Small things add up to change
I nless your roommates locked
J you in the closet, you know
the presidential debates have
been a big deal for the past 10 days.
I watched about 20
minutes of each one.
That was enough for me.
The good stabs, quotes
and soundbites were in
the newspapers the next
day.
I’ve seen and read
enough to know that no
one really said anything I hadn’t al
ready heard.
Bush preaches trust. Clinton offfcrs
change. Perot is all cars.
But none of them have spent the
night with Maxine Moul.
I did.
For you closet dwellers, Moul is
the lieutenant governor of our fair
state.
Maxine Moul was in attendance at
the Great Plains Winter Slccpoul ben
efit for the homeless Friday night.
,As were Jeff, a fearless reporter,
Corey, another fearless reporter, and
myself, a fearless photographer, to
cover the event.
Moul spent the early morning hours
in a cardboard box in the shadow of
the Capitol, the scat of our fair state’s
government.
Jeff and I spent the early morning
hours in a warm building, drinking
lots of coffee and chatting with the
medical crew since everyone else,
including Moul, was asleep.
So, after our umpteenth cup, we
decided we could say we spent the
night w ith the lieutenant governor.
Maybe you had to be there.
Maybe you should have been there.
More than 100 people braved the
cold Friday night to raise about
525,000 for organizations that aid the
homeless.
Student participation from the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln was
sorely lacking.
True, student-athletes and mem
bers of Golden Key National Honor
Society collected food and clothing
for donation.
But when it came lime for Corey to
find a camping UNL student tb inter
view, he had to hunt awhile.
Union College, an institution sig
nificantly smaller than UNL, had a
significantly larger warm-body count
at the slccpout.
It’s a big deal that out of some
26,000 students, only a handful cared
enough about homelessness to show
their support.
Really, it wasn’t that hard. The
Salvation Army canteen handed out
lots of coffee, sandwiches, pizza,
doughnuts and orange juice.
Sure, the temperature dipped into
the low 20s, but with lots of clothes
and a nice, warm sleeping bag, the
chill was probably minimal.
OK, so 1 spent the really -chilly
hours inside, but I stepped out fre
quently to check on my sleeping sub
jects, like Moul, and to get more
coffee.
I care about homelessness. I can
not imagine not having a place of my
own where I was able to sleep, shower
and cal.
Some of you feel the same way,
I’m sure. We need to be concerned,
because any one of us, rich or poor,
young or old/could find ourselves
living on the streets someday.
Being on the streets is entirely
different from what happened Friday
night. Comparing the slccpout to ac
tually being homeless is like compar
ing a paper cut to getting bone marrow
sucked out of your body.
My friend Kara has donated mar
row in two separate operations to help
a little girl she has never met who is
suffering from a blood disease. That,
to me, makes the slccpout look like a
cakewalk.
The slccpout wasn’t even on a
debate night, when citizens every
where were glued to their televisions.
However, it was a Friday night,
much like this Friday night, and I
know how Friday nights arc for slu
y
dents:
“Hey, Debbi, you going to that big
party on 19th Street?”
“Oh God, no, Heather, I’m going
to the bars with Steph and Jenn and
Bart. I am, like, SO stressed out, I
need a drink big time.”
*“Wcll, maybe we’ll sec you at
Duffy’s.”
“Yeah ... on the floor!” (Hysteri
cal giggling under professor’s mono
tone.)
We drink ourselves into stupors on
weekends and watch the debates with
bated breath, hoping that some politi
cal savior will step into the White
House and cure what ails us.
Get your head out of the closet, and
smell the Salvation Army coffee.
If you want trust, act responsibly.
If you want change, then act. If you
want to be all ears, well, Halloween is
right around the corner, and I’m sure
you can find some sort of attach
ments.
The government, the bureaucracy,
the deficit, the debates, the special
interests, the baby-kissing and the
pcrk-protccting are all out of control.
Expecting the government to solve
this nation’s problems is like expect
ing Nebraska to win the national title
this year — it ain’t gonna happen
unless someone gels busy.
In the ease of this grass-roots na
tion, that someone is us.
You don’t have to donate marrow
or sleep outside or stay out of the bars
or give up all your worldly posses
sions to be a responsible citizen. Do
nating old clothes, food, money or
time helps a little, and every little bit
helps.
You also might register to vole, if
you haven’t already. Today’s the dead
line.
But don’t expect your vote to
change the world.
Only we can do that.
Paulman is a senior news-editorial and
history major and a Daily Nebraskan pho
tographer and coluhinitt.
