Monday, February 6, 1034
Pcr;3 6
Dailv Nsbrsskan
Freshmen find home isn't always home
I thought I'd write down a few thoughts, some my
own and some borrowed, foryou freshmen who had
a rough first semester.
One of the worst things about college is those first
few trips home.
For the first time in your life you have almost
complete control of your life and lifestyle.
Unfortunately, many abuse this newfound free
dom and forget, or never learned, that with freedom
r
V
Bill
Allen
comes responsibility. Mainly, responsibility for your
self. You can blame your parents for not preparing you
for this responsibility, but eventually you have to
forget blaming and accept things.
I think that's why the freshman dropout rate is so
high. It's not so much that they can't handle their
classes as it is they can't handle the responsibility
for themselves.
Almost all of us know people who come up here
PERFORMING
ARTS MINI
SERIES 8384
1. Dsnlcl Hc'fctz, vic!!n
With the support of the Nebraska Arts Council
Friday. February 10
Two Hit Crocd.vcy Chows
2. "Master HsroEd"-. i'. and Ui3l)oys.
Thursday, February 23
This emotionally charged drama follows a young white
student's transformation from innocent childhood to
poisonous bigotry in 1 950 South Africa.
3. Agnes of God
Saturday. February 25
A spellbinding drama about a young nun who gives '
birth in a convent and whose child is mysteriously
murdered.
Starring Peggy Cass and Susan Strasberg
4. Cssux Arts Trio, piano, violin & cello
Jelinek Memorial Concert
With the support of the Nebraska Arts Council
Saturday, March 3
5. Alvin Alley American Danco Theatre
A Mid-America Arts Alliance Program
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, March 5, 6, 7
Jelinek Memorial Concerts are supported by a fund made available to the
University of Nebraska Foundation by Viola Jelinek, as a memorial to her
father Stephen Jelinek. Mid-America Arts Alliance Programs are made
possible by support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the National
Endowment tor the Arts through their participation in Mid-America Arts
Alliance, a regional arts organization. All programs in this year's series are
supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Only orders of 3 or more events available at this time.
Individual tickets available approximately 2-3 weeks
before performances.
For information or to order tickets, contact the Kimball
Box Office at (402)472-3375, 11am-5pm, Monday
through Friday.
Individual Ticket Sales
Daniel Hcifeiz, violin
With the support of the Nebraska Arts Council
Friday, February 10 st 8 p.m.
Danial Heifstz will be giving Mini Concerts
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Thursday, February 9 at 8:30 am 119 Wss5rook Music E!.g.
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and partied their first semester away and treated
classes like something that would go away if they
were ignored.
Suddenly staying out until 3 or 4 a.m. isn t unus
ual, even on a school night.
You find yourself with a different person every
weekend and only realize what that did to you when
you find someone you really care about.
And the phone calls from your parents say how
proud they are of you and you feel guilty, but only
until you hang up the phone. Or late at night.
Then you go back home for the first time.
I think many people who get back home for the
first time miss the fun of the university. You're back
in Ogallala, or Papillion, or wherever and you see
that everything is pretty much the same as it was
when you left a month ago. You wonder how you
ever enjoyed running around on a Saturday night in
such a dull place.
Your parents, of course, still go to bed at the same
time they always did, and by then you might be
leaving.
All they want to talk about is school, which is what
you know the least about and you can't tell them
about a lot of other things.
You can't tell them about coming home at 5 a.m.,
knowing you have a midterm at 10:30 and you
haven't even begun to study.
You can't tell them why you don't want to call the
guy or girl you were dating before you left for college.
And it's hard to just sit around the house.
I remember the worst part for me was trying to
look up old high school friends.
These were people you grew up with. You knew what
their dreams were. You got drunk for the first time
with these people. All through high school you
thought life would just go on like that forever. It was
hard to accept the fact that someday everything
would be different.
It hurts when you realize that the friends that
didnt come to college have so little In common with
you now.
The next few trips home are more insightful. By
now you've given up trying to recapture the good
times of the past and you've learned to enjoy the
time you have with your family. You argue with your
parents less, and you can sleep in the room your
little brother has almost entirely taken over without
feeling resentful because it's not the way you had it.
