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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1987)
* Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Loren Steffy, Editor Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor Jens Koepke, City Editor Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors Homer Jacobs, Sports Editor Tom Ownbey, Photo Editor No choice The National Federation for Decency already has succeeded in taking away one of your privileges. You can no longer walk into a 7- Eleven store and buy an adult magazine. 7-Eleven doesn’t sell the magazines anymore because the feder ation, a group claiming a social conscience above and beyond that of the average American, protested their sale. And the convenience- store chain heeded the complaints. The group is at it again. Saturday, NFD picketed 1,400 U.S. Flol- iday Inn Motels because the organization says the hotel chain shows pornographic (R-rated) movies. The movies must be paid for at the hotel’s main desk, preventing children from watching them — movies children can watch on their own home cable stations. But the federation still objects. Apparently the NFI) won’t be satisfied until hotel guests have no choice but to watch movies with no nudity and no profanity. The protests were organized by Rev. Donald Wildman, head of the NFD, after the Missionary Baptist churches canceled their reser vations at the Biloxi Holiday Inn where their national convention was to be held. The group canceled because it objected to the avail ability of R-rated movies at the hotel. Of course, the Missionary Baptist churches have the right to demonstrate its disapproval by canceling reservations, and the NFD can expostulate their opinion publicly. But if the federation once again encounters little or no resistance f rom an Ameri i public easily censured by a moral dictatorship, we will lose yet another choice. How many more choices can we afford to lose? For some, it just doesn’t add up ike gk slowly app swords re; ||t< h. Th< ranging si ■Dnlook* shield com Keconrls blow to his film his op BlheSor behell-knc cor wt, bu ;tion is mot Hpi st, a I or and; 'he SC/ pie live [We don It each o Kraduat ■geron s ■liversity penagro Idjjether 01 H in celel ■durst s.i jfooiliall pat ■y appan age i the n Today t Nervously, I en tered the room and sat down on one of the folding chairs arranged in a circle in the cen ter of the room. I thought I’d try to keep a low profile since this was the first time I had at- tended one of these meetings. 1 know — I have known since about Loren Steffy Those terrible college criminals — Oct. 3,1928 Hazing, of course, is a barbarous custom. Especially if one happens to be the hazer. Six sophomores at A. & M. have been suspended because they exercised the time-honored right of sophomores to chastise freshmen. The two victims applied for permis sion to leave college, giving as their reason the fact that they had been hazed. Whereupon an investigation was started. regulations against hazing, could do nothing save suspend the hazers. They had done nothing more outra geous than participate in a boyish prank. Nobody was hurt; maybe a couple of them were helped, for there are cases wherein hazing has had an extremely salutary effect upon the hazee. Perhaps the college authorities, in view of the facts and in view of the But colleges are becoming careful. Boyish spirits must be held sternly in check. Hazing must be rigorously pro hibited — that is, when the hazers are unlucky enough to get caught. In this particular case, we can’t re frain from speculating upon the re spective characters of the hazers and the hazees. Six boys winked at a col lege regulation; two boys “squealed,” and asked to be allowed to quit so un couth an institution. If you had to hire one of the six boys or one of the two boys, which would you select? — Taken from “The Corpus Christi Caller” Bod English usage here — Oct. 4,1958 The English being used by the stu dents at A. & M. is getting so faulty that it is noticeable by the faculty, out siders, and even among the students themselves. It is a common occurrence to hear bad usage in classes, in the mess hall, at the gym, and at any other place where students are gathered. are probably done unconsciously, but not so unconsciously that we cannot correct our faults. cering the form in which the letter was written. It is not wholly the freshmen who are making bad usage of their gram- mai; in fact, it is practically altogether the upperclassmen. Surely the atmo sphere prevailing around and on the campus is not intended to cause bad grammar. But all our misused words The fact that students are using bad English, not only in their conversa tions, but in their class papers and re ports has been brought to the atten tion of the faculty, which is working to correct our blunders. Just being a graduate of A. & M. will not get the graduate a job. The English used when he is trying to con vince the employer of his capability will be one of the deciding factors in the graduate’s getting employment. It is not the slang and Aggie “cus sing” which is bringing so much atten tion. A letter written recently to an employer by an A. & M. student dis mayed the employer to such an extent that he sent a letter to the faculty con- Once upon a time in Aggieland fea tures old columns and editorials printed in The Battalion. The material in the feature is selected by the Opinion Page Editor and is not ed ited for style. the seventh grade — that I have a prob lem. In the past 1 tried to ignore it, but I’ve realized you can’t hide from your troubles forever. It was time to face the truth — I am mathmatically illiterate. Actually, my numerical disorders are limited mostly to higher math. I know enough about how numbers operate to balance my checkbook, make change and, before I graduated, figure out what I needed to make oh a final to pass a class. I don’t like numbers much, but I like letters that masquerade as numbers even less. When I add x + y -P 1 get the title of an obscure movie that Three Dog Night did the soundtrack for. I find Greek letters that pretend to be numbers even more disturbing. II let ters are going to deceive you, they ought to do it in English. But when 1 got a job as a business re porter, I realized that my fear of math could inhibit my career. So 1 joined Mathmatical lllitefates Anonymous — MIA for short. As I’ve said, my prob lems lie in higher math, so for me, MIA means Missing in Algebra. The meeting began. A man named Frank Smith started the session. “Hi. I’m Frank, and I’m mathmati cally illiterate.” “Hi, Frank,” everyone responded. “I used