Editorial
I Daily
Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eric Planner. Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Edi’orial Page Editor
Victoria Ayotle, Managing Editor
Jana Pedersen, Associate News Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Copy Desk Chief
Brian Shellito. Art Director
Doubt, fear end year
Eastern leaders will decide 1991’s fate
1 990 started out OK. Berliners were still taking home
chunks of their wall as Christmas presents. Throughout the
Eastern Bloc, people were enjoying the January thaw.
I Nebraskans had to endure another bowl loss, but the economy
| remained strong. Political experts were making New Year’s
resolutions about a changing world order.
But as the year draws to a close — and the Daily Nebraskan
takes a break from printing until Jan. 14 — there’s a lot more
i uncertainty and fear than anyone could have predicted.
It all seemed to happen at once. Recession. Record crime
1 rates in our cities. And then, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the
U.S. military response.
When vacation ends, U.S. troops may be streaming across
! the Saudi desert toward the border with Kuwait to meet a Jan.
: 15 deadline. The economy probably will have sunk even lower,
I damaged by a poor holiday shopping period.
By then, changes may be in motion on our own campus as ,
I well.
The University of Nebraska got its Christmas present at
Thanksgiving, when Martin Massengale was named permanent
president. Then the wrapping started to come off. Opponents of
Massengale’s presidency alleged that there was a plot to get
him into the position. And NU regents, supposedly in control
of the university’s governance, behaved like a bunch of chil
dren upset over the lumps of coal in their stockings.
In January, several higher education bills will be introduced
in the Nebraska Legislature. One will implement a restructur
ing of the state system’s governance. Another will propose
paring down the NU central administration.
But none of these local events — or Finals Week, New
Year’s resolutions and your department store’s return policy —
compare in importance to what’s unfolding in the Middle East.
All semester, studehts have discussed the crisis. They’ve
called Saddam Hussein a madman. They’ve called George
Bush a warmonger. Some have marched to protest the U.S.
troop deployment. Others have marched to war.
Now the situation is in the hands of the wise men from the
I East. They’ve got semester break to come up with a solution —
and to make sure that 1991 starts out OK.
— Eric Pfauncr
for the Daily Nebraskan
Planet’s time running out;
recycling program needed
Recently, there have been many
articles in the Daily Nebraskan about
the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln’s
proposal to start a recycling program.
My question is, why hasn’t this pro
gram been implemented sooner? With
all the threats to our environment,
such as deforestation, limited landfill
space, and pollution caused by gaso
line-powered engines, recycling is
something everyone should be taking
part in to help out.
These are big problems, and many
people ask what they can do to help.
Chaining yourself to a tree will defi
nitely make a statement, but how about
recycling paper to create less of a
demand for that tree’s life? Take a
look around campus today and notice
all the paper that is used. Between all
the Daily Nebraskans that litter the
ground, the innumerable class hand
outs, fliers, and paper products that
arc thrown h the trash every day, a
small forest has been wiped out. But
where docs all this paper go?
Although paper makes up most of
the volume of solid waste, there arc
rpany more trash items that we can
recycle. The old standbys, glass and
aluminum, arc often ignored. There
arc also other recyclable products such
as motor oil and certain plastics that
aren’t as easy to lake into a recycling
center because there arc few in the
area. Perhaps universitywide recy
cling would provide more collection
centers for these materials.
We like to think that once we dis
pose of something that it is gone for
ever. This is not the ease. 1 here is no
“away” in the throw-away. When you
empty your trash, the garbage may
disappear from your immediate envi
ronment, but not from the environ
ment in general. All of the paper,
cans, plastic, and Styrofoam, which
the university so ardently uses, arc
hauled to a secluded spot in the coun
try where they lay to rest for the next
50, 100 or 1,000 years.
“But it’s such an inconvenience,”
many people whine. Then ask your
self this question: Is separating your
trash more inconvenient than a landfill
in your backyard? So far, the slate of
Nebraska has not deemed it neces
sary to pass any mandatory recycling
laws. But recycling is mandatory in
the state of New Jersey and on many
college campuses on th< East Coast
because of diminishing landfill space.
These governments have realized that
recycling works to reduce solid waste.
1 realize that recycling doesn’t
appear to be as important a topic as
abortion, animal rights or the great
meat/vegetarian debate. These are
important issues about saving the lives
of the unborn and animals. Recycling
is about saving lives, too. The lives of
every living organism on the planet.
