Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1994)
Opinion Nebraskan Tuesday, March 29,1994 Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick Rainbow Rowell. Adeana Left in. Todd Cooper Jeff Zeleny Sarah Duey. William Luuer. . . . .Editor, 472-17(ft .Opinion Page Editor Managing Editor .Sports Editor Associate News Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor .Senior Photographer F 1)11 OKI \l Victims every day Japanese on target about violence in U.S. When two Japanese students were shot in a carjacking Friday night, Japan again focused on violence in the United States. The Japanese people cannot understand our problems with guns and violence. When a Japanese visitor is harmed in the United States, it becomes an international concern. The Japanese arc appalled. How can they allow their children to come to a place where guns and violence arc so common? Why would they come here to visit? The U.S. government apologized profusely. What a horror, what a shame. Wc might think Japan is overreacting, wny snouiu our enure nation be damned because of a few isolated incidents? Our country isn’t more dangerous for tourists and international visitors. It’s dangerous for everyone. Every day, American citizens are victims of violence. Every day an American citizen is shot. How many Americans were killed this weekend? Why didn’t the U.S. government apologize for these deaths? Why didn’t our nation react as Japan did? These deaths may not affect international trade or tourism, but they arc just as tragic. Our country should not save its concern and horror for crimes against visitors. We should be just as concerned — more so — by our own victims. America has become calloused to violent crime. Wc arc not surprised or shocked by shootings, carjackings or drive-bys. Wc expect them. Japan’s reaction should show us that violence is not normal. It is not unavoidable. And it is not something wc should just get used to. () I III l<s \ II " Outcome-based education is a welcome shift in the priorities of our nation’s schools. OBE is an educational reform movement. This method of teaching focuses on clearly defining what students should know at each level and allowing them to continue studying and retaking tests until they understand that material. Traditionally, teachers have a set pace and move on even if they leave students behind. Those who oppose OBE claim that educational standards arc being lowered so that all students can meet them. Some worry that the slower pace permitted for students having problems will hold brighter students back. Should school systems focus on providing an excellent education for high potential students? Or should they strive to ensure that everyone leaves school with a good basic education? The public schools should strive to provide a good general education for everyone. Forcing all students to move at the same pace means that some will be forced ahead even if they arc not ready. The students who arc left behind arc the students who drop out of school or eventually graduate from high school with little or no reading ability. These undereducated members of our society arc more numerous than we think, and financial, social and human costs of this functional illiteracy arc enormous. Outcome-based education, because it focuses on the goal of a universally educated society, is a vast improvement over traditional educational methods. — University Daily Kansan — University of Kansas f.m ioki vi INn l( v SUITeditorials represent the official policy ol'thc Spring 1004 Daily Nebraskan Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board Lditorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan They establish the UNI. Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content ol'thc newspaper lies solely in the hands ol its students l.l I IKK IN *1 It V 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 or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit material as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the properly ol tlie Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned Anonymous submissions will not be published Letters should included (he author's name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union. 1400 R St . Lincoln, Neb 68588-0448 ( I\I)N LAM.K-kl HICK Beach breasts bust bra fetish Imagine a beach lull ol breasts. Last week, artist Nicolino and 200 volunteers created a two milc-long sand sculpture of si/.e 34-C breasts— 10,500 pairs in all — and then stayed to watch the tide wash them all away. N icol inosaid the sand castle breasts were a social commentary on what he called the “Barbie Doll syndrome.” 