Page 2AThe Battalion/Friday, September 23, 1988
Opinion
Aggies are blind to
of needed tradition
rationality
changes
Mail Call -
Editor abusing responsibility, Duke
EDITOR:
The great Ital
ian conducter Ar
turo Toscanini
was once told by
an orchestra mem
ber that his
method of con
ducting a certain
piece was not in
line with the way
the orchestra had
always played that
piece. The musi
cian told Toscanini that they played the
piece the way they did because it was
“tradition.” Toscanini immediatly re
plied that “tradition is nothing more
than the last bad performance.”
Toscanini’s words have a great deal of
meaning in Aggieland, one of the only
places in the world that doing some
thing twice constitutes a tradition.
Now I’m not saying that tradition is
simply repeating a bad performance,
but I am saying that perhaps some ritu
als should be looked at more critically
and not continued just because they’ve
always been done a certain way in the
past.
It’s true that one of the first things ev
ery Aggie learns is that A&M has a his
tory rich in tradition. That’s one of
A&M’s assets, and there’s nothing
wrong with it. But there is a time and a
place for tradition, just as there is a time
and a place for change. And when that
time for change is upon us, we should
take off our tradition blinders and think
as logical adults rather than unyielding
children.
Take bonfire, for instance. Earlier
this week, Anthony Wilson suggested
that the bonfire site be moved because
of parking and safety considerations.
Ever since that article was published,
people have been telling me how stupid
that suggestion was. Their reasons?
Well, let’s see. There’s tradition, and
then there’s . . . uh . . . well, tradition,
and . . . uh .... These tradition-blinded
Aggies seem to forget the purpose of
bonfire, which is to build Aggie spirit in
preparation for the annual A&M-t.u.
grudge match.
There are valid arguments for mov
ing bonfire, some of which you can read
in the Sept. 19 paper. Perhaps before
people begin defending bonfire because
of tradition they should look at the rea
sons.
In the past, many issues have become
controversial because someone wanted
to alter them, usually for the benefit of
the student body and the University.
Let’s take a look at some of these issues
which were considered unchangeable
simply because of “tradition.”
An all-military student body. I, for
one, enjoy seeing people dressed in
other colors than khaki, green and
beige. And seeing males with some hair
every once in a while offers some view
ing variety.
An all-male student body. I’ve heard
several male Aggies, both old Ags and
new Ags, say that they are rather
pleased now that there are members of
the fairer sex in their classes. And I
don’t believe I’ve ever heard a female
Aggie, old or new, say they were un
happy about attending the school.
An all-male corps. Women cadets
Lydia
Berzsenyi
Buttock tattoos are
just plain asinine
Every so often,
a real-life love
story comes along
that really strums
the heartstrings.
I’ve been avidly
following one such
story as it has un
folded in the gos
sip columns, Peo
ple magazine and
other lofty jour
nals.
It’s the romance between Brigitte
Nielsen, a tall blond actress, and Mark
Gastineau, a football player employed
by the New York Jets.
The romance has been tempestuous.
One day their publicists say it’s on and
they will soon marry. But before the
newspaper ink is even dry, the romance
is off and they will part with said re
grets. Currently it is on.
And there are obstacles, as any tem
pestuous romance requires, such as the
football player getting rid of his present
wife, who is being stubborn.
But the most intriguing part of this
love story — actually two parts — is how
they affirmed their engagement.
As a symbol of their lifelong commit
ment, each had the other’s name, within
a heart, tattooed on their buttocks.
They decided on buttock tattoos,
rather than the more mundane en
gagement ring, because a tattoo is per
manent. You can always pawn a ring.
But you can’t pawn a buttock.
In trying to keep up with this ro
mance, we called Joek Brokaw, who is
Ms. Nielsen’s publicist in New York. We
asked if he had ever seen the tattoos.
“No, I don’t get that personal,” Mr.
Brokaw said. “The sports writers can go
in the locker room and see Mr. Gasti-
neau’s. But I don’t know my client, Ms.
Nielsen, well enough.”
A pity. It would be a fine professional
perk.
Nor did the publicist know who ap
plied the tattoos, and if the loving cou
ple had them done simultaeously, possi
bly while holding hands.
“It’s not an area I have any informa
tion on,” he said.
So we called a few tatoo parlors to see
if this sort of think is common.
I was surprised to learn that it is. Es
pecially among women.
Pete Collurafici, who owns the Tattoo
Factory in Chicago, said: “In the last ten
years, I think I’ve done a couple of
thousand buttocks.”
Matching? For couples who are in
love?
“The man usually has his on his arm.
The woman gets hers on her buttocks.
Maybe it’s because women don’t want
anyone to see it.”
Yes, modesty is a feminine virtue.
“Or,” he said, “a woman gets it on a
part of her body that she wants to draw
attention to. Maybe she thinks she has a
great a—.”
And have the ones you’ve worked on
been great a—es?
“Not all. Sometimes they have real big
a—es. Of course, that’s my personal
opinion. Some guys might like real big
a—es.”
I would think that would be helpful if
one of them has a real long name. For
example, if a lady wanted a heart and
the words “I love Chester P. Gershen-
weiller Jr.”, a bit of girth would be use
ful.