to think 1 could live with my problem. I took a dead-end job wit h few numerical responsibilities. I fudged on a tax return here, an invoice there. But then the firm I worked for installed computers, and everything was coded with identification numbers. I couldn’t even remember who I was, let alone what I was supposed to do. First I lost my job, then my family and finally my self-respect, all because I lacked society's lust for math.” Everyone clapped. I was over whelmed by Frank’s story and when it was time for someone else to take the seat in the center of the circle, I found myself standing up. So much f or the low profile. “I’m Loren. And I’m . . . m-m-math- matically illiterate.” I felt much better after getting that out. “Hi, Loren.” “I didn’t recognize my problem ’til my senior year in high school. I se- ri \RED( ush considered abandoningcAi betause I had to have Algebra Hit J in. 1 muddled through, and evens ejs, chasn aged to squeak through Math KiloiTd a bn Texas A&M. But 1 refused totalerWl"' 1 thing higher, and I didn’t neediB^ 11 ' l * 1, i i i r ■.■v taxes, graduate. Even the statistics classI:: ( i arely used actual numbers.” j lv . ,1.,,, t()U Mv fellow M1 As were ven coE.lred », wlu i mg, and after the hour-longmeeiiTitli (><>\ | Be Mcxii a felt much better. I realized that,i.._ proper determination, I could i ( come my problem. L lxe s s MIA helps millions nationwidt'ilheday. Bu are deprived of number sense, In ; B su PP orl course, a non-profit organization-'!^ could keep track of the boob?Inj®' 1 !I s I" 11 • . r . o Bv House you don t nave to pay anythingj since mans of the members can't iw inii sm ciate the value of money. Ian propos l nfortiinately, MIA doesnotlraM ^ ’ ^ toll free hotline like most other sef®!' 11 ', 8 !’ groups. I asked MelanieMinussigi.| uln | 1 J"^'^ regional MIA pr esident, why. “Well, pei haps you and lei use of such a service, but you intis: member that not all of our raeinte figur e out the numbers on atelepls dial. A hotline would just be idating for them,”shesaid. lire local MIA provides a vantt services for the numerica including highly specializedconnifi for func tional dyslectics —thatki* pie who have no concept of etput that begin f(x).... MIA stresses that it is not a tif service. “We’re here to help those people suffer from all forms of mathmiOi liter acy, not laziness. MI isadiseasb we provide the treatment need tutoring as well asn ing, but we’re not here to help* 1 egghead get a few' more points J test,” Minussign says. I’m lucky. My condition is matt’ ble. 1 can function despite my imp ment. But others are not soforlum? People who think they ad through life lay dodging related courses are only u selves. Sooner or later, numerical® sity will catch up with you. I to get help before it’s too lal to play life by the numbers. Loren Steffy is a journalism p and editor for The Battalion. ((' t< U w tc I l' :' : W1 ov lec ec Ar on pr PE no he de bii foe pr or W< oft E Call Christian vomit EDITOR: I would like to express my most sincere thanks to Bryan Kelly for enlightening me (April 17 letter) in regard to the Christian formula for obtaining immortality. the Judeo-Christian “Mein Kampf?” On one page it advocates the extermination of homosexuals (Lev. 20:13) while saying “thou shall not kill” on another. Is there any reasonable person who believes the Bible’s ridiculous and cruel stories? Is there anyone criminal enough to follow the teachings of the Old Testament or insane enough to follow the teachings of the New? classrooms for example. Pallmeyer’s column points this out in 2 subtle and intelligent manner. Alex Maloy ’90 Tough luck When you refer to Jesus, I am assuming you are talking about the fictional character in the best-selling book of fairy tales known as the Bible, and whose mere name causes all good Christians to drool and slobber over themselves (similar to Pavlov’s dog). So my dear, Kelly, you can take your Christian vomit and shove it down someone else’s throat. If I understand you (and the Bible) correctly, I will achieve immortality if I submit myself to your monarch Mr. J. Christ, and if 1 choose not to, I will be damned. It seems that bribery and blackmail are the foundations of Christianity. According to your formula, one can kill, rob, maim and torture and still receive eternal life (like your fellow Christian Adolf Hitler) while a non- Christian who leads a “good” life goes to hell. According to your formula, every child who dies at birth or who dies before being sufficiently brainwashed will burn in the Christian hell. According to your formula, all members of the Jewish “faith” are condemned (Chhstianity should have more respect toward its parent). According to your formula, approximately 4 billion people per generation are damned by your most merciful, loving Cod. John Spessard President of the Atheist, Agnostic, and Freethinker Society Good point EDITOR: People tell me I must have faith. Shall I derive my faith from This letter is in response to Karl Pallmeyer’s column “Creating the Ultimate Textbook.” Pallmeyer raises a valid point: America was created so a person could choose to believe in whatever he desires, and that one belief should not take precedence over another. This should be true whether one believes in Christianity or believes that the world was created by a race of hyperintelligent mice, and that the answer to the Ultimate Question is 42. Too many Christian people assume their religion is supreme and try to incorporate it where it does not belong — scientific textbooks and EDITOR: As I sit at my desk looking over my agenda for the restort semester, my roommate, a graduating senior, boasts of alltkf® and frolic she will enjoy during dead week while I, a junior, slaving over my books. It is a well-known and much-debated that we — the class of 1988 — will have to take finals as seniors!I would like to know why? What ruling or legislation led to tins; Why was this a decision Vandiver felt so strongly about? Are universities having to adhere to this same idiotic decision?Wt)® the class of 1988 singled out as the first class to be burdened^ this new unnecessary policy? We have to take finals fortheeif 1 four years of college! This policy will < a 'se irreversible damajc 1 ' 1 the long awaited traditional events exp«. need only by the#' graduating class of A&M! Audrey Henderson ’88 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial sttjf0 f right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maiiitmntkdf tent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, addms (iiiM’ number of the writer. Gr or Ex co pn 29 sol lit) kil co Gre C