1 have some serious quest ions about this whole endeavor. Who is this Nicolino person anyway? What is his last name? In my book, anyone who uses just one name is taking them selves a tad bit too seriously. You would think that a guy, who is suppos edly worried that women equate their self-esteem with the “beauty and size of their breasts,” would have the con fidence to use his real name. And how did Mr. Nicolini (I’m going to call him Mr. just to tick him off until I learn his real name, which is probably something like Fred Dinkclman) and his volunteers know for sure they were creating 34-C sized bosoms? Did they take a Cross Your Heart bra and have its cups bronzed to use as a mold? Did theyjust eyeball it? Docs this Nicolini actually know a lot about breasts? Because as I recall, the number in your bra size, say 34, has to do with a complicated formula involving the circumference of your chest just below the mammary glands plus or minus three, subtracted from the measurement of your actual chest, plus one. It could be they are calling the breasts 34-Cs when they are 36-Bs instead. Did they have a grant from the National “Endowment” for the Arts to do this work? Or maybe Playtex and Bali each kicked in a few thousand if they ed their latest models. els Mr. Nicolini breast-fed, or was he a bottle baby? I’m betting he was raised on a rubber nipple and is acting out his long suppressed fasci nation with breasts, rooted in his de nied access to his mothers’ body as an infant, in a socially acceptable way as The older I get, the less time I spend thinking about breasts ... Oh, I still occasionally desire to have firm, perky, melon-shaped mammaries, but I don’t lose sleep over it. an artist. One thing is certain, he is fixated, along with a couple hundred million other Americans, on the female breast. Hisncxt project, scheduled for July 1995, is called “Bras Across Grand Canyon,” when he hopes to string 10,000 bras across a mile-wide stretch of the ravine. The world’s longest lingerie line. Maybe he’s going to offer bungee jumping with the straps. I am person ally going tocontributc a couple ofold n ursi ng bras and a sweal-sta ined sports bra to the project. And I’m fairly certain some Holly wood actresses have already donated their undergarments to Mr. Nicolino because, when I saw them on the Academy Awards the other night, they had obviously sacrificed their underwires to the cause. And speaking of actresses, I don’t want to start any rumors about Hollywood’s bosoms, but any woman whohas had children knows that post childbirth breasts are no longer able to stand at attention without some help, which leads me to doubt the authenticity of some of the mammary glands I saw last Monday. Not that I care. The older 1 get, the less time 1 spend thinking about breasts. 1 notice certain women’s chests because, after all, there they arc. Oh, I still occasionally desire to have firm, perky, melon-shaped mammaries, but 1 don’t lose sleep over it. Unfortunately, lots of women are losing more than just sleep in their quest for the perfect breast. Although the distribution ofbreast size—atone time at least — was purely a function of genetics, today more than a few females arc trading in what Mother Nature gave them for expensive, and possibly lethal, sil iconc-filled pouches. As little girls, we figured out that our worth as women, our femininity, was somehow determined by our cup size. Even Nora Ephron, a successful author and respected feminist, in her article,“A Few Words About Breasts," wrote, “If I had them, I would have been a completely different person. I honestly believe that.” Otherwise intelligent human be ings think breasts are simply decora tive ornaments used in advertising to sell cars, beer and toothpaste. After I became a mother, I realized woman’s breasts were actually func tional appendages; they could feed babies. Until the advent of artificial formula, the continuation of the hu man race rested on the ability of a woman’s breasts to nurture an infant. How amazing! Breasts existed for a biological purpose, a purpose unre lated to the circulation rate of Playboy magazine. Nicolini is making waves with his unconventional art. But it is going to take more than a string of brassieres across the Grand Canyon to change the way we think about breasts. Laage-KoMck Is a scalar aews-cdKorial aad sociology aiajor aad a Dally Nebraskaa coinaiaist. 1.1 I 11 Ks |(» HU I |>| ION ‘Natural love’ In response to Christopher Winkelmann (DN. March 11, 1994): The Bill of Rights and the Consti tution, as a whole, originally intended to cover white men. Since then, vari ous groups have been recognized as also being protected. The Black Pan thers, while not a separate race, were instrumental in securing these protec tions for African Americans. Women only achieved the right to vote in the early part of this century. Currently, gay men, lesbians and bisexuals arc not protected. As such, we do not seek “special rights over and above the majority. Since you slate that no one you have known considers homosexuality “natural love,” it is obvious you know no well-adjusted gay men, lesbians or bisexuals. It would behoove you to make a trip to the second floor of the Nebraska Union to the Gay-Lesbian Biscxual Resource Center. The people there will be happy to talk' With you about your unfortunate misunder standing of this entire issue. Nancy Rivcnburg graduate student William Schultz sophomore arts and sciences Roe vs. Wade Whenever Roe vs. Wade is de bated, the predominate homosexual community seems to ally with the advocates of “freedom of choice,” never with the “right-to-lifers.” That appears to defy logic and seems to contradict their avowed positions. Unplanned pregnancy could hardly be a genuine concern for them. If, as they contend, their lifestyle is genetic, a fetus identified as having that gene would be more liable to be aborted. That would appear to be the ultimate in discrimination. Jack Wunderlich Lincoln
