FT Fdifnrial Nefi&kan
4 JLj V41 IU1 idl Monday, January23,1989
I Curt Wagner, Editor, 472-1766
Amy Edwards, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Lee Rood, Associate News Editor
Diana Johnson. Wire Page Editor
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Columnist
Dispensers needed
Condom machines would promote safe sex \
University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Division of Housing j
needs to jump on the safe sex bandwagon by install- \
ing condom dispensers in residence halls.
Director of Housing Doug Zatechka said he has no
plans to install the machines because students would not \
become educated about sex.
Readily available condoms, although not educating stu- \
dents about sex, would educate them about health risks
while promoting safe sex. With the increased number of
AIDS cases and unplanned pregnancies across the nation, I
all areas of university, local, state and national govem
: ments must work for that education.
Zatechka said that students should continue to go to the
University Health Center to get condoms, because doctors
can give them guidance on matters of both physical and
mental health.
But students do not need to consult a health center
doctor before getting condoms. Condoms are placed on
the counter at die pharmacy, and students leave payment
by the honor system.
■ Besides, if a student takes the time to purchase a con
dom, then apparently that student is educated enough
about sex to practice sale sex.
And there are ways to educate students without requir
ing the presence of a doctor.
UNL could place educational pamphlets next to the
machines* like the University of Iowa in Iowa City does.
UNL could send informational brochures to each hall resi
dent at the beginning of the year and package the con
doms with detailed instructions, as the University of
Wisconsin-Madison does. UNL’s housing division could
sponsor special educational events, like UWM’s “Con
dom Olympics.’’
And as Zaterhka has said, expense would not be a
factor in the decision to install the machines because
vendors would cover installation costs.
The value of condom machines in the residence halls is
indisputable. As long as the machines are present, the
chances of a condom being used grows.
If the presence of a condom machine stops one un
1 wanted pregnancy, or one case of AIDS, then it is worth
Curt Wagner
for ike Daily Nebraska*
ppiftma
Reader concerned by review
i nc ncauiuic ui jiiii nanua » re
view of “Mississippi Burning”
(Daily Nebraskan, Jan. 18), notes that
the movie may arouse anger in some
viewers. But Hanna failed to address
a very real anger that the movie is
evoking. The film fictionalizes a real
event, and its mis- or re-interpreta
tion of that event may delude many
viewers into believing that the FBI
played a supportive role in the cause
of blacks during the Civil Rights
Movement.
Unfortunately, this isn’t true. The
FBI did as little as possible to support
the black cause during that period,
and in many instances played the role
of oppressor and persecutor. It ap
pears that the primary involvement
the FBI had with the Civil Rights
Movement was in iheir campaign
against Marlin Luther King Jr.
Last Tuesday Lcla Shanks spoke
at a Marlin Luther King Jr. Day cele
bration in Lincoln. She recounted her
experiences during the Civil Rights
Movement, which included Imving
FBI agents harass her at home and her
husband at work for refusing to send
their children out of their neighbor
hood to a segregated school for
blacks.
As Shanks noted, it is not that
there wqe not whites who supported
me muvemem, uui u; jam u ay uie i ui
as an agency as being supportive ol
the movement is dangerous. People
need to know the truth about the Civil
Rights Movement, even (or espe
dally) if it makes them feel uncom
fortable.
To fictionalize and reinterpret the
Mississippi summer into a vehicle foi
an actor to get an Academy Award is
reprehensible, and (in the words ol
last week's Time magazine),
<‘downplay(s) the roles of black and
white visionaries who risked, and
sometimes lost, their lives to help
fashion a free America.”
Hanna suggests that the “only”
Haw in the movie is the graphic and
frequent violence. I disagree. I think
we need to know that people were
beaten, tortured and violently killed
because of the color of their skin, 01
because of their support of people
whose skin color differed from theirs
As the Time magazine article
pointed out, "It is bad enough thal
most Americans know next to noth
ing about the true story of the Civil
Rights Movement. It would be even
worse for them to embrace the fabri
cations in 'Mississippi Burning.'”
Margie Winn
senioi
advertising
. \ MOW 'BOUT |
. ) A CRAVJL OR
t ( tWBE A CREEP J
Industry dumps ‘maturing9 figure
tx-pinboy Koyko says Ketton exemplifies typical bowler image
V • ■ ■ .1 J* J I. • _..I J 1 C I .j
Waco l suuucu Hanging aruunu
bowling alleys, it was obvi
ous that nobody was giving
much thought to the public image erf
this ancient game.
I was one of the pinboys, a scruffy
mix of neighborhood kids, winos and
drifters. We worked the pits, scoop
ing up the ball and speeding it back on
twin-rails to the bowler, then tossing
the pins into the rack and slamming it
down for a reset
The air was usually heavy with
cigarette and cigar smoke. The bowl
ers’ language could be even heavier,
especially when they left themselves
a tough split in a money game.
