Page 2AThe Battalion/Thursday, July 14, 1983
Leisure time shouldn’t be wasted
The crisis of the 80s is not nuclear war,
the Carter briefing books, or even Chuck
and Di’s marital status. No. It’s the crisis
of leisure time: what to do when there’s
nothing to do. This condition is even
worse when you’re broke, which seems to
be a perpetual state for college students.
Little money, lots of time and not a
thing to do — that’s the chorus of the
leisure time blues.
Speed up the tempo, change a few
words, raise it an octave — it’s no longer a
dirge.
(So we’re budding poets. Right. Nip it
in the bud.)
Writing poetry was just one suggestion
we received when we asked other Batta
lion staffers for a list of fun, cheap things
to do.
The first ideas that came to mind we
immediately dismissed as too mundane:
reading, sleeping, working crosswords
and so on.
One incurable romantic suggested a
walk in the park, but we already thought
of that. It falls under the walking/jogging
category — sort of the parks department
of the College of Walking and Jogging.
And suggestions from cartoonist Scott
McCullar immediately were dismissed as
too bizarre: counting bird droppings.
kathleen hart
bob mcglohon
scraping up dead bugs, reading room
mates’ diaries, ad nauseum. Scott said the
heat of summer has him “listless.”
Other ideas included watching mem
bers of the opposite sex, talking on the
telephone, cleaning closets desks or cars,
writing letters (or poems, or stories),
playing the guitar and washing the dog/
cat/parakeet/gerbil.
But after a hard day of sorting “dirty
laundry,” journalistic imaginations can
go limp.
Persevering, we put on our college
sized thinking caps and came up with
what we think are novel ideas: flying a
kite, juggling, dancing to the radio, lis
tening to birds, cutting coupons, reading
the comics at 7-11, practicing putting,
making paper-clip chains or paper air
planes, et cetera. (So maybe they aren’t all
that novel. Can you do better? If so, keep
it to yourself.)
One favorite activity of ours is people
watching. Not the lust inspired guy/girl
watching, but plain of people watching
— an art that’s rapidly dying out.
Go down to the mall, the MSC, or
some other public herding area, and just
watch — walks, mannerisms, even
clothes. See the lady with the orange hair
and fake leopard-skin dress that’s cut
down to here and up to there? Or how
about the walking family feud over by the
candy store: “Gummy bears, Mommy,
Gummy bears.” “Daddy, can I have a
bunch of those? and those? and those?”
“MUUTHEER.” “Puhleeze?” “NO!”
And then there’s thinking. You know,
just sitting and exercising the of cere
brum — sans calculators, computers or
video games. In this age of electronically-
fed mush from sources such as your
handy-dandy “boob tube,” brain exer
cises have become a challenge, yes, even a
rarity. In stretching our imaginations to
come up with this list, television was not
considered. How could it be, when in to
day’s commercial TV market, “Gilligan’s
Island” would be considered too intellec
tual. We can see it now: “Mr. T’s Island.”
What we can’t see is any excuse for
being bored. There are as many things to
do as there are people to think of them.
The list is endless.
However, if you’re really desperate
for cheap, fun things to do, as a last resort
you can sit around and make up lists of
cheap, fun things to do.
Then again, maybe not.
... 'M i
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ol
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor HopeE. Paasch
City Editor Kelley Smith
Sports Editor John Wagner
News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer,
Beverly Hamilton, Tammy Jones
Staff Writers Robert McGlohon, Karen
Schrimsher, Angel Stokes,
joe Tindej
Copyeditors Kathleen Hart, Beverly
Hamilton
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photographers
Brenda Davidson, Eric Evan Lee,
Barry Papke
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77843.
Horsehockey to horseshoes
Neighbors’ game not a thrill
I used to like playing horseshoes. Not
anymore.
Thanks to some wonderful neighbors
in our apartment complex who seem to
adore the game. I’ve become an avid ha
ter of the sport and the u-shaped iron
“game pieces.”
It’s not so much that I mind the fact
that these guys have totally torn up the
grass in front of my window, or that they
sit outside until 2 a.m. playing with their
radio blaring at 3,000 decibels or even
the fact that they drink oodles of beer
and become disgustingly obnoxious.
(Well, maybe it does bother me.)
My main complaint is that the owner
of the apartment complex is considering
sanding in the area (in front of my bed
room window) that has already been des
troyed to form a permanent horseshoe
playing ground.
Does anyone know where I can buy an
iron umbrella so I won’t be assaulted by
flying horseshoes when I walk out my
front door?
Another thing that bothers me is that
these neighbors don’t seem to care that
they are tearing up the yard, disturbing
beverly
hamilton
If the owners feel the playing area is a
necessary addition to the complex —
“Rent with us because our complex has
low rent, swimming pool, laundry room
and horseshoe playing area” — they
should locate it in an area central to all
tenants. Also, they should take into con
sideration the danger of the present loca
tion and have the playing area sanded in
near the swimming pool.
The playing ground now is on the end
of the complex — not a very central loca
tion.
the tenants or endangering children who
often pass by their playing area.
And to top that off, the management
of the apartment complex seem to like
the idea of tenants playing horseshoes.
By the way, they didn’t respond to my
roommate’s complaint about the noise or
the mutilated yard.
