Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, November 4,1985
Opinion
Halloween isn’t just for kids Mnj| Call
Halloween is
the only night
when everyone
suddenly has a li
cense to go insane.
At no other time
of the year can
someone be driv-
i n g down the
street, casually
glance over and
see a stop sign
driving a Corvette.
Or see the Hunchback of Notre
Hall Association
on campus: the
A&M’s Residence
organizes Halloween
-guys get one hour to trick-or-treat the
girls’ dorms, and vice versa.
Everyone waits until that magic hour
when it’s their turn to scavenge for
sweets.
The grocery store also was hopping. I
was getting out of my car and saw a pink
bunny coming out with a few groceries.
Camille
Brown
On your mark, get set, GO! The clock
strikes the hour and hordes of
monsters, superheroes, playboys and in-
decipherables take off toward those
treasured candy sacks in the other
dorms.
He strutted his fuzzy white tail over to
his lean, mean white sports car and
hopped in. He had taken off the car’s T-
top so his rabbit ears wouldn’t get
squished. I watched as this cocky bunny
sported away with his long, flappy ears
silhouetted against distant car lights.
I left the store after Little Bo Peep
had checked out my bag of chips.
Dame putt by on a motorcycle.
they
Or pass a giant M&M who was just
talking to his friend, the piece of pie.
Only on Halloween do inanimate ob
jects suddenly come to life. Six-foot beer
cans hit the streets, pizza boxes are re
born, dice grow arms and legs, larger-
than-life mixed drinks are out past mid
night and fruit, candy and pumpkins
take on personalities,
“Trick or treat! Trick or treat!’
yell, not missing a stride.
“Kiss for treat!” is yelled back by
those hoping for a sugar trade-off.
Creatures run from dorm to dorm,
racing against the clock. One precious
hour and trick-or-treat time is over.
I sat in my car comparing this Hal
loween to last year’s. Each was just as
weird as the one before. But only as an
adult can you get the full meaning of
Halloween. Halloween is not just for
children.
Soon trick-or-treat bags overfloweth.
Another successful year.
Only on Halloween.
The real reason for Halloween, we
are taught, is to get candy.
The college campus is where the
candy is. Sure, there are some great par
ties in town, but any hard-core trick-or-
treater knows that if you want candy,
the highest concentration of candy
givers is on campus.
In one modular-style dorm, there are
over 250 doors to knock on and at least
two people to each room. It would take
hours to get to 250 doors if you were
trick or treating in a residential neigh
borhood.
On-campus is fun, but off campus is
where Halloween crazies will catch you
off guard. Who expects non-students to
do things like dress up as a fruit salad
and dance?
It’s like watching cartoons. As a child
they’re fun to watch because pretend
people do things a kid can’t. An adult
watching the same cartoons picks up on
the subtle humor that children never
see. Adults can get more out of cartoons
than children do, and dressing up for
Halloween can offer the same rewards.
I met the “The Glad Bag” at a local
club. He and his friends, the Hawiian
Chic and the White Line, entered a cos
tume contest and won. (The White Line
was supposed to be a line of cocaine.
The Hawiian Chic was a hip swingin’
dude dressed as a hula dancer.)
At Halloween, adults can let loose
and have some creative fun.
More adults should watch cartoons
and more should take advantage of Hal
loween.
At the same club, I saw nuns smoking
and drinking, girls dressed as guys, guys
dressed as girls, guys and girls dressed
as animals, cats and dogs living together
... sick people everywhere. It was great.
Play does not end with puberty.
It’s a shame there’s only one night a
year when people can really let their
hair down.
Camille Brown is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
Gorbachev trying to return
to detente before summit
White House offi-
cals are sizing up
Mikhail Gorbachev
as his summit meet
ing with President
Barry
Schweid
AP News Analyst
Reagan approaches. Within the Reagan
administration this consensus is emerg
ing:
Gorbachev, after seven months at
the Kremlin apex, is moving fast and
ruthlessly to consolidate his power.
