Cun Wagner, Editor, 472-1766
Amy Edwards, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Lee Rood, Associate News Editor
Diana Johnson, Wire Page Editor
Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Columnist
Approve rec funding
Stipulate students pay, let them play
Phase III of the Campus Recreation/Atbletic Facility
will be on the NU Board of Regents’ agenda Satur
day, and the regents should pass the proposal -
even if $5 million is a lot of coin.
Phase 10, the final phase of the project, is the one that
will most affect University of Nebraska-Lincoln students.
Phase I of the project was the indoor practice field.
Phase II and 01 combined include basketball courts for
intramurals and women’s athletic teams, classroom space
and a center for healthy lifestyles, among other things.
So when the project is completed, it could be a big
benefit to students - besides, arguing the necessity of the
center is a moot point.
But the regents should be careful in their support of the
| proposal. Student and faculty fees will help with the
upkeep of the project, and they should be able to get good
use out of the facilities.
When the ball really started rolling two years ago,
Athletic Director Bob Devaney and football coach Tom
Osborne had sent a letter to Nebraska football season
ticket holders, asking for donations for the center.
The letter said that the facility “should be designed and
located so that it could be used by faculty and students as
part of a newly developed campus recreation/athletic
| complex when not in use by the football team. “
Whoops — another mixed set of priorities. The main
focus of the rec center should be student use - not foot
ball team use.
The football team got its indoor practice field before
anything else was done — proving where university
priorities lie. And .what’s done is done. But the regents
should set a stipulation on final approval of the complex,
to prioritize its use for the benefit of the students who will
pay for its upkeep.
-• Amy Fd wards
for the Dtuly Nebraskan
Crisis needs Bush involvement
Where is George?
I’m still waiting for the president
to show strong leadership in a na
tional crisis. Now we are undergoing
a big environmental mess with the
big oil spill in Alaska. It makes me
laugh when the president says there’s
no federal involvement needed, as if
the situation is under control.
Certainly, it makes me cry to see
all those animals dying, being mas
sacred in cold blood by a system in
which our president seems to be
crippled by compromises with big
interests, forgetting we are upsetting
the tiny equilibrium of this planet.
Where is George, again? When
this country needs his leadership and
compassion to defend our environ
ment from the negligence and lack of
serious laws to force companies to
operate without exterminating the
species and beauty around.
No doubt the stain and guilt of the
spill goes beyond the sea of Alaska to
the White House and the Congress,
where we need a compromise for our
environment’s sake, today! Other
wise, the next victims and losers of
the spills will be you and me!
Carlos M. Gonzalez
junior
electrical engineering
Group to heighten awareness
In response to an article about the
environmental group Ecology Now
(Daily Nebraskan, March 7), I would
like to clarify some of the groups’
objectives. For one, it is not my opin
ion that politics is ‘‘just bullshit.”
My intention was to emphasize that
politics can often lead to bullshit, but
on the other hand, it is a necessary and
often useful tool in most situations.
It is an obvious fact that we have
become a throw-away society, iso
lated from our environment, and
comfortable in our isolation: ‘‘Wel
come to the concrete jungle! ” But, as
with everything else, there is always
hope, and the place to begin is some
where that we can make a difference
- right here in our community and on
our own campus. Hopefully, through
the energy and enthusiasm being
generated by the development of this
organization, eyes and ears will be
opened, not only to the problems, but
also to the potentials for action and
change.
Despite the urgency for this action
and change, I would also like to
emphasize that the means are to be
nonviolent, and that we must not aim
to perpetrate personal violence to
ward anyone or anything. Finally,
any ideas, suggestions, or expres
sions of interest would be greatly
appreciated.
In peace.
J Burger
freshman
general studies
Qflc MoRE 6AiloR «F oil eri “H* 6F/*H”'
SSiMcRE^loMoro-i...
j?om yySRocN*- '
Ocn -ToiOKJ
mp T9.i TO 6ET a
Sleaze is the key to success
Spring-break adventures shed some light on human nature
Studying is difficult right now.
Spring break scrambled my
brain and this political science
book reads like a cheap pornography
magazine. Good things end too easily
and this book is lasting forever. My
head is still in a psychedelic school
bus somewhere between Tijuana and
Las Vegas.
It’s not easy being a bad writer and
feeling like Jack Kerouac. I’m full of
stale revelations about an eight-day
sleaze lour on heavily traveled roads
to the West Coast. Deciphering expe
rience is the key to wisdom and I
can't tell a lesson from a scorched
earth tour of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Five days ago, we were in the
Vegas of Mexico. We were tourists
feeding the poor of Tijuana witli our
ignorance and in Hated dollars. Dos
Equis for 50 cents, switch-blades for
$6 — and a 400 percent mark-up were
deals to those of us egocentric and
arrogant enough to believe all the
world lives as well as Americans.
