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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1981)
Viewpoint Li The Battalion Texas A&M University Monday May 4, 1981 Aggie * their w Slouch By Jim Earle “Don’t talk to me, don’t ask me a question, and for goodness sake, don’t slam the door! I’ve got my brain cells arranged for my exams, and the slightest jolt might blow it all. ’’ Cookbook is from out of this world By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — If what the world needs now is yet another cookbook, that void h^s just been filled by the National Air and Space Museum. The aeronautics wing of the Smithsonian Institution has published a collection of the favorite recipes of 50 of America’s most famous fliers, from aviation pioneers like the Wright Brothers all the way down to today’s spacemen. The Wright boys were partial to pear salad, especially Orville, and, according to their niece, Mrs. Ivonette Miller, also used to pig out on fig ice cream Amelia Earhart is represented in the cookbook by sour cream wafiles, Charles A. Lindbergh by Swedish butter cookies and former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, now a U.S. senator, by what apparently is some kind of outer space chili. Although the “Famous Personalities of Flight Cookbook” may be a real grabber for aviation buffs, for someone with only a minimal interest in flying (me) it is curious ly unsatisfying. I was disappointed that only a brief men tion was made of what I regard as the key development in aerial cuisine — airline meals. The cookbook is unsparing in historical vignettes about the personalities whose favorite dishes are featured, but of airline meals it notes only that they are usually “prepackaged, reheated foods.” Nothing at all is said of the brave and hardy pioneers who first ate the stuff. It is all very well to tell us that “Jackie” Cochran contributed “ingenuity and per sistence” to aviation. Surely, however, those who gave their stomachs deserve equal treatment. I would be particularly keen on reading something about the bold innovator who developed the concept of serving little pap er cups of nearly frozen dressing for airline salads. It never ceases to amaze me how the airlines constistently get their salad dres sing the consistency and temperature the Arctic tundra is during that brief period in summer when its surface thaws. That courageous soul who first lofted a forkload of airline salad to his lips and felt his teeth twitch from gelid shock surely is as deserving of a niche in aviation cookery as Ed Link, the flight trainer inventor who submitted his brother’s recipe for “conch fritters” (heavy on the paprika). Another curious omission is any recipe commemorating Howard Hughes. It could be he customarily dined alone and would tell no one what he liked best. the small society by Brickman / / - ©1981 King taturu Syndicate. Inc. World right! reeerved Warped Society can solve its problems Armageddon — Has it arrived? The wisdom of prevention is better than the wisdom of remedy. Prevention is the better cure. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Everyone is familiar with these homilies and their moral mes sages, accepting at face value the credibility with which they are universally received and espoused. So why does the United States, in both its public and private institu tions, corporation, and businesses, wait un til “after the fact” to rectify pernicious social maladies, when the major antecedents of these baneful events are known and solv able? These are some of the question that traversed my mind during the recent shoot ing of President Reagan and others in his presidential retinue. Exacerbating this quandary was a Newsweek article entitled “The Assassin Syndrome,” demarcating in its wake a psychological profile of some nine points that linked together the past and present figures who have tried to kill a U.S. President or other prominent nation al public figure. That profile ran the gamut from a child hood that was plagued by the Scylla and Charybdis of loneliness and self-loathing, usually under the aegis of a one parent household, into a young man or woman possessed by bizarre and unusual fantasies. Aiding and abetting this macabre scene is the numerous and sundry extremist groups who are seeking proselytes of this mental ilk. What discerns these disturbed young men and women, however, from others who join cults, is a pathology, that is so perverse and pervasive that even the groups to which they swear allegiance to treat them as pariahs and/or scapegoats, the net result is a person whose logic and reasoning is so scrambled and convoluted as to preclude rational actions of any kinds. Newsweek’s denouement is that hundreds of thousands of citizens fit this basic mold and the answer — if there is one — is supervision of possibly dangerous people by their friends and family. What vexed me is'the fact that a viable Reader’s Forum cational system to assess the child’s t( milieu (his environment at home as u in school) and make a judgement thatis infallable but more often than not, ce around the bullseye of life. The accuract this assessment is assured through armamentarium of psychological cational weapons at his disposal, They ar Aggie fc priority How tus of t pends o In bo the I9f booklet Club m are assif accordir tinuous Aggie C current In oi from individual and group counseling:] h a solution is within our midst, but the blin ders of indifference, obdurateness and omniscience, characteristic of our advanced technological society, have reduced our vis ta of possibilities to a slim few . Delimiting our options still further is the current eco nomic labyrinth within which we find ourselves encased and overwhelmed by. It would thus appear that only the great Mer lin’s legerdemain could extricate us from the followers of Hades, whose notion of perdition is becoming more secular than ethereal with each passing