Opinion
ZM/yNebraskan
Since 1901
Editor Sarah Baker
Opinion Page Editor Samuel McKewon
Managing Editor Bradley Davis
Booze won't do
Task force should look
to rebuild 0 Street aura
There used to be at least some solace in that
strip called O Street.
At night, it used to be at least tolerable,
what with the ambiance of the old trees, ones
that were probably standing when your par
ents and ours used to venture out on week
ends to grab a Falstaff and listen to the Beatles
on the jukebox.
You have to admit, it had an aura about it.
But alas, although the Beatles still play on
at least a few jukes, and Falstaff still makes
appearances on rusty metal signs, the trees -
and much of the charm - have been brutally
uprooted.
And so goes the ongoing saga of Lincoln
nightlife. The old is ripped up to make room
for the new and better. But is it really any bet
tar?
The trees were uprooted for O Street con
^— struction, construction that
Take it precedes the opening of Studio
from us, 14, a new dance club whose
booze is billboard reads, “Can’t rush
nnt thp perfection.”
nui ine Somehow we doubt a dance
answer. clul> run by a group of former
Nor is it Nebraska football players is
even the going to replace the near per
problem. fection O Street was before this
Lincoln has c^u^
n int nf And all we need is another
' f| Husker football hangout.
great small Lincoln’s concert and enter
venues, but tainment task force came to the
the venues shocking conclusion earlier
are mostly this summer that in order to
ignored... bring better acts to the city, all
we need is more booze.
_ Take it from us, booze is not
the answer. Nor is it e /en the
_l~l_
piuuicm.
Lincoln has a lot of great small venues, but
the venues are mostly ignored by the majority
of students.
If there’s no crowd, there’s certainly not
going to be a show.
So try local support for bands as the
answer. Tty better venues. Try concerts that
interest anyone.
And try asking someone, anyone, who
might have some idea of what the right
answer is.
It doesn’t end with the lackluster findings of
the task force - it also extends to the efforts of
the University Program Council, whose
events never cease to amaze.
This year's crowning achievement:
Comedian Jay Mohr. (You know, of “Jerry
McGuire” fame.)
We’re not going to be lining up for this one.
We wonder if anyone else will be.
To us, Lincoln’s sagging nightlife doesn’t
seem an unsolvable problem.
It’s going to take focus, interest and a little
bit of time.
And it doesn’t require the ruination of
what’s already there and working just fine.
So our recommendation to club owners,
committee members and UPC members is
simple: Sit back.
Maybe under a nice shade tree.
Relax.
Drink a beer.
Look at a Falstaff sign, listen to the Beatles
and think.
Think about what once was, and what still
could be. After all, you can't rush perfection.
Editorial Board
Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Josh Funk, Matthew Hansen,
Samuel McKewon, Dane Stickney, Kimberly Sweet
Letters Polcy
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A gift horse? Hardly.
I was about to write a letter welcoming new
and returning students to the University of
Nebraska-Uncoln. Prior to doing that, I read Karen
Brown's “A guide on how to do well at the universi
ty’
I am an alumna of UNL and the University of
Nebraska Medical Center.
I have read a number of tasteless and “choice”
Daily Nebraskan opinion columns over the years.
Karen’s recent comments in the DN take top hon
ors in my book for the most appalling DN opinion
column.
I found her words encouraging binge drinking,
not studying, vandalism and sleeping with profes
sors along with her criticism toward the NU
Athletic Department to be not called for. We
should be encouraging students in an appropriate
manner and not making fun of things that the UNL
community has been striving to alleviate, like
binge drinking.
I am currently a graduate student out of state
and am learning that UNL is truly a wonderful
place. My undergraduate years at UNL were price
less. My experiences at UNL and the friendships
made in Lincoln are irreplaceable.
I’m hoping students don’t take Karen Brown’s
advice and learn for themselves that there really is
“no place like Nebraska.”
Heather Swanson
nursing alumna
A domestic issue
In reading your column, I noticed the reference
to domestic partner benefits and whether or not
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Interim
Chancellor Harvey Perlman would support them.
A lot has happened about this issue over the sum
mer.
