Dream a little dream
7 : /' ’ ; 7i ' !- 1 / : . • • , • • .fl - ■
Impossible goals may not be impossible after all
KLAUS MARRE is a senior
broadcasting major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
Have you ever had a dream? I’m
not talking about the sensations you
experience when you sleep, but rather
the kind of dream you can go out and
pursue and maybe accomplish one
day after hard work and a few lucky
breaks. Ever had one of those?
Webster’s dictionary defines
dreams as aspirations and goals; to
me they are much more than that A
goal is something I expect to achieve,
like getting a job. Hell, I’m sure
somebody will hire me. A dream is
not only to get a job, but the perfect
job.
To a journalist, for example, a
goal would be employment at a news
paper, any newspaper for that matter.
A dream is to get the job at The New
York Times or The Washington Post.
Like I said, it takes a lot of hard
work and a considerable chunk of
luck to make a dream come true, but
that should not keep you from trying.
The loftiest goals are realized every
day, everywhere in the world.
Last week I saw parts of the
Grammy Awards show on television.
Most people in the audience might
have seen glamour and big name
stars, but more than anything, I saw
dreams coming true.
Many of die artists who received
their first award seemed to be over
come with joy and the feeling that
everything they had invested in their
dream had finally paid off.
I am sure most of the Grammy
winners have had times of self doubt
and times when others told them they
could not make it Still, they over
came all this to reach the top of their
profession.
The same could be witnessed at
the Olympic Games. Athletes were
earning the sweet fruits of their hard
labor. Thousands of practice hours,
pain and abstinence from some of
life’s pleasures were forgotten in the
one moment of victory.
There must have been many times
in the lives of these athletes when
they just wanted to quit, when they
wanted to go out drinking instead of
cross country skiing through some
dark Norwegian forest I think in the
end it paid off for diem.
Admittedly, these are some large
scale dreams of people who excel in
their special areas of expertise, but
the same holds true for every one of
us.
Sure, graduating from college is a
goal, but honestly, it does not take
that much for most of us to get out of
here with a degree in whatever, espe
cially if we have the necessary finan
cial background and support from
our families.
Still, to some it is much more
than that, like being the first person
in a family to graduate from a univer
sity. That is a dream come true for
everyone involved.
I have some dreams of my own,
several of them involving the girl in
my English class (but that is a differ
ent matter), which I am trying to
accomplish in my lifetime. I will
probably fall short of achieving many
lofty goals, but at least I’ll do my
best.
For a long time, I was not sure
whether I could fulfill all the require
ments and come up with the money
to do all my undergraduate work here
at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln.
Now, just weeks away from grad
uation, I can look back, knowing I
have accomplished something spe
cial. I finished school in three years
and still managed to be on the Dean’s
List If my goal had been to simply
graduate, I’d be a junior with a 2.8
GPA right now, but with every little
success I pushed myself harder to do
even better.
Don’t sell yourself short; have the
courage to dream. Many of you
might think everything is coming to
you easily, but maybe you are kidding
yourself. Maybe you can achieve
your goals, simply because they were
not set high enough in the first place.
Along with my regular applica
tions, I will also send out resumes to
many places at which I would simply
love to work. Honestly, I do not
expect to ever be an anchor on
“Sportscenter” (or get any other job
there), but it’ll only cost me a couple
stamps to try.
Chances are, I will get rejected
from my “dream jobs”, but I’d prefer
that over not having tried at all.
Maybe I will get a lucky break. What
if demographics call for a goofy
looking German? I owe it to myself
to apply.
I have talked to many students
who will graduate with me, and I feel
as if many do not even realize their
own potential. Some of my friends
are incredibly gifted, but they are not
giving potential employers the
chance to fmd out because they
refuse to apply for jobs which they
would be absolutely perfect for.
I hear excuses like “They would
never hire someone like me,” or
“There are no job openings.” It
makes me sad to see they have given
up before they ever tried.
Sometimes I wish I could take
their resumes and send them out
myself. Maybe one day they would
find a positive response in the mail to
realize their dreams had come true.
To all graduating seniors, do not
sell out. It is not too late for you to
dream, not too late to hope for some
thing which you never thought possi
ble. In die spirit of this column, I
would like to endorse die Cinderella
candidate for this year’s ASUN elec
tion. Todd Munson, friend and col
league, keep reaching for thestazs,
you have my vote. '
MALCOLM KASS is a
senior chemical engineer
ing major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
For the last few days, the Daily
Nebraskan has been ASUN’s
newsletter, and I apologize for this.