Most places had a memorable
aroma: a blend of beer, sweat and
smoke. This was before the days of
air conditioning and armpit sprays.
Today’s health vigilantes would call
in a federal agency.
Not that there was anything dis
reputable about bowlers. To the con
trary. They were working people, and
bowling league night was a major
part of their social lives.
But most bowling alleys were no
frill joints. A bar, a short order grill,
and maybe a few pool tables. The
paint on the walls might be faded or
peeling and neighborhood idlers
might be hanging around the pin
bails, but as long as the alleys were
properly oiled, the drinks honestly
poured and priced, and the pinboy
didn’t get his head in the way of the
ball too often, the customers were
satisfied.
Of course, this was long before the
bowling industry tried to gentrify it
self. It was before bowling alleys
became known as bowling lanes or
family recreational centers. It was
before automation replaced the pin
boy, forcing thousands of youths out
of the pits, where they developed
agility and strong backs, and into
McDonald’s burger assembly lines,
where they develop high cholesterol.
There’s no question that today’s
bowling centers arc cleaner and more
comfortable than in the past. And I
can’t uuarrel with the business mo
tives of the bowling proprietors. They
now compete with racquet sports,
fitness clubs, jogging, VCRs, video
^mes and dozens of other recrea
UUIIJ> UUU U1UII I CA1M a tuujiic
generations ago. Just prying (he po
tato off ofhis couch is a challenge.
But I think they may be cairying
their image consciousness a bit too
far.
I say that because of the legal flap
between Mary Lou Retton, the for
mer Olympics darling, and a couple
of national bowling organizations.
After Mary Lou bounced into
America’s consciousness, she signed
a lucrative contract to hype the bowl
ing industry. That’s the American
Dream: You devote your formative
years to perfecting the world’s great
est back flip for your country’s honor
and glory. Then you become a TV
salesperson. If Thomas Edison were
alive today, he’d be on TV pitching
appliances. Alexander Graham Bell
would be telling us to let our fingers
do the walking.
Although Mary Lou was not
L' nmnn for bar kotnliMA tliAl
rented her image of good, youthful,
wholesome athleticism. But now
they’ve dumped her, and she's suing.
The bowling moguls argue that
she is no longer a suitable spokesper
son because her body has been
“maturing.”
They won ’ l come right out and say
it, but it has been reported that she’s
been maturing too much from east to
west. In other words, she’s become
kind of a pudgy young lady.
That’s an image the bowling in
dustry wants to shake. They want us
to think of bowlers as lean and slinky.
Sort of like pro golfers with greasy
haircuts.
It’s their industry, so I won’t give
them advice, other than to say that
they are kind of stupid.
They overlook the polls that say
the vast minority of Americans either
weigh too much or think they do.
They also ignore the fact that the
ldM y v. y\ju wvaiu iuw iu? juui ojiu
mean athletes is in a bowling alley.
You bum off more calories having
a dirty thought than by bowling a line
or two. The office cleaning lady gets
more exercise than a bowler.
So if the bowling industry had any
sense, it would welcome die new,
broader-beamed Mary Lou. They
would have her make a commercial
in which she says:
“Hi, remember me, the famous
Olympic athlete? Of course you
don’t. I’ve been eating a lot of Quar
ter Pounders with fries.
“But, hey, don’t worry. Do what
I’ve done. Forget the back flips. For
get pumping iron and eating tofu. Just
go bowling. There’s nothing to it.
Roll (he bail a couple of times, then
sit down. And if that tires you, let
someone else keep score while you
eat pizza.”
The bowling industry doesn’t real
ise that it is going to drive away its
traditional constituency -- the over
weight, out-of-shape majority.
If they’re determined to drop
Mary Lou as their spokesperson, then
they should get someone like my
friend Slats Grobnik, who was
elected to the Pinboy Hail of Fame for
having been simultaneously hit in the
head with a ball and pin, and not
miccina a rorIr
Slats could articulate the three
things that make bowling unique
among all participation sports.
“Hi, I’m Slats and I’m a bowler.
Why do I bowl? Because it is a great
sport. You spend 99 percent of your
time sittin’ down. *
‘ ‘More than that, it’s the only sport
where the arena of competition pro
vides the players with ashtrays. You
ever see an ashtray in an aerobics
class?
“But best of all, it’s the only sport
where you push a button and a wait
ress brings you ail the beer you want.
Billy Martin should have been a
bowler.’’
My guess is that Mary Lou will
win her lawsuit. All she has to do is
set up the cameras in a few bowling
alleys and film the athletes.
And not their faces.
© IVSV b) the ( hk'Hgu tribune
ltllCfrnocYv
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