The Defense of Marriage proponents were able
to gamer enough support to place a constitutional
amendment on die ballot this November.
If this amendment passes, the Nebraska con
stitution will be amended to prohibit the recogni
tion of any same sex marriages, domestic partner
ships or same sex relationships in Nebraska from
being recognized.
In this situation, domestic partnership benefits
would be a moot point given that the constitution
would prohibit recognizing any type of same-sex
relationship.
Not only would this make the state motto of
“equality under the law" a joke, it would legitimize
prejudice and discrimination against sexual
minorities.
It is a form of religious discrimination.
PatTtetreault
UNL staff member
Action in faith is irrelevant
The man clad in an olive
green park ranger's shirt and
dark green pants uses
sweeping hand gestures to
explain his point
The Hopi Indians, he
says, were a peaceful people
with no religion holding _
them back. There was no Dane
concept of religion for them. StlCkney
The only thing that
comes close is secluding
themselves in holes in the red earth in the
American Southwest. They sat in there and
thought about their creator, who climbed into this
world through a similar hole in the ground.
Through overexposure, the Anglo-Saxon park
ranger has become Hopi in his beliefs, and he
explains this to tourists that come to look at the
dwelling.
As he turns to point something out, the bright
sunlight makes his vision go white.
* * *
The slender woman shields her eyes as the
kitchen light cuts through the darkness.
Almost 6 a.m.
It’s time to start getting breakfast ready for her
children.
But before she can start making waffles or
orange juice, she must pray.
With a sweet Southern accent, the woman
thanks jesus for another day. She thanks Him for
the wonderful renovations to her Baptist church.
She thanks him for her children’s strong Christian
morals.
She reaches for the waffle iron, and it burns her
hand. She left it on all day yesterday.
She thanks Jesus for not letting the house bum
down.
* * *
The young man lifts the ax above his head and
lets it fall with glorious inertia.
It crashes into a small log of wood; two thick
pieces fly in different directions. He picks them up
and carries them toward a secluded structure in
the foothills of Colorado.
He walks inside to find many women tending
to babies and fixing food.
An older man in the middle of the group spouts
about the real revolution and the real Messiah -
himself.
The people listen to him as if they are drones,
thankful for his misunderstood guidance. They are
happy to hide with him, especially because he says
the apocalypse is near.
The young man takes the wood to the fireplace
and chips at the brick frame with a match.
When the match ignites, he throws it into the
fire and watches it grow, unbound by human con
straints.
* * *
The young, pre-law major quickly walks down
the sidewalk from the Catholic Center.
She holds her head high, revealing the gray
marie on her forehead.
She tells herself that this time she can do it,
with His help of course. This time she won’t eat
meat for all of Lent.
People who stop and talk with her stare at her
forehead. Some tell her she has some mark there,
and she proceeds to explain Lent Others under
stand and say nothing.
Still others understand and cast cold stares.
Their looks make the student enraged.
If only they could see the light.
After all, she has a time-tested power structure
backing her beliefs that keeps the candles by the
altar glowing.
• • •
The Buddhist exchange student from Vietnam
sits in his residence hall room, cross-legged,
immersed in thought
He tries to feel the universe. He tries to breathe
Buddha’s power.
His eyes closed, he is dead to a country that is
dead to his beliefs. To Americans, his god is an
enigmatic cloud, covering up the sun.
The Buddhist is simple.
His room is barely furnished, ai. 1 he often
times refrains from speaking.
A light switches on, awakening him from his
meditation.
His Canadian roommate enters, apologizes
and ducks out again.
The exchange student tries to focus once again.
* • *
The college dropout sits in a dark basement
he’s rented from an elderly couple.
The room is dark except for a dim lamp in the
comer.
He’s listening to depressing music. Guitars and
voices wailing for acceptance but rejecting the
mainstream.
He tries to imagine how the universe came into
being, how humans have been misled.
Certainly a being bom of a virgin couldn’t die
and resurrect, taking the sins of man with it. They
must be wrong, he thinks. I’m right.
He turns the music up louder. It fills him with
the power to stick around and face another day.
