Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1988)
Friday, February 12, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local jy "reed wi ders.ItH'oi ^ paper, I ' n ' ( >n niaier, h as lenp si, »ple.SoBs nes too off(J fasedecidi 7 recogniii uf people istified be righ ie that ifte, of you Author says American people on’t understand Russian life pn essay, it would ii end, I’m a - Hispanic(t| "tided bvtl t to be a and thj I TheBstu A'e are \en| irnalism lion. supp or1 ' hey are, ■d to use i sud 1 tie fro® iiiethi 11 ? ney ^ i toodi*' iid hope y/lf/t '{Hitt By Jamie Russell Staff Writer Many Americans stereotype Russia as a cold and dreary world in which to live, but in actuality it is quite the opposite, George i Feifer said Thursday evening in the third part of a five-part lec ture series for the 33rd Student Conference on National Affairs. Feifer is the author of “Justice for Moscow,” “Message of Mos cow” and “Moscow Farewell,” and he has lived in Russia “for a long time.” I “We (Americans) have some pretty twisted ideas of Russia and its people,” Feifer said. “Ameri cans have this notion that Rus sians are these captive people yearning to be free.” This American ideal is igno rant and unfortunate, Feifer said. Russians basically have two dif ferent lives— public (official) and private, he said. “Russian life under the surface is vastly different,” Feifer said. "On the surface it is drab and dreary, but underneath it is hot | stuff bubbling.” Feifer spoke in light-hearted terms on life in Russia, telling Russian jokes to ease the serious ness Of it all. “Life for Russians is hard be cause it’s always been hard,” he said. Feifer said there are many rea sons why the people’s life is essen tially tragic. [ First, Russian winters last | about seven and a half months out of the year with only about 15 minutes of light per day offered during five of those months (Oct. through Feb.), he said. Deprivation of light leads to depression, he said. Another reason for the peo ple’s tragic lives is that the fear of Russia’s history weighs heavily upon them. “About 20 million Russians died in World War II,” Feifer said. “That’s about 15 percent of their population.” The Russians have taken some serious blows in the past, he said, and in addition, the socialist sys tem has proven unsuccessful. The Russians do not want to have a capitalist society as Ameri cans know it, Feifer said, but they do want to move on “to a higher level of civilization.” “The Russians no longer be lieve socialism will lead them to the promised land,” Feifer said. Disregarding their gloomy existance, Feifer stressed the warmth of the Russian people. “In their private lives, Russians are full of warmth, friendship, hospitality and sentimentality,” Feifer said. It is their official lives that one sees and then so quickly judges, he said. Regarding work — their offi cial lives — the average person is “amazingly unenthusiastic and unwilling,” Feifer said. It is impossible for people in Russia to move up and make it in the job world, so they work on feathering their nests, he said. “It is because of the hardships (at work) that their private lives are warm, loving, easy and less in hibited,” he said. Children in Russia, despite the confined stereotype, are che rished, Feifer said, “The children are precious, loved, protected — like in a co coon,” he said. “They grow up with an enormous emotional and physical strength.” Feifer said that Americans need to learn the facts about Rus sia to end the ignorant stereo types. Photo by Sean Smith Author George Feifer explains differences between the Soviet Union and the United States at SCONA’s “Life in the U.S.S.R.” NASA astronaut tells A&M members of AIAA about shuttle missions By Dean R. Sueltenfuss Reporter Space flight is a grand human ex perience, Dr. F. Story Musgrave, a scientist-astronaut from NASA, told members of the A&M chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Thursday night. “Space is so unique — you step out of yourself and watch yourself,” he said. Being in space is completely dif ferent from any experience on earth, he said. A person moves so quickly in space that he is over a given part of the Earth for only a short time, he added. “In terms of the human percep tion, your velocity vector totally overwhelms that of the Earth,” he said. Musgrave said that he would like to have an opportunity to go back into space when the space shuttle program gets underway again. “I lost some dear colleagues and I lost some really close friends in the Challenger accident,” he said. “But after those tears fell I thought I’d also lost my chance to go into space again.” Musgrave told the students how he felt about the space shuttle and how much it meant to him when he entered the spacecraft in prepara tion for lift-off. “Machines are not just hunks of metal,” he said. “You have an affec tion for these machines. They be come a part of you. “To be totally alone with that kind of airplane, that full of gas, and that much noise — and to know you’re going to climb in that thing all by yourself and light ’em up — It’s a fantastic experience. “You don’t just go in there and shut the door. You hesitate, you know — for about 10 seconds you just hang on — but you get in there “I lost some dear col leagues and I lost some really close friends in the Challenger accident. But after those tears fell I thought I’d also lost my chance to go into space again. ” — Dr. F. Story Musgrave, NASA astronaut-scientist and close the door and you’ve got two hours. Unfortunately, you’ve got two hours to lie on your back, and you’xe looking straight up at nothing—just blue sky. “You are lying on a question mark. The question is, ‘Am I going to light ’em off today?’ You would like to know that when it gets to zero you’re going to light ’em off and go somewhere.” Musgrave also displayed slides of himself working in space and going through training on Earth. Some of the training on Earth is intended to simulate the conditions of space, he said. Training is done in an underwater chamber that gives the trainees a feeling of weight lessness similar to that of space, he added. Some training is also done in the cargo area of a special airplane, he said. By going through a series of climbs and dives it is possible to achieve a condition of zero gravity for up to 30 seconds at a time, he said. The earthbound training helps to prepare astronauts for space, but nothing is exactly like actually being in space, Musgrave said. But Musgrave said he enjoys the Earth, too. “I like this Earth,” he said. “I really love this Earth.” SUZANNE’S STOREWIDE SALE ' ; V STARTS SATURDAY! For the next three days, you can take an additional 20% Off OOP entire Stock. That’s right. Evenythiny in the store. Suzanne’s is always 20 to 50% off department store prices and now you can save even OIOPB. You’ll save on new spring dresses, famnus maker related separates, exciting new knit weekend wear, accessaries and much much more. This nnprecedented Sale is only happen ing HOW through " Suzannes The look you want for less. Open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 12-5 p.m. Sunday. COLLEGE STATION Culpepper Plaza No sale is ever final. 52 locations in Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Major credit cards accepted. Think what you can do with the money you save using the IBM student discount. Pizza for the dorm. A ski trip. Tickets to a concert. They’re all possible with the savings you’ll get with the special student discount on members of the IBM® Personal System/2™ family. More important is what’s possible when you use the systems themselves. ii They can help you graph economic prob- * r ~ lems. And write and revise long papers with ease. Even illustrate your points by combining words and graphics. So your professors will draw favorable conclusions about your work. But remember, order your Personal System/2 before graduation. After that, we can’t deliver your discount [ Micro^mputkrCknterI L ConTpufcrSfiks mdSirpplies J Hours: 10 AM - 6 PM Mon - Frl 123E Memorial Student Center (409) 846-4081 IBM is a registered trademark and Personal System/2 is a trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. © IBM Corporation 1987