Obermeyer’s
VIEW
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EDITOR
Josh Funk
OPINION
EDITOR
Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
i---—
Our
VIEW
Too close
for comfort
Honors hall may limit
residents ’ education
Birds of a feather run together.
And eat together. And study together. And
sleep together.
In fact, you’d think they lived in the same
building.
Well, they will.
In March of2001, the Esther L. Kauflman
Academic Residential Center will open on
campus and forever change the way the edu
cational system works. The building will be a
residential center for computer science and
management honors students. It will be their
home and _
the center of ••
their lives.
Decades As the Kauffman
fresh from Center comes
high school doser and closer
would come
to college in to being a reality;
cpjjrpn nT q
career. They the university
would come neeils fQ fafa care
to college
looking for a not tO let the
profession y
they would building become a
fm' Classes W hive’Jhm
were diverse which Students
to help stu
dents find never emergef
something
that would
ignite that spark of passion.
Times, they are a’changin’, though.
Education is a field that grows up with
people.
The days of students coming to college to
find out what they want to do with their lives is
now in the past. Either students come here
knowing what they want out of college or they
still won’t have any idea what they’re going to
do no matter how much time they spend here.
So, naturally, colleges are starting to spe
cialize. This has its ups and downs.
On the positive side, students will be able
to focus on their careers, away from distrac
tions. They’ll be surrounded by students who
are working toward similar careers.
This is, of course, also the down side.
As the Kauffman Center comes closer to
being a reality, the university needs to take
care not to let the building become a “mind
hive” from which students never emerge.
Most of the great advances in the computing
industry have come from outside influences.
Engineers can’t figure out what people need if
they aren’t interacting with them.
Still, these students will be highly trained
and heavily recruited by the big boys:
Microsoft, IBM, Apple and others. They will
have a wide expanse of knowledge at their fin
gertips.
Let’s just hope they know how to apply it.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Fall 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Uncoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion erf its author.
The Board of Regents serves as publisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The
UNL Publications Board, established by
the regents, supervises the production
of the paper. According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for the editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees.
Lenar Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material becomes property of
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returned. Anonymous submissions will
not be published. Those who submit
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affiliation, if any.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
!
Hurtling down the road to the
Black Rock Desert, the colors paint
themselves like a spice cabinet - sage,
dust, slate gray.
Maybe you’re in your trusty car, the
one that takes you to and from work
every day.
Perhaps you’ve got a spacious RY
your Motel 6 on wheels for the next
few days in the desert.
Or you’re driving your glittering art
car, complete with poker chips and
mirroring to do a disco ball proud.
The two-lane highway turns off
onto a new road. You drive slowly onto
the playa, the 400-square-mile expanse
known as the Black Rock Desert. And
there you’ve touched the terrain of
what feels like another planet.
You’re at the end - and the begin
ning - of your journey to Burning
Man.
You belong here, and you partici
pate. You’re not the weirdest kid in the
classroom -
there’s
always somebody there who’s thought
up something you never even consid
ered.
You’re there to breathe art. Imagine
an ice sculpture emitting glacial music
- in the desert.
Imagine the man, greeting you,
neon and benevolence, watching over
the community. You’re here to build a
community that needs you and relies
on you.
You’re here to survive. What hap
pens to your brain and body when
exposed to 107 degree heat, moisture
wicking off your body and dehydrating
you within minutes?
You know and watch yourself. You
drink water constantly and piss clear.
You’ll want to reconsider drinking that
alcohol (or taking those other sub
stances) you brought with you. The
mind-altering experience of Burning
Man is its own drug.
You slather yourself in sunblock
before the sun’s rays turn up full blast.
You bring enough
s?
food, water and shelter because the ele
ments of the new planet are harsh, and
you will find no vending.
You’re here to create. Since nobody
at Burning Man is a spectator, you’re
here to build your own new world.
You’ve built an egg for shelter, a
suit made of light sticks, acarthat
looks like a shade’s fin.
You’ve covered yourself in silver, •’
you’re wearing a straw hat and a string
of pearls, or maybe a skirt for the first !
time.
You’re broadcasting Radio Free
Burning Man - or another radio sta- ’
tion. :f
You’re here to experience. Ride
your bike in the expanse Of nothingness
with your eyes closed.
Meet the theme camp - enjoy r
Irrational Geographic, relax at Bianca’s
Smut Shack and eat a grilled cheese
sandwich. Find your love and under
stand each other as you walk slowly
under a parasol. Wander under the veils
of dust at night on the playa.
You’re here to celebrate. On
Saturday night, we’ll bum the Man. As
the procession starts, the circle forms
and the man ignites, you experience
something personal, something new to
yourself, something you’ve never felt
before. It’s an epiphany, it’s primal, it’s
newborn. Arad it’s completely individ
ual.
You 11 leave as you came. When
you depart from Burning Man, you
leave no trace. Everything you built,
you dismantle. The waste you make
and the objects you consume leave
with you. Volunteers will stay for
weeks to return the Black Rock Desert
to its pristine condition.
But you’ll take the world you built
with you.
When you drive back down the
dusty roads toward home, you slowly
reintegrate to the world you came from]
You feel in tune with the other dust- *
covered vehicles that shared the same
community.
Over time, vivid images still dance
in your brain, floating back to you
when the weather changes.
The Burning Man community,
whether your friends, your new
acquaintances or the Burning Man pro
ject, embraces you. At the end, though
your journeys to and from Burning
Man are finished, you embark on a
different journey - forever.
Taken from “What is Burning
Man? ” by permission. See sitefor
more.