day. Armageddon, however, can be post poned, because inherent in the problem is the phoenix of my solution. As Newsweek so rightfully concluded, the psychological profile that marks the assassin could just as well be worn (and probably is) by hundreds of thousands of citizens. Short of an Orwel lian state then, what is needed to demarcate the potentially dangerous from transient disturbances is an event that is ubiquitious in nature and a given for every U.S. citizes. Such a concatenation is present in the form of our educational system, one of whose main tenets is compulsory attendance through age 16. A captive audience, howev er, is necessary but still not a sufficient enough condition for distinguishing be tween those demmed emotionally labile form those judged mentally sound. It takes the expertise of a man or woman versed in the principles of human behavior and learn ing to understand why schools and society do what they do. Just such a seraph is avail able in the persona of a school psychologist. It is the school psychologist, through his training in education, psychology, sociolo gy and science who is best able in the edu- formal testing and classroom observati He is in the unique position of weighii both pro and con, the contributions mi to the child’s present disposition teacher(s) at school, parents and siblingsii home, and peers and friends in society! large. His knowledge of education m administration gives him the understand, both cognitively and emob ally, the onerous burdens under whiebtj day’s teachers and principals operate, wlii simultaneously empathisizing with pan and the chasm between generations. I contend, therefore, that we nowhave™ our disposal the means with which toattaii the “after the fact” syndrome, even 1 ' ' its etiology is emotional rather than medio 0 p that the by mem joined tl and all $ will auto third de In ad buted to in origin. As in the medical paradigi doctor is still required, but this doctod palliatives are for the psyche rather than Ik giving le the somato. In addition, this doctordod ted the not have to wait till his clients feelenoaj discomfiture to request his services astlei problems become so salient within ill atmosphere of the school that they thea selves seek mollification. This reined could, can and should be implemented, it can be achieved without dependingupn the largess if philanthropic organizationso the involvement and investment by theW eral government of prodigious sums money. It can be accomplished by givii! the emotions the credence and validityth we now allocate to the intellect. The pit sence of a psychologist in the schools enable society to nip in the bud its pressia problems of loneliness, alienation, asocii behavior, and functional illiteracy. Let® Armageddon be an Apocalypse rather tin an apocrypha. The choice is ours to mail Marc fiogt Club, hi each ye certain will re tickets. The j organize purpose Texas A< million i long-ran funds ne larship f Texas A Seati tickets p A By Nor is there any listing for “Wrong Way” Corrigan. My assumption is that he started out to make Oysters Rockefeller and ended up with Quiche Lorraine. Anyway, I’m betting the book will be popular enough to warrant a sequel. One logical spinoff would be an aircraft mainte nance manual edited and annotated by Julia Child. Fora third de swelteri Byth in the sc from th< knowing War Hy out a te Butv duates? maticall even de No. “Sine son foot zine pul of Form student: priority Athletic Kotch s only gi Club.” The A organize for the athletics The/ rate mi which d her wil range fr ship (for contribi bership contribi Appi ball gan tickets i: of the 1 chancell total of' football chancel] tickets s said. J. Ma to the p are giv< chancell By Scott McCulIar OOPS! 'ton STARTLED ME . I WASN'T E-XPECT TNG YOU SO SOON. 1 l'N\ RACING YOU TO THE LAST PANEL. AAG! YOU'RE ALREADY UP TO THE 3RD PANEL! ("whe>n ) WHAT KEPT YOU? The Battalion I SPS 045 460 MEMBER Texas Press Association , Southwest Journalism Congress The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspape’ 1 Editor Angelique Copeland students in reporting, editing and photography d** Managing Editor Marcy Boyce within the Department of Communications. City Editor Jane Brust , < ? u ® s f , ' on f or comments concerning any editorials Asst. City Editor Venita McCellon shou,d be directed to the editor Night News Editor Jennifer Afllerbach t cT-rimc T>r\T mv Photo Editor Greg Gammon LE 11 EKhPULlL Y Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 woii 1 - Focus Editor. 1 ^ ‘ 1! 1! !! ! Cathy Saathoff le J n S th > f nd ^ re sub i ect ^ bei "g cut ' f ‘W are f L °, , Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson ^'‘onal staff reserves the nght to ed.t letters or ., ,, .. . . f , „ length, but will make every enort to maintain theaulW 1 News Editors Venita McCellon, int( f nt Each , etter must a| ^ 0 be signed show thea ^ „ ^ , ,, , K-Meyer and phone number of the writer. Staff Writers ... Frank L. Christheb, Terry Dm an, Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, a»- t< Bernie Fette, Phyllis Henderson, Colette Hutch- not subject to the same length constraints as lett i;! ' n g S ) Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor/' Belinda McCoy, Kathy O’Connell, Denise Richter, Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Unhrf Rick Stolle, Todd Woodard College Station, TX 77843. Cartoonist Scott McCulIar The Battalion is published daily duringTexasAMl 1 ' Photographer Brian Tate and spring semesters, except for holiday and exam®^ periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester,Si' EDITORIAL POLICY P er school year and $35 per full year. Advertising 15 ' The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper furnishe d on request. , n .loJi operated as a community service to Texas A&M University . ° l ' r addr f * s = Battahon 216 Reed McDonald^ and Bryan-College Station. 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