Monday, January 19, 1987
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Jeff Korbclik, Editor, 4721766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Lise Olsen, Associate News Editor
Mike Reilley, Night News Editor
Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief
Nsbraskan
o TAHfA
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
f
Mck S5 wins kMe
War on redevelopment lost
In her book, "The Life and
Death of Great American
Cities," community-planning
critic Jane Jacobs argues compel
lingly for the superiority of nat
ural downtown development over
a sterile, planned, "rational"
downtown. The key to her argu
ment is that naturally developed
downtowns are heterogeneous
and, thus, are intrinsically more
interesting than those projec
tions from the minds of planners.
Jacob's thesis, sometimes
stated, sometimes implicit, has
been the basis of this paper's
objections to Lincoln's massive
redevelopment project that is
now moving into high gear.
Nation honors King
Hero gone, but dream still understood
"Freed at last, freed at
last, thank God Vm freed at
last. " inscription on the
tombstone of Martin Luther
King, Jr.
For many university students,
the Rev. Martin Luther King,
Jr. was no more than an
image on a television newsreel or
a picture in a textbook. Many
would have been only 2 or 3 years
old when he was assassinated in
April 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.
Most were probably not even
born when he won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1964.
Even though many didn't know
the man, hear him speak or
fathom what he was telling us,
we understand today. He had a
"dream" of whites and blacks
living together in peace. Racism
probably wasn't in his vocabulary.
millions wanted
DN asks for letters on abortion issue
Last semester, two Daily Ne
braskan columnists wrote
on abortion, one pro and
one con. In the following weeks
the DN received several letters
condemning and praising both
columns.
You've read what various
writers at the Daily Nebraskan
have to say about the issue. It's
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
brief letters to the editor from all
readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for
publication on the basis of clarity,
originality, timeliness and space
available. The Daily Nebraskan
retains the right to edit all material
submitted.
Readers also are welcome to
submit material as guest opinions.
Whether material should run as a
letter or guest opinion, or not run, is
left to the editor's discretioa
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials represent
official policy of the spring 1S87 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Beard.
While the war apparently has
been lost, one battle in the
struggle to preserve the unique
ness of the area for as long as
possible has been won: Bus
inesses in Block 35 the bus
inesses between 10th, 11th, P,
and Q streets have been
allowed to stay, at least until
Nov. 1, 1983.
The decision is a stay of execu
tion, not a pardon. These bus
inesses nonetheless represent a
unique instance of businesses
that can only thrive due to the
proximate location of downtown
and the university. Enjoy it while
you can.
Today, the nation will pay
tribute to this great man. This is
the second year King's birthday
has been a federal holiday. Last
Thursday, his official birthday,
he would have been 58. He died
when he was 39.
President Ronald Reagan told
the nation in a television address
that King "never reached his
40th birthday, yet during his
short life span he touched the
lives of every American and
helped dismantle the legal
vestiges of discrimination and
racism."
King has been labeled the
leader for the black civil-rights
movement during the 1950s and
'60s, but his non-violent cam
paigns were directed towards
everyone regardless of race,
creed or color.
King's memory will live on.
time we turn our typewriters
over to you, the readers. The
issue is controversial, and that's
putting it mildly. We hope you
take note of our request on the
front page and offer your opinion.
Remember, be brief and to the
point. The deadline is Wednesday
at 1 p.m.
Letters and guest opinions sent
to the newspaper become property
of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot
be returned.
Anonymous submissions will not
be considered for publication.
Letters should include the author's
name, year in school, major and
group affiliation, if any. Requests to
withhold names from publication
will not be granted.
Submit material to the Daily Ne
braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1 400 R
St., Lincoln, Neb. 6858&0448.
Editorials do not necessarily re-
fleet the views of the university, its
employees, the students or the NU
Ecsrd of Resents.
r-pr-
I ; - r
T J-
'Ivan ' explains why
Dear Jeff Mirowski, Shawn Dawson
and other friends of the film
"Amerika":
On behalf of the Soviet people I
would like to thank you and the makers
of "Amerika" for your ever-so-enlightening
14 12-hour entertainment and
your brief but telling comments in last
Wednesday's Daily Nebraskan. The film
was, as promised, diverting and just
loaded with rustic charm. But it was
also quite educational.
As you put it, Mr. Mirowski, "It made
me see the reality of why we spend
money for the arms race." I had no idea
fantasy epics had such an effect on you
people. It is a wonder films like "God
zilla" don't cause chaos and anarchy in
the streets. It made you see "reality,"
did it?