However, I regretfully will con
tribute to this manifestation today.
Some things just need to be said, and
may God have mercy on my soul.
The Association of Students of
the University of Ncoraska: You love
it; you hate it. Some of us care for it;
some of us don’t have a care in the
world for it We need it, though. To
be honest I am in it. I am the second
vice president of our student body
and damn proud of that fact I enjoy
what I do and respect ASUN. And
guess what? I’m not greek.
This year ASUN has done every
thing in its student governmental
power by becoming more inclusive
and more interactive with the student
body, but the time has come for
ASUN to search internally. ASUN
has done everything possible to rep
resent outside concerns. Now it
needs to look on the inside.
Oklahoma State student govern
ment had an election system very
similar to AS UN. There were orga
nized parties running for office
where the presidential, vice presiden
tial, senatorial and advisory board
candidates ran under one party. Last
year, Okie State decided to try some
thing different They are using a new
structure where only the presidential
and vice presidential candidates
could run under a political party. The
senate and advisory board candidates
had to run as independents.
Their reasoning was someone
should not become a student body
senator merely because his or her
name is affiliated with a political
party. They should become a senator
because they have a sincere interest
in representing their constituents. I
usually don’t give many props to any
states that border Texas, but Okie
State’s idea sounded interesting and
definitely worth merit
Last November, I had a mildly
drunken discussion about this issue
with the president of die student
Party time
Changing ASUN responsibility of student body
body of Oklahoma State at a bar in
Boulder, Colo. She convinced me
this was the best for ASUN in two
words: “It worked.” I was positive
this was for us.
The system that exists just does
not fly. Each year a monstrosity of a
student government campaign devel
ops where everyone is elected merely
because they are allied with a domi
nant greek campaign. It is a system
where merit has no meaning beyond
the presidential and vice presidential
candidates.
My fellow nongreek brothers and
sisters, we all know someone who
would absolutely love to witness the
joys and battles of ASUN member
ship. However, five-sixths of us are
not greek and would rather not suf
fer die embarrassment of losing
a race solely because our
opponent has his or her
name coupled with a six
or seven-letter,
obscure action
verb.
Opponents of
this idea claim the
political parties
give numbers to
ASUN. In other words,
they fill the spots. First,
more students would run
for office if the system was
fair and based on merit, espe
cially if ASUN tried damn
hard to make the new sys
tem known to the students.
Encourage everyone to run.
Hell, freshmen are impression
able. You convince them, '-^rsz
they become older and
then they strap on the
Stratocasters, plug
in the Marshalls
and ASUN rocks.
Secondly, I
really don’t think
anyone on this
campus would pre
fer a fully loaded
ASUN with its
members not giv
ing a damn about
an ASUN with a
smaller member
ship to one that
works its ass off
for the students.
.... | | ' . r~-:'
All of us would desire the latter.
People want to be involved with stu
dent government, but the current sys
tem destroys those hopes.
The sincere interest in student
government this change would pro
duce is terribly crucial, but even
more importantly, ASUN would
become a more mature student gov
ernment. In last year’s election, one
minority won one senate spot - one
minority. This should be proof posi
tive that the current system is defunct
and outdated The only possible way
ASUN can represent a constantly
changing cultural
climate is
candidates on a level playing field.
Besides, with the current system,
only a white greet person allows a ■ '
minority to be a part of a student
government campaign. If that doesn’t
justify my proposed change, nothing
will.
On Wednesday I attended the
third out of four ASUN debates this
year. I posed the question concerning
the abolition of the political parties
for senators and advisory board spots
and received two very different
answers.
Sara Russell and the COMMIT
party agreed the party system should
be dealt with. They agreed
ASUN is being hampered
by a lack of work ethic
and “whiteness” within
the organization.
John Weichmann
and the VISION
party disagreed,
mentioning how
the party systen
helps ASUN.
is a fundamental
difference
between the
l
two campaigns. COMMIT is insight
ful and admo\jyledges*^JM|&ws, w
' as'Iamdomgtod^y,
regards this insight and wisnesflb^an*
unchanged student government.
This is wiiy I, as an outgoing
member of ASUN, pledge my sup
port for Sara Russell and the COM
MIT party. These student leaders
understand that in order to help fix
this university, ASUN must fix itself.
COMMIT knows that, like every
thing, ASUN needs change. VISION
does not
But it is your choice: Do you
want the old or Ihe new?
