Jessica
I ■ , . s, . r' KENNEDY
Empty nest syndrome
Sadness settles in as friends 'start to fly coop
Peter Pan taught us growing up is
inevitable.
The inevitable has come, I have
grown up.
For the first time, I will be
working and going to school full
time.
And over break I came to slow
revelation that a huge percentage of
my friends from high school and
college are graduating in May and
going away.
They will be leaving for the real
world.
I, however, will not be.
It’s frightening to think about,
but this was the last Christmas my
high school friends were guaranteed
to come home. Next year will find a
couple in grad school, several in
med school, one in San Francisco
(hopefully) and one married.
Over break the high school gang
threw a bridal shower/bachelorette
party for a friend and the experience
was absolutely surreal. Lingerie,
purity tests, alcohols and strippers.
Four things I never thought I’d
share with these gals.
After all, many of these friends
go all the way back to Irving Junior
4
m —- r—
Even though my college friends and I
have spent less time together, I will
perhaps feel a greater loss with their
departure"
High School. I can remember the
braces, home economics, and Mrs.
Quinlan’s English class. (We were
known to throw desks out the
windows, light aerosol fires and
generally take away the teacher’s
sanity.) *
Even though my college friends
and I have spent less time together, ]
will perhaps feel a greater loss with
their departure.
I consider myself particularly
lucky with the people I’ve gotten to
know in the last four years. Four
years! Is it even possible it’s been
that long?
We started out nestled in the top
two floors of Love Hall. Joyce, the
women’s SA, was our shepherd. We
fell in love with cows, we painted a
mural, and had many, many adven
tures.
There were the infamous water
fights, late night political spats,
tarantulas, babies, marriages, break
ups, and more. We loved and hated
each other, but in the end we were
all in it together, united in Love.
But in May that unity will spread
across the world — Oxford, med
schools; the Ivy League, 2nd the
adventure called marriage. A few
are staying here in Lincoln. There
needs to be someone here for
everyone to come home to.
I’m sad and excited. Growing up
and graduating will separate us, but
technology will keep us united. We
will keep the postal service, the e
mail sefvers, and the airlines busy.
But I’m ready to hear about the
new adventures. For with the
adventures to be, come the memo
ries. And what memories they’ll be!
So my only New Year’s resolu
tion this year is to enjoy everyone
while they’re here, and strengthen
. the friendships from high school
before they slip into oblivion.
In four months they’ll all be
official grown-ups - graduating,
getting married, or heading to grad
school.
But we’ll always remember the
good ole days. The days when life
was easy and we were young.
And we have only one more
scrribster to make the memories.
Kennedy is a senior advertising
and broadcasting major and a
Daily Nebrasfcan colilpmfcL <
, Michael_
DONLEY
66---—
Confidence, not money or social position,
is the hottest commodity of any at every
university in the country *
this doesn’t qualify. . ... >
Bars make millions selling
confidence to us. Anyone out there
who thinks guys go to singles’ bars
just to hang out with their friends
(no matter what we tell you ladies)
is probably on some controlled
substance. That, my friends, is the
greatest courage marketing scheme
ever devised.
Bars and clubs give us a place to
go with our friends, (courage in
numbers, just like a little fraternity)
and pay triple retail price for a drink
— drinks which allow us to forget
our lack of courage .
This is not to say that people
can’t function without 100 percent
self-assured attitude. Most people
can and do.
Why would the average person
strive to cultivate more confidence?
And certainly why would this person
pay a university $10,000 for some?
In short, confidence affects every
thing in your life—your future
employment, who your friends are,
who you date, and who you spend
your wrinkled, mid-life crisis years
with.
If you are not at all sure you can
meet life’s little challenges when
ever they pop up, what do you do?
This is where the major problems
occur — suicide, alcoholism, fast
food workers. Step back for a
moment and look at those few
confident individuals around you.
Thie you only need erne student body
president or valedictorian, but these
are not the only things worth doing.
If you can build up enough
confidence, your mind will let you
set the big goals (and I’m not
talking about raising the good ole
GPA to a 2.5). Lee Iacocca was. only
17 years old when he started telling
his friends that he was going to be a
vp at Ford by his 35th birthday. He
was barely 36 when he accom
plished his goal.
“Ya, but,” you say, “my IQ is a
little closer to average than Mr.
Iacocca’s.” Ever hear of Louis
Pasteur? The man who made it
possible for us to eat Cap’n Crunch
in the morning without getting our
milk, still warm, from the cow.. .
Pasteur was not given the pseudo
proverbial snow toll’s chance in
Daytona of contributing anything to
France, let alone the whole world.
When asked what made it
possible for him to perfect the
process eventually named after him,
pasteurization, he replied that his
greatest quality was his tenacity. You
see, Louie had the confidence to take
what ability he had and keep
pounding away. He conquered his
largest obstacle, laziness.
You could do this, couldn't you?
Or do you see visions of golden
arches dancing in your head? A lot
of people, especially national leaders
and celebrities, seem to be getting
the message. Lately it seems
everyone is telling you to take
control of your life and do some
thing.
The world seems to be shifting
into overdrive. Who knows if the
ever cynical American public will
listen. But if you don’t you will only
have one person to blame. Some
prophetic words from (the last
person a lot of us would have
thought would be teaching progress
through confidence) Snoop Doggy
Dog - “I hope things get better for
you, but I gonna make things get
better for me!”
Donley Is a sophomore philoso
phy major and a Daily Nebraskan
fShfirt. ' . I
Guest \
VIEW
Hie Bard
did it, so ,
why can't*
Ebonics is
useful as a
language
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U
WIRE) — By definition,
language is a form of commu
nication with a defined use
and a recognized structure.
Inherently, Ebonics has
demonstrated its widespread
use enough to change the way
school is taught in one of our
nation’s most populous states.
Structurally, Ebonics is not
a whimsical collection of
ghettoisms, but a form of
speaking that uses verbs such
as “to be” in ways that differ
from standard English. For
those familiar with this
manner of speaking, there is
little to no deviation in the
style of speech, making
Ebonics highly useful as a
language.
* Throughout history,
language has been intertwined
with culture. Language is
living and breathing. Latin,
for example, was a predomi
nate form of speaking that
developed into the romance
languages, which split even
' further into languages as
English, French and German.
These languages, which
share many different prefixes
and grammatical patterns,
now are dramatically different
and require years of study to
distinguish them.
Similarly, many good
students still have trouble
reading the works of
Shakespeare or Virgil —
writers whose terminology hnd
verb use were appropriate for
their time periods, but vastly
different from what we now ‘
recognize as standard English.
But like Ebonics, because
the use is consistent through
out the works and the efa,
translations are easily done.
Applying this standard^ it is *
clear that Ebonics could
indeed be accurately catege- -*»•
rized as a language, or aMeast
a developing one.
Moreover, fcbomcs is not
just a form of a slang, which is
usually short-lived, just as a
valley girl’s use of the word
“like,” or the high school-type
words such as “sweet” or
“cool” never last very long.
These words generally are not
used by adults as they grow
older.
Ebonics, however, includes
terms essential for communi
cation throughout life in the
communities where use of this
language is prevalent.
Finally, Ebonics is not a
geographically restrictive
language. It is not just used by
people who attend school in
Oakland, Calif. It is actually
the real means of communica
tion for an entire group of
people in our society.
The Independent Florida Alligator