Indeed, I myself had no idea it would
be so simple to overpower America's
meager nuclear arsenal, but to mention
the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the
Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National
Rifle Association, the Elks, the John
Birch Society, the assorted rednecks
and all of the other fraternal orders of
your nation who store up massive
arsenals in their pickup trucks and
trailer homes. My comrades and I
always assumed that when we finally
came, these brothers, led by their
Grand Exalted Whatchamacallits, would
take to the hills with 20 tons of
chewing tobacco, enough venison for a
lifetime on the run and a Sears store
Letter
Am
Student priorities separate UNL, Ivy League;
quality of faculty will challenge students
If anyone is stupid enough to listen
to Chris McCubbin, (Jan. 13, "Big Red
Exit") and leave the university because
of a few hard times, then I hope that
person goes far away and never comes
back.
The author seems to think that
money is all that separates this univer
sity and the Ivy League. The truth is
that even if UNL had all the money it
would like, the student body is nowhere
close to that academic level. We have
the faculty that gives us an Ivy League
opportunity, but the student body, on
the whole, does not give an Ivy League
effort.
Having received undergraduate and
law degrees from UNL as well as nearly
completed an MA, I feel that I am in a
position to assess not only the abilities
but the attitudes of my past and
present classmates.
US.0F FICE OF
DISINFORMATION
-
x
X X J
the Russian people
full of goose-down vests. From their
camouflaged vantage points, these
defenders of democracy would pick us
off as we attempted an orderly take
over.
Charles
Lieurance
But we see by "Amerika" that your
fiber, your underbelly, has softened.
The gravediggers, the libertarians, the
feminists, the giver-uppers and other
pallbearers of the American way of life,
have dealt their blow of pessimism and
despair. In missiles lie optimism and
hope; happiness is a well-fueled arms
race. I take it that when the viewers of
"Amerika" say the movie made them
feel patriotic, they mean it made them
feel "warlike." In Reagan's America
these two terms have become inter
changeable. It was also refreshing to note that, in
Mr. Dawson's words, the Russians in
"Amerika" are "human." It is good that
the American youth are now confronted
with a human "red menace," not the
old, mechanical, humorless breed of
cinema Bolshevik. Of course, our
humanness should not make you feel
any less "patriotic." Maybe in this
In the fall, the average student's
priorities revolve around football games
and dates. Heck, even the athletes try
harder in the classroom than the average
student. Not that the average student's
priorities are wrong, but people cannot
continue to have those attitudes toward
their academic life and hope to be
considered in the Ivy League category.
It was my impression that the few of
us who had Ivy League ability did their
best to get the most out of the school,
but that the rest of you made it easy by
being relatively lazy, which made it
easier for us to stand out. This was
mainly my impression of my fellow
undergraduates; those whom I went to
school with in law or graduate school
could not be said to have had this
attitude problem.
What I am really trying to say is that
If you have the ability to do Ivy League
i
TO
: - us. I
, I Off tit of u x
x if 1
s v : y .... N i
I ; f J
W 4 ' v 1 x
" xv s
X XX jfi X
xvxis'x
x2i xxx
X
.er side
will not 'mellow out '
context, since "patriotic" means "war
like," "human" means "an ability to be
killed with almost any size firearm."
My favorite quote about "Amerika"
is, once again, from Mr. Mirowski:
"Russia will mellow out after the movie
is shown. They just wrote the story in
their own minds before seeing it."
And why were we, the Soviet govern
ment, angry about "Amerika" to begin
with? Because it made us out to be
invaders, because it endangered Soviet
attempts to hold talks that were con
structive in more than a rhetorical
sense to slow an arms race that has
reached a monstrously suicidal pitch,
because Americans believe their enter
tainments in far more active ways than
they believe facts.
And what has been the effect of even
this first screening? Well, the youth of
America now see the "reality" of why
they spend billions on their nuclear
arsenal. They see us as potential in
vaders. Certainly we will now "mellow out."
One final note to Mr. Mirowski: We
can promise you that if things actually
were to come to the pretty pass that
"Amerika" illustrates, there will be no
shortage of, as you put it, "blood and
guts."
Yours sincerely
Ivan
Lieurance is an English, philosophy and
art major and a Daily Nebraskan senior
reporter.
mm
A 1J
work, then UNL can and will challenge
you because of the quality of the
faculty, not because you will be pushed
by your fellow undergraduates. No
amount of money will correct this
attitude problem.
My solution? Gut the undergraduate
programs and give most of the money to
the graduate and professional students,
since they are the only ones with the
desire to bring the school close to the
Ivy League level. It would also be wise
to set up an extensive undergraduate
honors program that could cater to the
1 percent of students who put forth the
type of effort that is commonly seen in
the Ivy League. Let the rest of the
students watch tapes of classes and
take Keller-plan tests.
Michael B. KratviUe
Attorney