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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1996)
Jessica KENNEDY Voice your vote Our generation needs to leave its X on ballots It could be argued that the government is systematically screwing over our generation. And we are, for the most part, permitting this victimization. Unless we take action, our indifference— our inactiveness will bring not have to continue. You have 10 days to end it. * On flr.t at n m vnn u/ill have your last opportunity to register to vote for the 1996 general election. Voting is the voice of the people; apathy is not. If we, the 18- to 24-year-olds— generation X, if you will—don’t vote, we’re inviting the rape of our future. Our future will be determined by legislation being passed in the next five to 10 years by government officials elected by our parents and grandpar ents. If we don’t vote, “our representa tives” and that legislation will not reflect our interests. Our future interests might not be safeguarded. Our lives will be spent paying for our grandparents’ and parents’ social « If we, the 18- to 24-year-olds — generation X, if you will — don’t vote, we’re inviting the rape of our future.” . security checks. And guess what? By the time we’re eligible, the social security coffers will most likely be empty. Big business will have persuaded the government to minimize environ mental regulations, leaving our children with only a fraction of the clean water, forests and clean air their crandnarents eninved And education’s future is un known. There are liberals and conservatives who want to do away with the Department of Education, shift educational responsibility to the states and then cut state funding to schools in this era of belt-tightening. Voting is our survival tool. In 1994, only 42.3 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18-24 registered to vote. Only 20.1 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds actually voted. So what’s that really mean? Ac cording to U.S. Census Bureau projec tions, there were approximately 17 million 20- to 24-year-olds in the United States, 20 percent of whom voted in 1994. That translates into about 3.4 million who actually voted. That’s pathetic. Not to turn you off, but when our parents were our age, they voted. In 1964,50.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds went to the polls. Maybe it was the political mood of the time... JFK’s recent assassination and the Johnson/Goldwater contest. Who knows? But we could use a little of whatever motivated them. I cannot begin to understand why my peers don’t vote. I know they say, “my vote doesn’t matter.” But you know what? It does! * Collectively we can make a difference. There are 17 million of us who are eligible to vote. If we could double, even triple, the number of 18- to 2A year-olds who vote, we would make an impact! That would be 10.2 million voices. Register to vote if you haven’t already. If you’re registered in another precinct or state, register in Lancaster county or request an absentee ballot from home. If you do need an absentee ballot, call your county election commission or your secretary of state. You can get their numbers by calling directory assistance or your parents—I’m sure they’d be happy to help you out. If you’re Internet-inclined, you can find that information on the Internet. In fact, up until last week, you could actually register to vote on the Internet. To register in Lincoln, you must register in person at the Lancaster Election Commission, which is conveniently located near campus at 555 S. 9th, west of the courthouse. Politicians won’t listen if you don’t vote. They spend their time listening to the people who put them in office. They promote legislation that benefits the people who voted for them. You can control politicians. Vote. Kennedy is a senior advertising and broadcasting major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. Mark ALBRACHT ■ r ■- -."v Sister censorship No naked flesh and blood on stage, please I thought my sister was going to be naked in a play. It doesn’t matter that what put this idea in my head was an article that said there would be no nudity in that particular play. And never mind the article didn’t mention the actors by name. I was positive my kid sister was the actress in question. As it turns out, I had very good reason to come to this delusion. My sister is a student at UNK (the college in question)^ She is also a theater major and, as I found out, acting in a play right now. When she visited me a few weeks ago, she mentioned what plays Kearney was putting on this semester. “Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” (the play in question) was a title that really glued itself to my memory. And she mentioned & another play, the title of which I forget. 1 think it’s called “Threshers,” ' or something like that, and it’s about threshing, as in threshing Wheat. This is the play that my sister is actually in, which is relieving. I can’t imagine all that many scenarios in which people strip naked in order to get their wheat threshing done. I suppose a truly hip, ’90s kind of brother would be. totally down with any of his sister ’s artsy idiosyncra sies. A politically correct brother would say “rockon” to his sister’s aesthetic appreciation of the human form. But I’m more of a fidgety* hung-up-stuttering-Woody-Allen ■ « I suppose a truly hip, ’'90s kind of brother would be totally down with any of his sister’s artsy idiosyncrasies... But I’m more of a fidgety-hung-up-stuttering Woody-Allen kind of a brother.” kind of a brother. Normally I’m all for nudity in the ater. I think there should be more of it. I can distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate uses of unclothed actors. I’ve felt the bond between per formers and audience that such un yielding honesty can create. When I watch a play, I see the characters liv ing their lives costumed or uncostumed. I don’t see actors saying their lines. At least that’s what I do ide ally — there Shave been certain times when detachment from reality hasn’t happened, such as when I see a bad performance. Or when the play isn’t very good. Or when my sister comes trotting out onto stage. That’s not a testament to her acting ability, mind you. She’s quite a talented actress. More often than not, her characters have taken me out of reality, but I’ve known her for all her life and certain quirks she has will occasionally peekoutand snap my escaped imagination. Of course, that’s not her fault, but if one of those quirks happened while parts of her I’m not usedto seeing were on stage, I wouldn’t stand a very realistic ? ’.v ' • chance of slipping back into the realm of fantasy. I probably wouldn’t want to either. The last thing I want is to be hypocritical about my liberal views toward censorship. But what’s a brother to do? All this anxiety over a play in which my sister doesn’t even perform and, not to mention, no ~ longer contains the director’s aiuagum^m^ tUUUlUUUUU. Maybe it’s that lingering Puritan influence on our country that keeps me from a total biological noncha lance. I don’t know if I’ll ever transcend to the happy-go-lucky beaches of the Mediterranean where European families bound freely in their altogethers, with their only concerns being sandy juxtapositions. And that’s fine with me. Maybe part of my problem is the fact that I don’t think of my sister as being old enough to, I guess, be eligible for those kinds of roles. 1 sometimes forget she’s even in college, which must have to do with the fact that she’s four years younger than I. We haven’t been at the same institutional level of learning since elementary school. That’s so far past, it barely seems that such a lime ever existed. I think a lot about getting older, time catching up to me before I accomplish certain aspirations. I can see living to 100 and it not seeming all that long. Four or five years ago, I couldn’t even fathom being such an age. I’m also losing that youthful sense of immortality. (Is it premature for a 22-year-old to do that?) Every time the news reports a traffic fatality, I always become hyper concemed that the deceased is someone I know. It turns out that I’m a very lucky person. There hasn’t been a single tragedy in my family. All but one of my grandparents died • of old age, and that’s pretty much all the death that’s gone on. Maybe I shouldn’t worry about tragedy and count my blessings, but I can’t seem to do that. This must be a sure sign of ace setting in. I have another sister who has always seemed essentially the same age as I, although she is two years younger. But my youngest sister doesn’t seem my age... yet. She’s my last link to childhood. She is the type of person who would take a risque role if the part were good. For that, I’m proud of her. I support her, too. But if the current mode of thinking at UNK persists, she’ll probably never have a chance to prove this paragraph correct. That, I can also live with. Albracht is a junior philosophy major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