Mike
Royko
have added much to the Corps, both in
terms of morale and other contribu
tions. Their long-standing exclusion was
both unwarrented and unrealistic, con
sidering the female involvement in the
armed forces of almost every country in
the world.
For those of you who still feel that tra-
dition is absolute and, like Extra-
Strength Excederin, should never be
tampered with, here’s some Aggie trivia
which would be extremely out of place
in 1988.
Before being known as the Aggie
land, the A&M annual was called the
Long Horn. Geez, can’t you just hear
the laughter we’d get from Austin with
that kind of name? It would surely
dampen the Aggie jokes.
Many years ago, Muster was held on
the grass of the MSC. If we still did that
today we would be violating one of our
own traditions by not keeping off the
grass.
Traditions, like some old clothes^
never go out of style, but they can be
outgrown. Some of the traditions of the
past have given way to change, and that
change has almost always been for the
better. Twenty years from now, some of
our traditions will not be around in their
present form, but I seriously doubt
A&M will be suffering. There is a time
for traditions, but that time may not last
forever.
So the next time someone suggests
changing an age-old Aggie tradition, try
to think logically instead of arguing
blindly.
Lydia Berzsenyi is a senior math ma
jor and editor of The Battalion.
Lydia Berzsenyi’s Sept. 16 column was an abuse of her privilege and
responsibility as editor of a fine college newspaper. She writes in her column,“1
think being informed about national issues, natinal history and national polidesis
one of the biggest ways citizens of all ages can participate in planning theii nations
future.”
So why is she so ignorant of the issue she attempts to write about? Her audacin
to question the patriotism of a man who has actively served his nation as a govern®
and a legislator for many years is only exceeded by her misunderstanding of the
facts of this issue.
Gov. Dukakis is not against the Pledge of Allegiance; the bill he vetoed in
Massachusetts was unconstitutional because it would have sent teachers to jail for
not reciting the pledge. Is that how George Bush wants to teach a new generation
of Americans about freedom — by sending its teachers to jail?
A pledge becomes nothing more than a series of words when one is forced to
say it. Americans say the Pledge of Allegiance because they believe it and really
mean it, not because they have to. Massachusetts’ teachers and students, like all
American teachers and students, have always, and w ill always, proudly and
voluntarily say the Pledge. And so does Michael Dukakis, a patriot for president!
Patrick J.Janis ’91
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Batt seems bully-bully for Bush
EDITOR:
Apparently, the Bush-for-president committee is writing the headlines forTlif
Battalion’s wire stories.
I am referring to the story about Lauro Cavazos becoming the new Secretaryol
Education in the Sept. 21 Batt. The headline read “Bush makes history by
swearing in Cavazos as Secretary of Education.” Cavazos is the one who made
history, not Bush.
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An accurate headline would have read “Cavazos makes history by becoming
first Hispanic cabinet member.”
The only thing Bush did was to show up for another campaign photo
opportunity.
That’s been his specialty these past seven-and-a-half years.
Mike Thomas ’87
tern.
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Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit lettenforitb,
and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must mMtt
classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
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Another tattooist, Bob Oslon, of Cus
tom Tattooing in Chicago, has also dec
orated many a bottom. But he described
an even more unusual symbol of love.
“I had a couple of punkers come in.
She wanted a tattoo of his teeth marks
on her arm. So he bit on her forearm
really hard. The impression stayed
there for quite a while, and I outlined
the teeth marks in red ink.”
An interesting social insight was
made by a Hollywood tattoist.
While tattoos are popular among
southern Californians, they seldom
have names put on their bodies.
“We have a lot of people who want a
heart or a flower in a private spot, but
not names,” said Greg James of the Sun
set Strip Tattoo Studio.
“Would you want someone’s name
tattooed on you? Of course not. Just be
cause they love somebody, people don’t
want a name branded to them.”
This attitude could mean that Cali
fornians aren’t into lifetime commit
ments the way others are. And maybe
that’s wise. If, for example, Mark and
Brigitte break up for good, perish the
thought, how will she explain her tattoo
to someone she might meet in the fu
ture? She can’t just say: “Oh, Mark was
just a friend.”
A solution was suggested by Greg La
ment, who runs the Lake Geneva (Wis.)
Tatooing Co.
“I had a couple come in. She had his
name on her shoulder blade. And he
had her name on his back.
“But then they got into divorce
ceedings. They asked me to tattoo tlif
word ‘void’ through each one’s name.
“When I finished with her,slit
turned to him and said: ‘Now I’m real
through with you, you S.O.B.’”
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So I suppose that’s something Brigin 1
and Mark could consider, if they evtt
part for good, heaven forbid.
And if some other fellow asks Brif
itte: “I hate to get personal, butwhyd®
you have the word ‘void’ on yourboi-
tom?” she can say:
s
“Oh, my bank did it.
F
Copyright 1988, Tribune Media Services, fe
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Lydia Berzsenyi, Editor
Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor
Anthony Wilson, Opinion Page Editor
Richard Williams, City Editor
D A Jensen,
Denise Thompson, News Editors
Hal Hammons, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Leslie Guy, Entertainment Editor
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BLOOM COUNTY
by BerKe Breathed
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