When 1 was three years old, I
didn’t peddle Chicklcts to foreigners
and when I was 15,1 didn’t sell oral
sex. Sex buys supper for some in
Tijuana; morality is bought on a full
stomach. The people of Revolution
Street deserve respect. My home
work doesn’t mention that.
It also doesn’t mention that in
every nationality, someone is the bull
of ethnic slurs. I told one young sales
man that I’d give him $3 fora knife.
He said, “I look at your nose, you
must be a Jew. In Tijuana, anyone
who doesn’t sell also doesn’t hide
their contempt for Americans. Right
fully so, they liked our money, but
hated us.
Halfway between Tijuana and Los
Angeles at a truck stop outside San
Diego, a Tammy Faye-Bakkcr look
alike stepped into our bus as we
waited lor gas. She said her and her
husband’s truck had no gas and that
she was trying to gather $5 to get
them to the next town. She said she
had prayed for gcxxl Christians to
conic along and help them. She said
we answered her prayers. She asked
me w hai my denomination was. I said
I’m not sure. She called me a wan
derer. I gave her a dollar. She said,
‘ Praise the Lord” and called me a
Godsend. 1 thanked her and she left
the bus w ith a grin.
Becoming a Godsend is cheaper in
Tijuana. The television church
wouldn't sell in Tijuana. That merits
respect. My homework doesn't men
tion that, either.
L
And of course, no West Coast
vacation would be complete without
participating in a studio audience.
Near Graumens Chinese Theater, a
man asked us if we’d like to watch the
taping of the Gary Shandling show.
We had had enough of Hollywood
Boulevard’s stars and psychos so we
took his offer.
It was lun to be an active part of
Hollywood sleaze. Our laughter
would be piped around the nation to
help viewers realize how they should
react to Gary’s show.
The philosophy being that as a
rule, people really aren’t sure what
should make them laugh and what
should make them cry. My friends
and I helped guide the unbridled and
confused emotions of a nation. We
helped guide them to watch the show
again and again until advertisers paid
big money to pick the pockets of
Gary’s fans.
Before the show, a young and
incredibly mediocre comedian
warmed-up” the crowd. When the
show’s theme song played, 32 thespi
ans from a San Diego high school
swayed and clapped their hands in
unison. The comedian called them
lesbians; the thcspians called him a
dork and the show began with a Hash
ing applause sign and 200 dapping
head of cattle. I mooed at a friend
after the first scene and a thespian
called me a dork. Just before the last
scene, Gary said what almost ap
peared to be a spontaneous c uss word.
The crowd got fired up. The last
scene sounded funnier than it was
because Gary said the f-word.
On the drive home to Nebraska,
we took Interstate 15 through Ne
vada. Las Vegas is beautiful from 30
miles away -- a soft glow in the cold
desert night. That soft glow grew
claws about two miles out and lured
us wide-eyed Nebraska boss. We
drove down The Strip until we 'aw
the biggest and brightest casino. In
side we played quarter slot machines
and drank free drinks given to us by
half-naked waitresses.
1 figure that somewhere arounu
the 13th floor of his casino, a Donald
Trump clone sal fully clothed in his
suite, feeding his greed by feeding on
the greed of gamblers. Like a prosti
tute, he lives off the prurient interest
of my friends and others. His half
naked waitresses give free drinks to
the gamblers. The gamblers become
bold and lose. I won 25 cents in
Vegas. That’s 75 cents short ol a
Godsend. I tipped the near-naked
waitress 50 cents. No use upsetting
nature.
And back at my desk in Nebraska,
my political science book seems to
miss one very important fact about
why capitalism is once again so
vogue an economic system. Social
ism and like theories deny the in
nately sleazy nature of man. ( apitai
ism exploits sleaze. America is the
best at exploiting the world’s over
abundance of sleaze. That s w hy
we’re No. 1. Whoopee!
Nelson is a junior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan associate news editor
and editorial columnist.
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
brief letters to the editor from all
readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for publi
cation on the basis of clarity, original
ity, timeliness and space available.
T he Daily Nebraskan retains the right
to edit all material submitted.
Readers also are welcome to sub
mit material as guest opinions.
Whether material should run as a let
ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is
lclt to the editor’s discretion.
Letters and guest opinions sent to
the newspaper become the property
o' 'he Daily Nebraskan and cannot be
returned.
Anonymous submissions will not
be considered for publication. l etters
should include the author’s name,
year in school, major and group a 11 1
ation. if any. Requests to withnoic
names will not be granted.
Submit material to the Daily Ne
braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 14(H)
Sl, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
Editorial