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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1985)
V Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, March 19, 1985 ■ ■■ — IF MX DOESNt FLY, Tuff’S GOOD FOR YOU... Violence won't solve abortion problem Co I paid a visit to Tulsa, Okla., dur ing spring break and I noticed some anti-abor tion demonstra tors marching on the sidewalk. I felt some admiration for these people who believe so strongly in their Kinc in Rl murder of a defenseless child is non issue. These bomb-toting anti L "“ : ists have twisted their admirable effoc The King’s of organized protest into a senseless4 group from G Loren Steffy cause that they are willing to speak out. But my conscience soon chimed in and reminded me that some people also demonstrate in favor of abortion and feel just as strongly about their side of this controversial issue. They, too, war rant admiration. Then I picked up the paper Monday morning and encoun tered a side of the abortion controversy which deserves no admiration. By REBB Sta will perform tions from Rei An abortion clinic in San Diego was fire-bombed for the second time in seven months, bringing the grand total of attacks on abortion clinics nationwide to 33 since 1982. Whether abortion is an freedom of choice or the play of domestic terrorism i How ironic that a group of concerned with the preservation ofliB to contem P or< ' would resort to violence and destrucfc to achieve their goal. If abortion is a* cial blemish which is to be loathed! the plague, wiping out abortion will not provide a solution. Complex* cial problems can’t be blown awayn the explosion of a bomb. Only through peaceful negotiatii can a solution to the abortion situai be reached. Relying on terrorist tai will not only turn away public sup| for these individuals, it will harm overall image of anti-abortion protesiJ nationwide. Differences may appear tobesoliti by violence in some instances, but™ w ith words or a handshake can theresti lutions be Finalized. concert here t< The five-sec without music — consists of tery Tour,” “I torian collectic close harmon gious pieces. The King’s name from Loren Steffy exercise in is a sophomore join I ism major and a weekly columnist The Battalion. Associ Western films perpetuate myths about Texas | ABILENE — fStenholm said a mg among mem riculture subcon idon’t need mor “La Casa Diver- tad de Tejas.” Translated liter ally, it’s “the most fun house in Tex as.” Translated freely, it’s “The Best Little Whore house in T exas.” It was a cinema- rz * . ri tic blockbuster Katherine .Hurt when I saw the Spanish-dubbed version in Madrid in the summer of 1983. There they were, clear across the At lantic Ocean: Dolly Parton, Burt Rey nolds and a host of lascivious Aggies perpetuating aTFthe favorite Texas myths — the ones about booted, Stet son-topped, drawling cowboys and end less plains enhanced with cattle, oil wells and tumbleweed. The Spaniards loved it. Even worse, they believed it! “Whorehouse” has evolved from gen erations of Western films since 1908 that have created and sustained dozens of similar myths about Texas and Tex ans, misinforming non-Texans every where. Texas history supplies scores of sto ries that filmmakers have recreated in as many different ways. There’s the San Jacinto or Sam Houston story (“Man of Conquest,” “The First Texan”), the an nexation story (“Lone Star”), the Ranger story and the Reconstruction story (both in hundreds of Westerns). And, ultimately, there’s the Alamo story. Texas history movies have always re membered the Alamo. Moviemakers have been making Alamo movies for 70 years (1911-1981) and they still haven’t gotten it right, says Don Graham, Uni versity of Texas professor and author of “Cowboys and Cadillacs: How Holly wood Looks at Texas.” Why the factual deviations? Strug gling to deal with history’s facts, contra dictions and legends presents a formi dable challenge to narrative logic — it’s easy to make careless errors and omis sions or, paramount to the myths, crea tive innovations. One Lone Star legend, the Texas oil man, has endured since his movie debut in 1922. In “Mr. Potter of Texas,” the mythic oil man appeared in quintessen tial Texas garb: black broadcloth suit cut in Southwestern fashion, two large diamonds on his shirt and one on his finger, a “California quartz abomination of a watch chain” with a gold coin dan gling from it, an “old-fashioned turn down collar,” and cowboy boots with the trousers tucked in. Potter was a rancher and an oil man, rich from a combination of luck, natural bounty and rugged individualism that often seems to bless the Texan fron tiersman and empire builder. He began with a small spread — 10,000 acres and 2,000 cattle — but “jist a month ago today, I squinted around me and surveyed 500,000 acres of land, and 50,000 head of cattle and half a bank and half a hopera-houseand half a railroad, all for my darter, the honora ble Miss Hilda Potter, of the metropolis of Pottersville, Comanche County, State of Texas!” “Giant” (1956) is probably the arche typical Texas movie, Graham says; it contains every significant element in the stereotype: cowboys, wildcatters, cattle empire, wealth, crassness of manners, garish taste, and barbecue. The movie has earned more than $12 million (pre-inflation figures) and its popularity has affected the entire state. Baton-twirlers added its theme song to their half-time repertoires. John Con- nally proclaimed “Giant” his favorite movie and used its theme song for his 1961 gubernatorial campaign. Money motivates the legendary Texas oil game. A character in “Wildcat ter,” a 1981 nonfiction book that cele brates the pioneer spirit, explains, “It’s the money that makes you do it, money is always the motivation.” Money in “The Wheeler Dealers” (1963) is style, a gauche expression of exuberance and boundless optimism, recognizable as fexas style. All the Texas oil movies culminate in the TV drama, “Dallas,” launched in 1978, coincidentally the year of the first Tuition hikes