Example: The retirement of Premier
Nikolai A. Tikhonov in September. It
would have been kinder to keep the 80-
year-old veteran in the largely ceremo
nial job until February for a farewell
appearance before the Communist
Party Congress. But he was let go.
Gorbachev is making promotions
based on expertise and experience, not
on whether his lieutenants come from
his post-World War II generation.
His policies and his summit strategy
do not break new ground. Actually, he
appears to be looking backward, to the
1970s and detente.
Hurricane
Glorbadvzv
“It’s the old Brezhnev agenda, sort of
warmed over and polished up,” said a
top U.S. government,analyst, one of a
half-dozen officials assembled recently
at the White House to brief reporters
under rules of anonymity.
Before age and infirmities caught up
with Leonid Brezhnev, the late Soviet
leader reached major arms control
agreements with Presidents Nixon,
Ford and Carter, setting limits on cer
tain offensive nuclear weapons as well as
defensive systems.
At the same time, he built up the So
viet military and tried to address eco
nomic problems at home.
Until Cuban forces were sent to An
gola in 1975 to bolster a newly installed
Marxist regime — they are still there —
the two superpowers were groping their
way to peaceful coexistence. Angola
stalled detente, which proceeded to go
into reverse following events in Ethio
pia, Cambodia and Afghanistan.
The last nuclear arms control
agreement was signed by Jimmy Carter
and Brezhnev in Vienna in June 1979
— the last summit. The treaty was with
drawn from Senate consideration and
certain defeat after Soviet forces poured
into Aghanistan.
The view within the administration is
that Gorbachev would like to get back
on the 1970s detente track.
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Member of
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Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen tlloch, City Editor
John Hallet, Kay Mallett, News Editors
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
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The 1980s, another U.S. analyst said,
were studded with setbacks for the So
viet Union: disagreement with China,
leadership problems, a sagging econ
omy, a standoff in Afghanistan. The So
viets alsd suffered a significant loss
when they failed to block the deploy
ment of new U.S. nuclear missiles in
Western Europe.
By this reckoning, Gorbachev is
looking to Geneva — and beyond — to
try to regain the initiative. An arms con
trol agreement would help, but the ana
lysts say the Soviet leader’s long-range
goal is to undercut support for Reagan’s
Star Wars anti-missile research pro
gram.
The U.S. strategy, by contrast, is to
focus attention on other issues: regional
disputes, human rights, the Third
World. Consequently, Reagan’s speech
to the U.N. General Assembly last week
proposed the United States and the So
viet Union try to stop wars in five coun
tries under Marxist rule: Afghanistan,
Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Nica
ragua.
He said it could give U.S.-Soviet rela
tions a “fresh start.” Reagan clearly
sought to put the Soviets on the de
fensive. By the same token, he said little
about arms control.
Gorbachev’s updated style is impres
sive, but Reagan administration officials
seem confident as they prepare for the
summit. “In our judgment,” an official
said, “the president goes to Geneva with
the strongest hand of any president
since Eisenhower in 1955.”
Barry Schweid is a diplomacy writer
for The Associated Press.
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves ik
right to edit letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the.milk']
intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone numbcri!
the writer.
Poor location for yell practice
EDITOR:
This letter is in reference to the yell practice held on Oct. 25 at
Gold in Houston.
We were disappointed to find that Fool’s Gold had been selected as
nidniimt
on,
[an
;ne<
no
edi
ion
nat
the site for midnight yell practice. We do not believe that Aggies should||>ut
be subjected to pay
bers of our families
to attend a yell practice. Some of the
er mem-
youngi
(under 17) wished to attend yell practice, out o
not because the club would not let anyone under 17 in without a pareiitoi
guardian.
There are quite a number of places to have yell practice in Houstoi
ni.
