Childhood originality vanishes
Excuse me, 1 m looking lor
originality. I don’t know where I lost
it or how I lost it. I’m not even sure
if I ever had it.
No, I take that last statement
back. I’m pretty sure I once pos
sessed originality, but I haven’t seen
it since I was a young girl wearing
pigtails and Mary Janes.
I kind of remember what it felt
like to be creative. In kindergarten it
was easy to let loose with the
Crayolas on gray newsprint while
sitting on the brownish-orange
carpet eating apples and peanut
butter.
Back then, no one cared if I
colored my jungle animals in blue
and black. My neighbors applauded
my stick people that had huge heads
on tiny bodies. We all knew people
didn’t look that way, but somehow
when you’re five years old, you
don’t care.
Here’s the problem: I can’t figure
out if our loss of originality stems
from caring too much about norms
or from not caring enough about
creating new things. Whatever the
case may be, originality is a thing of
the past.
Turn on the radio. Do the songs
sound familiar? Chances are, they’re
the same songs you heard years ago,
but they’re now being performed by
different groups.
I hate to knock the genius of our
current musicians, but doesn’t
anyone try to create original works?
I had to laugh when I heard that “I
Swear” song being done country
style and as a bubble-gum-pop tunc
nearly simultaneously. Every song
has the same, “I love you baabecy,
please don’t leave me” message that
gets old after hearing it the 20th
time.
I also don’t know why grunge is
I can t figure out if our loss oj
originality stems from caring too
much about norms or from not
caring enough about creating new
things. Whatever the case may be,
originality is a thing of the past.
so popular. Seemingly intelligent
college students spend a lot of hard
earned tuition money at the Gap so
they can look like they raided the
Peoples City Mission. What is so
original or cool about looking
homeless?
On the flip side of the fashion
spectrum, students on this campus
who wear the same letters on their
chests look amazingly similar. Most
of the girls wear their hair tied up in
cute baseball hats or held together
by exaggerated bows and scrunchics
The boys are more creative in their
dress, because no matter what the
occasion is, they always wear
fraternity T-shirts. It’s hard to have
style when you’re trying to look like
everyone else.
Of course, I can’t forget the
media. What was once a hot issue
keeps reappearing in every possible
form. Yes, I’m talking about the
cver-popular O.J. Simpson double
murder case. This should be treated
like a tragedy, because (let’s not
forget) two people were violently
murdered and will never again sec
sunlight. The media has turned that
fact into a profitable circus.
From the New York Times to
The Examiner, every issue has been
examined, re-examined and re-re
examined. Sure, the race issue may
play a part in this whole mess, but
how many articles and television
stories are going to dissect this to
death? It’s about time the media
came up with a new subject to
cover.
If you look in the “Politician’s
Dictionary of Terms,” you will find
that the term “originality” does not
exist. Politicians borrow quotes and
ideas that already have been
borrowed. Nothing original or
inspiring seems to have come out of
a politician’s mouth since John F.
. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your
country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.”
Then again, it’s not like we can
expect politicians to have original
thoughts when other people write
their speeches.
Originality is a beautiful thing of
the past. Now, I can’t think of a
single creative thought with which
to leave you. Oh well, don’t stop
thinking about tomorrow, because
there’s a rainbow behind every
cloud. Maybe, if we get a little help
from our friends, we can again gain
back the originality that left us.
So, turn that frown upside down,
and think like the little engine that
could: “I think I can, I think I can.”
Stock I* a junior secondary education
major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Magazines lose ‘black money’
I once heard a fashion magazine
editor say. “There just isn’t enough
black money to support having more
black models on our covers.”
I thought, “Damn! I didn’t know
my money was colored.”
1 was shocked at the idea. I was ;
so upset that I spent the next two
weeks walking around thinking:
That means all the money I’ve spent
during my entire life was “black
money” — at least to some zipper
brained, number-crunching jerk who
probably is stupid anyway.
I thought, gimmec a break! Why
worry about the color of a model on
the cover? You can’t automatically
judge a magazine by its cover, can
you? I wondered who would
complain about such a thing,
anyway? Iman? Naomi Campbell?
Grace Jones? Sadc? They’re all
black, and they seem to have gotten
plenty of work.
But wait a minute. Not one of
them was an American. I wonder
what that means.
The editor went on to say sales
dropped 17 percent when a black
model was on the magazine’s cover.
How much “black money” is there
anyway? Theoretically speaking,
doesn’t the fashion industry lose
black money by not putting black
models on the cover in the first
place?
There is no doubt in my mind
that I would have purchased gobs
and gobs more magazines if only
they would have had more blacks on
their covers. NOT! I guess I spent
my black money somewhere else.
So, ha ha Vogue! You never did get
my black money. But maybe it’s not
too late.
If it weren’t for tobacco adver
tisements on magazines’ back
covers, the fashion magazines could
put black models there. That way,
they wouldn’t lose that 17 percent,
and they would gain from the black
Blacks haven t had the luxury of
shopping by color. We ve had to
buy whatever came our way,
because that 's all there ever has
been.
money, because a black model
would always be on the back cover.
This is assuming, of course, that
blacks respond to the cover the way
this editor implies whiles do. But
wait a minute. Blacks probably don’t
want to be on the back cover. But
that is a whole different subject.
Strictly economically speaking, it
would seem that by putting a black
model on the cover, the fashion
magazine industry is knowingly
taking a loss. It is just a plain bad
business practice. 1 wondered if they
also would lose money by getting rid
of the tobacco ads and replacing
them with a black back cover.
My objective became to figure
out a way to get black models on the
covers and keep the tobacco
companies happy. I smoked two
packs of cigarettes a day for 10
years, i can sympathize with the
industry. I don’t want to just wipe
them out. Besides, lots of black
families make their living picking
tobacco.
Some of those families probably
have children who grow up wanting
to be models. So, if the tobacco
companies would just put their ads
inside the magazine, like on Page 1,
maybe it would work. Maybe even a
black American model who picked
tobacco as a child could one day be
on the cover of Vogue.
The question was, “Is there
enough black money to support a
black back cover on Vogue?
Just think, instead of having essay
contests, the Phillip Morris company
could move its tobacco product ads
to the inside of magazines and allow
black models to be on the back
cover. That way, everyone would be
happy. Well, almost everyone.
There is still the inevitable
complaint that putting black models
on the back cover is discrimination.
I agree, it is. Maybe every once in a
while, the editors could tell the
printers to switch the covers around
and the printers could tell the
grocery stores and newsstands to flip
the magazines over. That way, the
17 percent who don’t buy black
cover magazines wouldn’t find out
until they got home. I’m sure that
they wouldn’t just return it.
With a black model on the cover,
more blacks would buy fashion
magazines for sure, right? Wrong!
Blacks haven’t had the luxury of
shopping by color. We’ve had to
buy whatever came our way,
because that’s all there ever has
been.
My guess is that, economically
speaking, there isn’t enough black
money to boost the sales of fashion
magazines, regardless of what the
cover looks like.
If there was, we wouldn’t be
asking the question. DUH! Strictly
economically speaking, that is.
Shank* i* a graduate ttudcat and a
Dally Ncbratkan column!*!.
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