Putting the ’shoers close to the pool
would get them out of our hair, and out
of our front yard. Also, there would be
less danger to tenants who pass the play
ers. The area surrounding the fenced
pool is much larger than the current
playing field and leaves room for over
thrown horseshoes, which otherwise
would be dangerous.
So here’s an appeal to the owner from
my roommate and me — for the second
time. Put yourself in our shoes and think
about this horse-hockey before you make
it permanent.
Talking trees
only first sign
of conspiraq
tolem
(
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Scientific
by Eric I
Battalion
'he Brazos (
ers prograr
[e than
d more th
en property
start in Nove
hades Ower
any informa
mation that trees apparently cai
municate with each other certaii
as no surprise to me.
I had suspected as much ever
1980 presidential campaign
Ronald Reagan, then a can
pointed to trees as a leading
pollution. How come you never Departmen
trees being charged with violai jth the prograr
vironmental Protection Agent) ge payout ft
tions? King to a gr;
Gould it be that Reagan, om jent is between
White House, became less diliger : ®he prograr
anti-pollution pursuits? That ® u rage rest
seem likely. A more probable „ P°* lce
tion is that trees are able to passiT eiin ^ r f war
whenever an EPA agent is lurking
and thus have time to clean up
“Cheeze it, the feds,” the ti
whisper to each other. And they
tie their leaves in alarm. Or sou
signal.
According to two ecologistswkK
vered arboreal communication^
ings of impending danger maybdK, Ba « alion
by a chemical substance releasedlL ' pj
during an attack by (7tterpillanM artrnent ari(
worms and other insect defoajpj Lake Park
Neighboring trees can tell fromtkKlenvironmer
borne alarms that predators ait |th 40,000 red
prowl. So they bolster their naniK
fenses to minimize the damage, f saltwau
I am convinced that trees ] a g e
means the only plants that haL e ff ects 0 f t h
capacity. Further research und igf,^. The res
would show that even commonl if the fish w
ifferent envin
Dr. Jay Willi?
Recreador
es
by Tin
undoul
Further research
would show that even coi
lawn weeds are capable ol
ing each other to any th
may be looming.
Ill
by Rober
Battal
The College
nter for Te?
the Texas
ment Statu
[uiry confer
weeds are capable of alerting eadLr that
to any threat that may be loomin; u hj t , ct 0 f “Qu
grass, for example. technical S
All the evidence I have gathereij-The confe
communicating crabgrass is entire'unded by
cumstantial. I’ll concede. I hatflexas Enginec
ducted no scientific experimentsiitation.willbe
whether the crabgrass in my lawn
warned whenever I load upthespij
with an and-crabgrass formula,
theless, my attempts to rid the fa
crabgrass have been negative em
suggest that the intended victims
how were tipped off. It looks'"
side job to me.
in 701 Ru
r. Glenn
or ofthe T
Teaching
dnesday th
concern is
ege teachi
jlar confer
loo
by Gwynei
There just is no other plausibkl
nation for the way the crabgrassW
able to overide the element of sif
By “element of surprise,” I meanj
ing out the lawn spreader in
when anti-crabgrass applicationss kggies can
expected. lutes of th<
I’m talking about applying 3 * 00( i to 1
killers in the dead of winter wtii [ lter
lawn is covered with snow. Thai
Battal it
durin
snow. 1 U a, d£u We Ki k ' a
. . , ... . . , Iheblood
grass couldn t possibly anticipate ^ tu( j ent
would be cunning enough to enij } Omega
lawn spreader when a snow sho" |ph a , Tues<
indicated. But suppose the dani ^donatio
that persevere year after year—d intheCorr
lions that not even crabgrass can tobile will be
out — saw me coming. I can hea|
now, “Dandelions to crabgrass.
lions to crabgrass. Now hearthisi '
spreader approaching at 2 o’clock
a Red Alert. Repeat — This is i
ALERT. All hands institute survi'i
immediately.”
Whereupon the crabgrass batW
hatches, or whatever crabgrass di
make itself impervious.
If, of course, the spreader isl
with anti-dandelion formula, the
grass returns the favor.
Speechwriter, reporter
leaving White House
MOND
S
by Helen Thomas
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Backstairs at the
White House:
Nothing irritates President Reagan more
than to be called “a rich man’s president.”
The White House is losing its top
speechwriter, Aram Bakshian, in Sep
tember.
He says he remembers the Great De
pression too well for that.
Bakshian will move on to write a col
umn for The Washington Times.
“Someday let me give you my mother’s
recipe for oatmeal,” he said. “I thought it
was a luxury.”
A strong conservative, he was a
speechwriter for former President
Richard Nixon, and a strong Nixon de
fender in the past.
But there is no question that the “fair
ness” issue is troubling the White House
and the perception in the polls that the
president favors the rich over the poor.
He has supervised most of the major
speeches Reagan has made in the White
House.
His will be an opinion column, follow
ing in the footsteps of other conservative
speechwriters, including William Safire
and Pat Buchanan.
UPI White House correspondent Don
Davis has left the wire service after 18
years to try his hand at fiction. Davis
wrote a farewell column, telling it like it is
for reporters. Somehow, his plans to see
the president to say goodbye went awry.
But Davis is getting bids on the lecture
circuit to speak on White House re
porting.
Slouch
N|' WI ^
By Jim Earl
WVf
Salij
‘Do you think they can label ALL of them?”