spouts_ *_U_ THURSDAY
The beat goes on Rhymin’ and pickin’ March 20,1997
The Nebraska baseball team improved to 10-14 Daily Nebraskan film critics Gerry Beltz and Bret
after sweeping a doubleheader Dorn UNO. NU Schulte take their guesses at who will win this hi Tl Clem
* , , plays South Dakota today. PAGE 7 year’s Oscars. PAGE 12 Sunny, high 75. Partly cloudy tonight, low 45.
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VOL 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901
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Weeanshail
first day
of spring
By Jim Goodwin
Staff Reporter
Birds do it. Bees do it. Many creatures
welcome the arrival of spring.
But for Wiccans, the vernal equinox —
the first day of spring — marks an impor
tance beyond a mere change of season.
Jason Blodgett-McDeavitt^ a steward
and high priest of the Order of the Red Grail,
said for most Wiccans, today is a holiday
symbolized by a diversity of myths.
Most of these spring stories, which origi
nated in the agrarian societies of antiquity,
involve trips by deities into the underworld.
They all honor earth’s return from the dead,
he said.
A springtime tale
Lincoln’s Order of the Red Grail — an
earth-based Wiccan church — celebrates a
Greek version of one such myth, Blodgett
McDeavitt said: the story of Persephone.
The story centers on the return of the
goddess Persephone from the underworld.
An embodiment of compassion, she had
been visiting with the unhappy souls of the
dead since her descent there on the autum
nal equinox in September.
Persephone’s mother, Demeter, celebrated
her daughter’s return to the land of the living
by allowing the plants of spring to grow.
“It’s the beginning of die fertility of the
earth again,” said Cindy Blodgett-McDeavitt,
high priestess of the order. “It’s the begin
ning of the new growing season.”
Jason Blodgett-McDeavitt said his
church’s use of the myth during the vernal
equinox was symbolic of the Earth’s
reawakening.
In reverence of spring’s rebirth, die Order
of the Red Grail uses the Greek version of the
Persephone myth, rather than the more well
known Roman version, Jason Blodgett
McDeavitt said.
The Rev. Linda Harris of Lincoln’s Chalice
Circle, a group studying Wicca and other reli
Please see WICCA on 6
Gay union
legislation
advances
f “
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
A bill that would outlaw same-sex marriages
in Nebraska advanced to second-round debate
Wednesday after two full days of discussion.
Sen. David Landis of Lincoln tried to make
the bill more beneficial for gays and lesbians by
offering an amendment that would prohibit job
discrimination based solely on the basis of sexual
orientation. Landis said the bill was an unneces
sary attempt to pick on a weak minority.
“This is a fight that doesn’t have to be
fought,” Landis said. “(The fight is) being picked
against a weak minority to feed ... fear in the
majority.” * %
Landis said even though he didn’t agree with
banning same-sex marriages, he would vote for
LB280 if his amendment was adopted because
it would provide a right gays and lesbians cur
rently don’t have in Nebraska.
“This is more of a step forward than a step
behind for gay people,” Landis said. “I ask you
to give something back for the slap in the face
that you are doing.”
Speaker Ron Withem said the amendment
did not apply to the bill and struck it down.
Landis asked for a house vote on the relevance
of the amendment, but it was still voted down.
Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln supported
Landis’ amendment and said it made the bill more
even-handed.
“This is the good life for whom?” Schimek
asked. “For all of us, or for part of us?”
Only three senators—Landis, Ernie Cham
bers of Omaha and Don Wesely of Lincoln —
voted not to advance the bill. Chambers prom
ised to debate the bill for the full eight hours
allowed during second-round debate.
As was the case Tuesday, much of debate
time was taken by the minority in opposition to
the bill. The bill wifi be heard at a later date.
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JASON BLOOGETT-McOEAVITT, a UNL psychology graduate student and Wlccan, stands before*
an altar at his home. Blodgett-McOeavttt is a member and priest of the Order of the Red Grail.
UNMC, Clarkson merger
backed by two NU regents
By Esin Gibson
Senior Reporter
Two members of the NU Board of
Regents said Wednesday they would
vote to approve a partnership between
Clarkson Hospital and the University
of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Regents Robert Allen of Hastings
and Drew Miller of Papillion both said
they would support the proposal. Re
gent Nancy O’Brien of Waterloo also
said she was optimistic but could not
guarantee she would vote yes until fully
examining the proposal.
The regents have been asked to vote
at their April 5 meeting on the partner
ship approved by the Clarkson board
of directors Tuesday.
The new combined hospital could
be called Medical Center Hospitals
Corp. and would operate as a private
nonprofit company. The partnership
would end litigation over an agree
ment between UNMC and Clarkson
reached in 19S3.
Allen said the university system
has spent more than $300,000 in
court costs trying to acquire Clarkson
in the past few years. The merger was
a good, sensible response to eliminate
farther litigation, he said.
“I think it’s a marvelous step for
ward,” Allen said. ‘To me, it looks
like a very strong win situation for
the city and the state of Nebraska.”
When Columbia Health Care As
Please see UNMC on 6
Speaker:
Black women
need change
By Brian Carlson
Staff Reporter
While black women have pro
gressed in the fight for equal opportu
nities, much of the change has been
cosmetic rather than substantive,
Patricia Hill Collins said Wednesday.
Collins, a professor of sociology
and African-American Studies at the
University of Cincinnati, told a UNL
audience an increase in the number of
black women in business and public life
since the 1960s civil rights movements
shows genuine progress.
But Collins said too often the domi
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nant forces in corporate America use
exclusionary tactics to ensure that dis
crimination doesn’t end when black
women are hired.
“Advances that have allowed black
women to have the rights of formal citi
zenship have often failed to be trans
lated into substantive citizenship,” she
said.
Collins identified two types of con
Please see WOMEN on 3
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