* • *
Silently, they all walk over and turn off the light
and lie down in bed.
As their eyes close, they are all glad that they’ve
found the salvation.
Liberals play
a double
standard
Welcome to
the University of
Nebraska
Lincoln, home of
the Comhuskers.
It’s also the
Nebraska center
of racism, homo
phobia and sex
ism.
Jake
Glazeski
you atant
know this?
Well, it’s not in the brochures, of
course. But during die next few weeks,
campus groups wifi no doubt be waiting
for even the most obscure evidence of
UNL’s evil to have the excuse to assail
your senses with liberal propaganda.
They will attempt to convince you
that if you are white, male, Protestant or
straight, then you are racist, homopho
bic and sexist until proven innocent The
groups’national counterparts have tried
to convince the public of this.
Alter eight years otUmton ana Gore,
it has become difficult to distinguish
between violent crime and an off-nand,
off-color joke. The weeds of political cor
rectness have aveigrown the front lawn
of the White House lawn as if it were
some backwater Arkansas home.
But look carefully, and you will see
that even Republicans bend over back
ward to “prove” they're not radst or sexist
- though there may be no evidence they
are so.
What the liberals have achieved, in
short, is the daim to moral rectitude.
It is the liberals that decide whether a
comment has malicious, prejudicial
intent They, too, decide how severe your
prejudicial behavior is. Republicans go
into the fight knowing first off that their
party will be labeled as “non-diverse,” as
if there existed some objective measure
or some objective value of diversity.
The liberals have control of the
media and education. They are doing
their best to inundate you with the
Program - whether it is dumbing down
your kids by spending math time on
diversification exercises or in conveying
lazy slob6 as “victims" of the “System" or
the “Man,” who is, of course, a WASP
If you classify as a "minority,*
chances are you are already an agent of
the liberal mechanism.
Ifyou are the enemy, that is, if you are
not a minority, chances are you are in the
crosshairs. \!bu must constantly sandbag
against a potential deluge of liberal
attacks for not being “diverse" enough
At the GOP convention. Republicans
made a conspicuous attempt to distract
the public from a predominately white
delegate count They paraded minorities
and women across the stage like hand
puppets. The organizers apparently
decided that the media would attack
them for having too many WASP speak
ers.
The media attacked them anyway.
They said itwas a facade, almost a victim*
ization, of minorities and women.
Thus the Republican convention fell
victim to the liberal machinery. The
machinery attempts to manipulate
whole segments of the population by
accusing them of not being “diverse"
enough or compassionate enough. And
this campus will prove to be no different
A few years ago, a cross burning as
part of a fraternity ritual struck local
headlines and inflamed campus.
Student groups for the advancement of
people of color were in an uproar. What
followed was a series of student accusa
tions and subsequent concessions by the
university.
Student organizations campaign
incessantly for more diverse programs -
your ethnicity and gender requirement is
a perfect example - for more minority
student recruitment and for new office
space. The typical response of the
administration is to concede the point
The cross burning recurs as evidence, as
“proof" that the campus as a whole is
racist
Never mind that the racist actions of
a select group ofindividuals fails to imply
the guilt of others. Never mind that a
white-faced campus doesn't necessarily
point to a need for more minority faces.
Never mind that a lack of an instant
firm rejection of even dubiously racist,
homophobic or sexist behavior implies
the administration’s guilt. The liberals
have moral rectitude.
If you don’t agree with them, you’re
wrong. If you don’t do as they think
appropriate, you are the one that is
wrong. Any reasoned justification you
may offer is inadequate. All the liberal
wants is your soul.
It is time to disagree. It is time to say
that you choose your acquaintances
based on shared experiences and shared
beliefs, not quotas. It is time to stare the
activists straight in the eye when they
accuse you of being racist and say “So?"
Force them to reasoa Force them to
tell you why it is you're supposed to have
some vague sense of racial guilt and
shame. They won’t be able to offer it -
because all liberals want is to better their
own positions. Ask them why a social
government program is necessary to leg
islate the behavior of individuals. Then
ask if this is a free country or not
Fight the doublespeak. See through
the media.
And most of all, live.