
Nebraska is so far inland, it's obvious "we .
can't get really fresh fish here."
Khossrow Mansoori, from Iran, felt that
"the food is okay, but I always feel empty.
After two hours I'm hungry again, but I eat
much more food here than in Iran. The
food in Iran, such as rice and bread, has
more starch and makes you feel full."
Jose Guilbe, from Puerto Rico, said that
jie and his friends miss their island's food.
"Sometimes we go to a friend's apart
ment and cook Puerto Rican food. But we
can't get everything we need. Our family
sends us some things then," he said.
for Karl-Heinz Brosa, from West Ger
many, "the change wasn't too great. like
the beef very much. It's much more expen
sive at home.
"I cook some German food in my
apartment. So far, I haven't had any prob
lems getting the things I need. But my
family likes to send extras sometimes, like
cookies and candy at Christmas."
K.I llALr.
"But from their ashes shall be recr'd
- A phoenix that shall make all (In I 'm) afear 'd. "
- William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part I.
Opinions expressed on the editorial
page are not necessarily those of the
college, university, student body or'
Daily Nebraskan staff.
The Daily. Nebraskan welcomes
letters to the editor and guest opinions.
Timeliness, clarity of writing and origin
ality is considered when selecting mater
ial for publication.
All submissions are subject to editing
and condensation and cannot be return
ed to the writer.
Politicians, society avoid uncertainties of aging
It was the issue that didn't come up about the man
who didn't show up. The shadow subject at the Iowa de
bates and in the whole election has been Ronald Reagan's
age.
In a few short weeks, Ronald Reagan will be 69. He'll
be old in an era when we insult age the most by covering
it in euphemisms: senior citizens, sunshine years, the
golden -agers.
cm
So far, his Republican opponents have virtually
declined to mention what everybody knows. They deal
with age as if it were a birthmark instead of a birthday.
I suppose they are being politic as well as polite: No
candidate wants to be accused of agism; one man may be
ancient at 69; the other, Winston Churchill in the midst of
World War II.
But I suspect that the candidates are also uncomfort
able with this subject. They are, after all, mostly in their
fifties, only one peer group younger than Reagan and un
certain about their own futures. Perhaps they, too, would
want to celebrate 70 with an inaugural.
TTiis uncertainty about aging isn't reserved for
politicians. Our whole society is aging, and few of us
know what we want to be when we grow old.
Our life expectancy today is 73.2 years-69 for men
and 77 for vomen. If it continues to rise at this rate for
20 years, by 2000 the average life of a woman will be 84
and that of a man will be ?4.
Looking at our own future, I suppose most of us hope
that there must be a way to age gracefully, to move into
another stage of life with more style than we could muster
up in adolescence. But at the moment the greatest compli
ment that the young pay the old is to say, "You don't act
your age." "
There seem to be two dominating role -models: those
who behave as if 70 were really 55 extended a bit, and
those who have retired into emptiness. But we have too
few people acting as contented guideposts, sending back
positive messages of what is ahead.
1 A Harvard graduate I know came back from his 50th
reunion last June with some new insights and observa
tions. There was something different about this reunion,
he said, different from the 25tii or 40th, for that matter.
The old divisions of background, occupation, success,
class seemed to have softened, fuzzed through the
spectrum of age. The men were kinder and more open
with each other.
In part, he attributed this to their feelings as survivors.
But also, he noted, one of the benefits of old age may be
in letting go of ambition, competition, status-seeking.
I would rather look forward to this mellow notion than
to spending my 70th year on Earth striving to spend the
next four years in the Oval Office working 16 hours a day.
But I am also aware that many older people feel, not
mellow but useless in age. There is something absolutely
terrifying about those elderly who spend the last time
they have left killing time. It isn't only George Burns and
his cronies who rebel at the notion of spending the "gold
en years" bored.
My own fantasies about aging are probably as unrealis
tic as my young fantasies about mid4ife. But they lie
somewhere between restless ambition and emptiness. The
first, it strikes me, is unseemly; the second is surely pre
mature death. Yet they are the two options for the aged
we hear the most about: holding on to mid-Iife and letting
go of all life.
I suppose I fantasize a kind of contentment in which it
is possible at last to be engaged and yet somewhat detach,
ed, involved but with a perspective, and accepting.
Today the elderly are usually the subjects and not the
authors of tales. Our senior citizens are written about as
Droblems and our "Passages" are supposed to stop at mid-
The difference between me and my daughter is that I
have been both her age and mine. The difference between
me and the elderly is that they have been my age and
theirs There are now 24 million Americans over age 65
When I am 65, it is likely that there will be more than 32
million.
We need to hear more about aging from those who
have aged well We need some people from the generation
that taught us how to grow up to begin teaching us how
to grow old.
c) 1SSO. Th Boston Globe NeWipapw Company
Washington Port Writtre Group
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