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
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( 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