We hope that theindi- IA&I
he
•all]
ituc
aft
where payment lor entrance would not be neede
viduals responsible for planning yell practices for future out-of-tow
games will take these considerations into account and select locationsthai * )eir
not only don’t affect our pocketbooks, but provide a place for all ofus-
no matter what age — to yell for the Aggies
Mark Berman ’88
Lori Schmidt ’89
Steve Harding ’89
Richard Lieder ’88
Eric Britt ’88
bin
dd
the:
Don’t pass the football buck
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to the letter printed in the Oct. 28 issue enti
tied “Beware the 12th Bear” by Charles Bennett.
It is sad to blame officials for the entire loss. Despite what you would
like to think, Bennett, there was a penalty on that play. Even though the
Aggie defender was blocked into the kicker, contact was made and that
according to NCAA rules, is a penalty. The only thing not certain was the
number of yards to be stepped off, and that is entirely up to thejudgmem
of the referee — your so-called “back-field judge.”
Instead of this lame excuse why don’t you try looking at some real tea
sons. Like a 3rd and 25 and “the courageous Aggie defense” gave up 26
yards. Then there was the great Aggie offense that could only completea
third of their passes, and we haven’t even mentioned a thing about the
turnovers by the Ags.
So why don’t you stop trying to pass the buck and face the fact that we
lost, like a mature fan would.
C
;ast
;ntl
Brad Westbrook
The generic Aggie attitude
EDITOR:
It is interesting that a letter in Wednesday’s Batt bore the title “AGe |
neric University?” Because it was yet another one which articulated the i
truly generic Aggie attitude that tradition is almighty and change isi
wicked. .
It always amuses me to read letters penned by students such asSte-I
phanie Hillard who, ignoring the fact that they would never have become|
an Aggie if not for a breach of tradition, complain about those Aggies I
who advocate breach of tradition.
I’d like to answer two questions Hillard posed concerning the saleofi
beer in the MSC.
Question: Is your grandmother’s house not homey enough became
she does not serve beer or whiskey? Answer: My lovely grandma serves
both in her house, and I would be honored to buy her a brew in my uni
versity center.
Question: Do you often advocate a party in a war memorial? Answer:
Yes. The MSC is a place for students to enjoy. That’s why it has poolfr
bles and a bowling alley. Every spring the MSC also houses Casino, the
biggest on-campus party of the year.
Of course, no letter of this type would be complete without some form
of the old “Highway 6 Runs Both Ways” phrase. Hillard simply suggests
that all those who don’t like A&M the way it is to go to University of
Texas. Does this include those who don’t like the way A&M provides
health care (or doesn’t) for women? Does it include those who don’t like
the low number of books in the library or the high number of bicycle
thefts?
There is plenty of room for improvement, and just as the University
could be improved in these ways, the MSC could be improved with the
availability of beer and a generally more laid-back atmospnere.
Remember, Hillard, if your resistance to change and contempt for
those with open minds had been the prevailing attitude 20 years ago, this
school would still be all-military, all-male, and altogether without you or
me.
Joe Knight
Accurate data needed
EDITOR:
Early last week I read that 15 people a day were being treated at the
A.P. Beutel Health Center for injuries involving bicycles. Then later in
the week I read that the number was 5-15 people, a big difference.
This is the kind of data collection that gets theses rejected and grad
uate students dropped from school. Would someone, please, actually
count how many different people (not retreats) are attended for injuries
involving bicycles during a time span of several weeks? Accurate data
gives much better results than numbers picked at random.
Daniel K. Miller
College of Veterinary Medicine
Excuuuuuuse us!
EDITOR:
In reply to Cheryl Rayner’s letter, First, I would like to say the men of
Moses get up at 5:30 a.m. every cut weekend, and stay out whether it's
sunny, rainy or cold. Most of the girls we talked to fully understand the
sacrifice we make for bonfire and they were thrilled to contribute for
a much needed piece of equipment. If our collection techniques didn’t
measure up to “Miss Manner’s,” then excuse us!
Lastly, as far as the party goes, we decided to contribute any extra
money we collected toward an all-girls-free party to be held at a later date.
However, we usually do not invite humorless, stick-in-the-muds who
whine to The Battalion and try to tarnish our fun-loving image. So by all
means, stay home, Cheryl!
Kevin Revere