Opinion
Nebraskan
Tuosday, April S, 1994
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Rainbow Rowell
Adeana Left in.
Todd Cooper
JeffZelenv.
Sarah Duey
William Lauer . .
Editor. 472-1766
Opinion Page Editor
Managing Editor
Sports Editor
Associate News Editor
Arts Entertainment Editor
Senior Photographer
EDI I OKI VI.
Ticket trouble
ASUN should respond to $17 price hike
he athletic department has again demonstrated its disre
gard for student interests and needs. Last week, the
department announced that students would have to pay
$73, $17 more than last year, for football season tickets.
This comes a year after its decision to move students to poorer
scats at football games.
The athletic department is a part of this university, not an
independent fund-raising entity.
The University of Ncbraska-Lincoln exists to serve students.
Yet, time and again the athletic department has made its decisions
with dollar signs, not students, in mind
Gary Fourakcr, assistant athletic director for business, said
marketing surveys had shown that about the same number of
students would still buy tickets at a higher price.
Just because the athletic department can rip students off without
losing money doesn’t mean they should.
But students don’t have to just sit in their bad scats and let the
athletic department do as it will.
Although nothing can be done about this year’s price hike,
students can make a difference next year if they let their voice be
heard. If the athletic department knows that students care and will
let their displeasure be heard and felt, they may not be so hasty in
their decisions.
Association of Students of the University of Nebraska President
Andrew Loudon said students would not be ignored in future
athletic department decisions. The student body should make
Loudon live up to this statement.
Money matters
Health care reform needs to show cost
Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Ncb., spent Monday in Lincoln with
people involved in public health nursing. During his tour,
he summed up the most important issue involved with
reforming health care in the United States.
“You still, bottom line, get down to the question: How arc you
going to pay for it?” Kerrey said.
Too often in the health care debate we hear about HMDs,
single-payer plans, health care providers and other medical terms
that aren’t explained. Too rarely do we hear politicians willing to
discuss the bottom line of how much health care is going to cost
and who is going to pay for it.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have done admirable work pushing to
provide health care for all Americans. The Clinton administration
has rightly made this a national issue. But to keep alive the
Clintons’ hope of universal coverage for all Americans, they need
to explain more clearly how it will be paid for.
It may seem heartless to discuss money when we arc talking
about health and well-being. But it would be irresponsible for this
country to adopt a health care plan without first knowing how it
will pay for the plan.
Health care is such a complex issue that few people probably
understand it completely. But before this country goes down the
road of government-mandated health care, we should demand a
clear explanation of how reforms will work and how they will be
financed.
No one has done that yet. Until someone can, health care reform
should be put on hold.
I m mm m I’m k \
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womtsEWTStt
AMERICAN \WW,TAE SAVE.
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PAl LA LAN KiNK
Easter brings trip to bathroom
There I was again, ducking
flying objects and diving into
the bathroom—the only safe
h aven because i t had a door that locked.
Maybe throwing a globe at my
brother’s head wasn’t the most intel
lectual thing I've ever done, but it fell
like justice to me.
This wasn’t the first time I’d felt
my siblings’ wrath. 1 can remember
countless instances when l was pinned
underneath a 200-pound male who
was tickling me past the point ofCPR
recovery. My mother would walk by,
mutter something like “Leave your
sister alone,” and leave. One of my
three brothers would pause to readjust
his grip and give me a taste of carpet
cleaner I’d never forget.
Oh,did 1 forget to mention the time
they left me, an innocent two-year
old, abandoned in a cabin in Colo
rado, or the time they lured my dog
into the swimming pool with a Zesta
cracker?
Growing up, I was involuntarily
stuck in one of the worst situations an
American female could be. I was the
tail end of the family and the sole
female, with three older brothers to
make my life a laugh riot for all too
many years.
They were much older and much
stronger than me, which made for an
interesting time when one of them
tried to teach me how to box. I ended
up, again, in the bathroom.
So, over the years, I learned how to
stay out of their way and play with my
little imaginary friends who were
much nicer and weaker than my broth
ers. For a long time, I was an only
child and the existence of three elder
siblings was like a Greek myth.
Aside from the fact that one of
them believed he was Zeus or some
thing, they remained a myth. By the
time 1 was in high school, al l three had
graduated from college.
Even though 1 groan about the
torment they put me through, I don’t
think I received the full brunt of the
sibling experience. I mean, I have a
friend who I ives w ith al 1 her brothers.
A trip to their house is like a trip to the
Koresh family reunion. Premeditated
For a long time, my brothers
didn’t think of me as equal. It
was more like I was just
another family pet. Our German
shepherd generated more
respect than me.
murder, larceny, assault and battery
— you name it, she’s contemplated it.
Do I dare say 1 missed sibling
rivalry? Well, yeah, just a little. 1
didn’t miss the rivalry, but I did miss
the siblings.
Being a genetic “accident,” 1 was
nine years younger than my youngest
brother and, of course, female. People
even mistook my oldest brother as my
father. This eliminates the mutual
friends, hand-me-downs and family
vacation battles normal siblings have.
Fora longtime, my brothers didn’t
think of me as equal. It was more like
I was just another family pet. Our
German shepherd generated more re
spect than me.
1 had nothing in common with
them. Growing up, our only shared
experiences were a doll and “Holly
Hog.”
There was this "life-sized" doll
with a red dress and eyes that would
close if you put her on her back. Well,
we would alternate turns taking the
doll, placing some sort of weapon in
her hand whether it be a kitchen knife
or a razor blade, and putting it in
somebody’s bed. We’d wait up until
the unlucky sibling got home to find
this possessed doll waiting up for him.
Wait, it gels better.
Holly Hog derived from a low-fat
eggnog product. The package, which
ofeourse was supposed to read “Holly
Nog,” was misprinted and read “Holly
Hog,” so we stuck a pig nose and tail
on it, and it became one of those “you
really had to be there" moments.
During my “formative” years, these
were about the only things we talked
about aside from my mother’s zany
mowing fixation. Then, as things usu
ally do. our relationship changed.
I’ve heard storiesofsiblings grow
ing apart as they got older, educated
and employed. Well, in my ease as it
usually goes, the reverse was true.
My brothers finally realized that
girl who kept sending them birthday
and Christmas cards wasn’t the Avon
lady. She was their blood relative, and
she didn’t drool and gurgle anymore.
I picked up the phone one day and
had a revelation. My brother and !
actually had a conversation about
something more serious than “What
time is Mom having dinner?” or “Is it
cold out there?”
We talked about personality traits,
politics, relationships and all that fun
stuff for more than 30 seconds.
And, for the first time in ages, I
stopped tell ing everyone I was adopted.
We reached a point of mutual intelli
gence, but this didn’t mean we all
became squares and slopped acting
like little brats. Although we were a
bit closer, we were still just as likely to
tear each other’s throats out.
“Yeah, well at least I can hold a
relationship longer than a preseason
football game,” I yelled at my brother
during Easter Sunday brunch. Bagel
in hand, I was determining the trajec
tory it would take to clock him square
in the head.
Looking at me with a piece of
pineapple dangling out of his mouth,
he just smiled and nodded. He’s going
to kill me now. OfT to the bathroom,
once again.
l.avtf at It ■ frnhaua oewt-edhorlaJ ma
jor aad a Dally Nebraska* columaist.
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