Finnegan has tools for Congress
In 1 1/2 weeks the voters of the
1st Congressional District will
decide whether Democratic
challenger Gerry Finnegan should
represent Nebraska in the U.S. House
of Representatives.
To this point,
Finnegan’s attempt to
win the scat of seven
term incumbent Doug
Bcreutcr has been an
uphill battle. Because
challengers have de
feated incumbents in
less than 4 percent of
the Congressional races
in recent history, however, Finnegan’s
battle is nothing strange.
The nationwide mood of anti-in
cumbency may improve those odds
slightly this year, but it is still unlikely
that a challenger who is not indepen
dently wealthy or facing a scandal
ridden incumbent will break the trend.
Although Finnegan is not wealthy,
he docs stand out from the typical
Congressional candidate in a number
of other ways.
Perhaps ~'foremost among
Fiflncgan s assets arc the leadership
skills he developed as a U.S. Navy
pilot. Anyone who has ever been
around him will not only testily to his
unassuming and down-to-earth man
ner, but the confidence of someone
who is accustomed to being a leader.
Forthoseol us who have not served
in the armed forces, however,
Finnegan’s recent endeavors as an
instructor in the finance department
at the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln may strike closer to home.
1 never had the privilege of taking
Finance 260 from Finnegan during
my years as an undergraduate, so I
contacted Manfcrd Peterson, chair
man of the finance department, to get
a better feel for how Finnegan’s peers
on the faculty fell about him.
. Peterson had only positive things
•to say about Finnegan and noted that
he was always well-liked among the
faculty and continually received fa
vorablc reviews in his student evalu
ations.
Peterson had never taken a course
from Finnegan, however, so I called
several of Finnegan’s former students
to learn about his effectiveness as an
instructor. As someone who was al
ready convinced of Finnegan’s ex
traordinary character, the results of
my inquiry were not surprising.
Pete Castellano, the first ol
Finnegan’s former students I spoke
with, took Finnegan’s class in the
spring of 1991.
Castellano said that as a certified
financial planner, Finnegan was
uniquely able to connect the concepts
he was leaching into real-world expe
riences. Finnegan was eager to pre
pare his students for the problems
they were beginning to face,
Castellano said, and his personal ex
periences were an extremely effec
tive leaching tool.
While esoteric discussions arc use
ful in many subjects, it struck me as
significant that Finnegan was wise
enough to focus on the pragmatic
aspects of finance that students could
apply directly to their personal expe
riences.
Learning for the sake of learning
can be thrilling, but it’s equally im
portant for college instructors to pre
pare tomorrow’s work force to face
the problems they’re certain to en
counter.
Castellano also mentioned a prac
tice of Finnegan’s that illustrated the
instructor’s interest in each student as
a person. On the first day of class,
Finnegan would have each student
write his or her name on a placard he
had handed out prior to class and
place the placard on each student’s
desk. After only three or four classes,
Finnegan had learned the names of
each of his 40 or 50 students so that he
could call on them by name in discus
sions.
As I look back on my years as an
undergraduate, 1 would guess I’ve^
had more than 40 professors. Al the
most, three or four took the time to
learn the names of those of us in the
class.
The professors who did reaped the
rewards, as the classroom discussion
was always more exciting. People
who didn’t normally participate felt
more at case volunteering their opin
ions, and students were generally bet
ter prepared.
At a large institution, a professor
who knows your name can give you
the extra incentive to be prepared and
ask the questions you might have, as
opposed to letting you melt in with
the classroom scenery.
Another student I spoke with, Barry
Eby, took Finnegan’s class last fall.
Eby, who will graduate in December,
said Finnegan was one of the best
professors he had had al the univer
sity.
Eby said he particularly enjoyed
Finnegan’s ability to present the class
material in realistic terms. Finnegan
was also extremely approachable, he
said. Eby talked with Finnegan after
many of the classes about a wide
variety of subjects and was impressed
by Finnegan’s ability tocxplain things
in a clear, straightforward manner.
Approachabilily and clarity arc
priceless characteristics for a con
gressman to have, and Finnegan has
demonstrated both in his capacity as
an instructor.
Finnegan’s exemplary record as
an instructor at UNL is one more
reason he will receive my vole to
represent Nebraska’s 1st Congres
sional District.
I encourage you to think about
some of the characteristics you re
spect most in your instructors and
congressman — honesty, straightfor
wardness and approachabilily. When
you cast your vote on Nov. 3, consider
the person who has all of those quali
ties, Gerry Finnegan.
Rrunibg is a second-year law student and
a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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