You open up the hometown paper and feel a sense
of longing when you see people you know getting
married. You start thinking that maybe you missed
something while you were away getting educated.
I said at the beginning that these were thoughts
for those freshmen that had a hard time their first
semester, but I'm sure a lot of upperclassmen can
remember some of these feelings.
Dy the time you are here two or three years you
are a little more accepting of the way things are. You
start to form ideas on how your life will be.
That's scary, too, when you start to feel caged in as
little by little your choices are narrowed down.
So you won't be able to be a Nobel Prize-winning
physicist, but at least you know that you can be a
physicist. Just a little more hard work.
And maybe you cant buy that Ferrari for a few
more years. At least you can make it.
Security takes the place of a lot of dreams.
And, for you freshmen, by then, the trips back
home are fewer, but you look forward to them more.
And you don't feel bad about the way things used to
be back home. You realize that not a lot of things do
change.
People just grow into the years.
Hopefully you've begun to realize that you should
have fun at college, and you should have fun in life.
But with that fun should come responsibility for
yourself.
Ultimately, you're the one you have to answer. It's
much easier if you have the questions narrowed
down.
fe 1 . .."1
Editorial laclcs logic
r The editorial regarding the controversy surround
ing whether to change the women's lounge in the
Nebraska Union to a 24-hcur student computer
center (Daily Nebraskan, Jan. 3) must have taken a
full two minutes to think through (though the word
think' is not really appropriate here). The issue con
cerning the value of the Women's Resource Center is
not in any way connected with the issue of the
women's lounge, yet the editorial ties the two
together. It is interesting that this form of logical
fallacy is often found in the writings of sexists, racist
and bigots.
Regarding the issue of the women's lounge, the
editorial makes the error of assuming that since
only 170 women signed the petition, only 170
women use the lounge. Such an assumption might
be expected of an elementary school student, but
surely not a college student.
Finally, the editorial makes the unwarranted
assumption that the desires and needs of one seg
ment of the student population are more important
than those of other segments. Obviously (according
to the editorial), the desire and need to keep the
women's lounge is only the desire and need of mere
women.
I hope some thought will go into future editorials.
JeffSchank
graduate student
philosophy
Don aim at NSSA
As a UNL student, I feel compelled to respond to
the position taken by the Aim party regarding the
Nebraska State Student Association. I feel clarifi
cation concerning the NSSA's role in the promotion
of higher education is needed. I would also like to
point out that I am not a member of one of the other
parties seeking an ASUN victory, only a concerned
student.
NSSA represents individual students, not cam
puses. Each student pays 50 cents per semester on
all of the member campuses. It is the individual
student who is important to the association.
If the members of Aim are so concerned about
specific campus issues, then they should openly
address those issues, not the organization that has
been working to promote the student's perspective
and working to gain tangible benefits.
I do not feel the NSSA should be used as an issue in
the ASUN election. The NSSA has made significant
gains in its short (3-year) history. It h time to
actively support the NSSA and work within its
proven mechanism. Pull up your sleeves and get
involved! Contact your NSSA representative on this
campus (116 Nebraska Union), contact your state
senator, and voice your opinion on those issues that
concern you as a student.
Patrick D. Edwards
junior
architecture
Cartoon misrepresents
I am writing in reference to your editorial cartoon
of Jan. 23. In an attempt to characterize the debate
regarding the governance of the university, it is my
opinion that the cartoon did a great disservice to all
entities represented.
It is with particular dismay that I view the char
acterization of Sen. Kilgarin. While Sen. Kilgarin is
one of three sponsors of LR225, which I take the
cartoon is meant to address, the manner in which
the senator is represented is both unfair and mis
leading. Throughout her legislative career Sen. Kil
garin has been an unyielding supporter of higher
education and the student perspective. The sena
tor's voting record in committee and on the floor
provides clear and specific proof of her commit
ment to quality higher education in Nebraska.
Deb Chapelle
executive director
Nebraska State Student Association
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Jl ...OMBUDSMAN
Jjy LyTivin jlaH 4723633