could decide some’s education Surviving col lege. For some stu dents at A&M, the battle to stay in college is going to intensify begin ning in Fall 1985. This time the fi nancial pressure comes in the form of higher resident and non-resident tuition charges. The Senate Finance Committee has approved a plan that would triple tu ition over the next two years for Texans. Tuition would rise from $4 per se mester hour to $8 this fall and to $12 in Fall 1986. This is probably the best plan set forward to date. Most people agree that the dirt cheap tuition here at A&M does not accurately reflect the cost to the state of providing students with an education. More money is necessary. Tuition fees are an obvious and valid choice. Theoretically everyone nods their head in agreement. It sounds like a logi cal solution to the state’s budgetary woes. Nod, nod. But then you have to look at the ef fect it will have on students here at A&M. On real people struggling to get an education. Sure most students will whine and complain about the higher costs, but they will pay it. Or daddy will. But many students don’t have that luxurious op tion. I happened to read a letter sent to The Battalion from one such student. She came to school each semester with barely enough money to pay the bills. School came first, it had to. What is she suppose to do? Get more money from the government? Forget it, the ceiling on federal and state student aid has been pegged at $4,000. Relief from that source will be tough. But the problem goes beyond certain isolated cases. One can only wonderwhat how these higher costs will affect thegraduate pro gram at A&M. One reason grad students are at tracted to A&M is the low tuition costs. Most grad students are from other parts of the United States or are foreign stu dents. Both groups pay non-resident tu ition. The Senate Finance Committee ap proved in the same plan an increase in tuition for non-students and foreign students from $40 per semester hour to $80 in Fall 1985. That would go up to $100 in Fall 1986, with $20 increases per semester hour per year until tuition covered 100 percent of the cost of an education. That is a staggering financial surprise to most of these students. Then you hear the usual mumbled complaints that it is about time residents of Texas don’t pay for the educations of non-residents. Nod, nod. But what kind of damage will this do to the brain bank the University has to draw from? Non-Texans have changed A&M per ceptibly. Depending on who you talk to, options go either way on how “good” the change is. But I don’t think the University com munity can deny that maybe, just maybe, these non-Texans were the cat alyst needed to improve the intellectual foundation of A&M. New ideas are an important and nec essary element for the future devel opment of A&M and that flow may be seriously damaged by increased tuition. What is more important? Or a better question is how can the University mini mize the effect. Some sort of dialogue between the parties involved is necessary. Solutions can be found that can benefit both the University,and the students. There has to be a way. The alternatives are not enjoyable to contemplate. I want A&M to become a better insti tution of learning through the absorp tion of as many different ideas as possi ble. Money should not decide the future of anyone’s mind or intellectual future. Ed Cassavoy is a senior journalism ma jor and the city editor the The Battal ion. election of a Texas governor whoraal his fortune in the wildcat oil business I Still popular seven years later it countries and the United States (Ti included!), Dallas is the most mod(t| perpetrator of the Texas myth. Its failure has been Japan, where f< concepts are at odds with the varied Ing hijinks, betrayals and unpredictii realignments. Unbelievable? Maybe. But nonTcj ans frequently misperceive the outkf south of Oklahoma and north of the li Grande, east of El Paso and west of !W cogdoches, as a rich expanse ofoilait cattle, teeming with cowboys. Ask Ik Spaniards, if you can catch one lhi| not fighting bulls. Stenholm, D4 vey by the cotton committee of th ral Committee are anxious to don’t want to \ commitments. The “thin thr lat “farmers redit,” Stenhol to make money the loans they hi < Stenholm sai forming among committee as tn< country listening ■ He said he t )sed legislatioi [arming in the irofitable. Con )ill would im And it’s no wonder. By the way, ya’ hear Miz F.llie, Bobby and J.R. m have to divide the Ewing Oil fortuM with Cliff Barnes and Ray, Jock’s b tard son? Oh, horrors! SPRIh March 19 For NON- Katherine Hurt is a senior journalist major and the photo editor for Thek talion. The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Assotialion Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Brigid Brockman, Editor Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor Ed Cassavoy, City Editor Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor Michelle Powe, Editorial Page Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Kari Fluegel, Rhonda Snider Assistant News Editors Cami Brown, John Hallett, Kay Mallett Assistant Sports Editor Charean Williams Entertainment Editors Shawn Behlen, Leigh-Ellen Clark Staff Writers Cathie Anderson, Marcy Basile, Brandon Berry, Dainali Bullard, AnnCervenka, Michael Crawford, Mary Cox, Kirsten Dietz, Cindy Gay, Paul Herndon, Trent Leopold, Sarah Oates, Jerry Oslin, Tricia Parker, Cathy Riely, Marybeth Rohsner, Walter Smilli Copy Editors Jan Perry, Kelley Smiih Make-up Editors Karen Bloch, Karla Marlin Columnists Ed Cassavoy, Kevin Inda, Loren Steffy Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane Sports Cartoonist Dale Smith Copy Writer Cathy Bennett Photo Editor Katherine Hurt Photographers Anthony Casper, Wayne Grabein, Bill Hughes, Frank Irwin, John Makely, Peter Rocha, DeanSaito Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspipet operated as a community service to Texas A&M amt Bryan-College Station. 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