We arc killing our earth. In order to
save it, we must begin to lake respon
sibility for our actions. We cannot all
chain ourselves to trccsor bulldozers,
but we can begin by cutting down on
the amount of pollutants with which
we arc poisoning Mother Nature. Our
lime is running out. We must act now.
Kristine Mueller
freshman
arts and sciences
PARTY I
CHAAR1AAN
-tp^aJ
IK
‘Real world’ isn’t frightening
Leaving friends behind prompts visions of blackmail possibilities
I had no exciting topic this week
and was bored with the news.
But this is my last column, so 1
wracked my brain trying to come up
with some profound words about my
college career.
I couldn’t do it.
Either I lack the brainpower for
profound words, or my college career
was just too dull to write about.
So I’m not going to pretend to be
nostalgic about the time I tried to pay
the cashier at the Harvest Room (now
called Fast Break) with my Vali-Dine
card. That wouldn’t do much for the
suave and sophisticated image that
I’ve worked so hard to maintain.
Leaving college is not a sad thing.
I’m tired of school, and I feel unpro
ductive doing nothing but going to
classes and studying. I don’t have any
qualms about going out into the “real
world,” because 1 already pay my
own bills and make my own dentist
appointments.
I keep idling myself lhai gradu
ation is no big deal. You walk down
an aisle with the same people you’ve
been taking classes with for 4 1/2
years and somebody hands you a piece
of paper with your name stamped on
it.
You could get basically the same
thing by calling one of those 1-800
numbers they flash on the television
screen at 3 a.m. without ever having
to step foot in a classroom.
1 hadn’t thought about that until it
was too late, and 1 ’d already invested
too much time and money here.
So I shouldn’t be worried. 1
shouldn’t be having trouble concen
trating, or pacing the room, or feeling
like I have to stay awake 24 hours a
day and go to the bars every night this
week. I should be ecstatic, and organ
ized, and have no trouble doing my
laundry, or packing, or cleaning the
basement that has been growing strange
life forms for the last 2 1/2 years. But
it isn t that easy.
The scariest thing about ail of this
is not that I’m packing up and moving
on again, or that I have a new job, or
any of those things that go along with
graduating from college. The hesita
tion comes from leaving my friends.
Sounds cheesy, right? Whatever. It’s
true.
There are six people whom I’ve
spent the last four or so years of my
life with. Wc had classes together,
worked together and drank a lot of
Amy
Edwards
beer together. Three of them are gradu
ating this week with me, and the other
three are graduating in May.
I probably won’t see them again
for a while, maybe never. That’s a
hard thought to iivc with, because
although I’m sure we'll keep in touch
with each other, I doubt that we’ll
ever be as close as we arc right now.
And 1 know that I won’t be that close
to anyone I meet from now on.
Sure, I’ll have people I work with
and go out with and all that, but they
won ’ l ever know about this part of my
life, because there’s no way to ex
plain it. They won’t have seen me
when I’m wired and trying to study
for a final, or drunk and trying to
persuade my friend to quit dancing on
the tabic.
1 can’t explain that stuff.
1 wouldn't want to. Knowing that
six people in the world already know
everything about me is scary enough.
1 wouldn’t want somcliody new to
have that kind of information. 1 al
ready have nightmares about running
lor Congiess and having one of my
college triends show up on my door
step with a child I don’t remember
having and blowing my chance a!
ruling the country.
It happens, you know. You think
you’re set with a good.life and you
start to move up in the world and try
to forget the stupid things you did as
a kid, then one of your old friends
shows up and reminds you what an
idiot you were and sells your life
story to Ted Turner for half a million
dollars.
The only consolation is that I proba
bly will never be qualified to run for
Congress, nor would I want to take a
chance at ruling the country. Besides,
my life story is in black and white, so
it wouldn’t be worth half a million
dollars to Ted Turner.
So it probably won’t mailer il I
don’t keep tabs on my friends to make
sure they aren’t saying nasty things
about me after we split up. And I
would hate to sec them in five or 10
years and have some tearful get-to
gether like the one in St. Elmo’s Fire
where we all have to solve each other's
drug problems and work out argu
ments we never had before one of us
takes off on a bus to become a rock
star in New York.
That would be worse than not talk
ing to each other.
So I guess I’m not really sorry to
be leaving those guys after all. I’m
gelling pretty tired of them always
wanting to go out and do things and
talk to each other anyway. It’ll be
good to get away by myself and start
over with a bunch of people who have
nothing to hold against me and who
won’t make fun of me for things that
1 don’t remember doing.
I just go down to the Bob Dcvancy
Center Saturday, pick up my piece ol
paper, have a party and leave without
looking back.
Kdwards is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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