Opinion
; Thursday, December 2, 1993
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The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
|Ull PHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor
DAVE THOMAS, night news editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor
BELINDA BLANCARTE, night news editor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor
MACK HARRISON, opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor
KYLE BURNETT, photo editor
mMMM.
The Battalion
Page 13
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EDITORIAL
Holiday diversity
[SC shows various celebrations
is — crouch:
r where
he hostage,
gitated
ration, but hi
■ we were cot
; going to sin
any time,"$
Kudos to the MSC for mak-
ng a concerted effort to repre
sent more religions than just
“hristianity this holiday sea-
on.
For the Snowflake Festival,
SC Hospitality Holidays and
Culture Executive Beth Yohe
contacted the B'nai B'rith
Hillel Foundation
and the Black
endered afti
his guns, at
awareness
Committee
pout setting
up displays
lin the Flag
iRoom to ac-
jt ;c o m p a n y
j the tradi-
]t i o n a 1
Christmas
tree.
The Hillel
Foundation
erected a large
menorah for
Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday
ilso known as the Festival of
Lights.
The BAC set up a cornu-
icopia and posters depicting
the seven principals for Kwan-
zaa, an African-American holi
day celebrating the harvest.
Most past holiday perfor-
ances in the MSC have been
Christmas-related. This year,
however, the chairperson of
the Black Awareness Commit
tee explained Kwanzaa and
Fade to Black, a minority
dance group, performed. For
an interesting change of pace,
the Native American Student
Association performed
plains war dances
and told winter
stories.
Today's
performance
features a
Hanukkah
presenta
tion and a
step show
by the Kap
pa Alpha Psi
Fraternity.
The
Snowflake Festi
val will last
through Friday, with
performances every day from
noon to 2 p..m and a craft fair
Thursday and Friday from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Battalion applauds
MSC Hospitality for recogniz
ing diversity in winter holi
days and opening its doors to
the different cultures that com
prise the student body.
A look back at an Aggie Thanksgiving
Football, Bonfire make the holiday even more special
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
I n the wake of this
last week's Thanks
giving festivities, I
kicked back to reflect
upon what this partic
ular holiday really
means to us Aggies.
For most United
States citizens of
course, it is an impor
tant American holiday.
It's a time for bringing
family together to start
off the seasonal pur
suit of gout. IFs also a
time for students to en
gage in indoor horse
play with their li ttle
cousins. Plus, there's just nothing like being
screamed at by a houseful of frantic females
with the same genes.
Not all Thanksgivings are quite so tradi
tional, however. Plenty of holiday dinners
are spent by couples slurping up gravied
gobblers on toast in a cafeteria somewhere.
I would also imagine that a number of sin
gle Americans - too far away from family
to travel - have to be content with a turkey
pot pie, a couple of cranberry tacos and a
pint of Hagen Daz with their cat. But for
Aggies, Thanksgiving is much more. Much,
much more.
Our day of thanks is not just autumn
decorations, minced meat pie (meat?), and
AuntBitsy's yam sandwiches; its Bonfire,
muddy carpet, freezing rain, and beating
the hell outta t.u. Across the state, and es
pecially in Brazos county, numerous obliga
tory dinner prayers include the Aggie foot
ball team. I'd also be willing to bet that a
few actually mention winning the game.
First, let's decide for what we should real
ly be thankful. Because every year deadly
tragedies are a dime-a-dozen for families all
across America, every one of us should be
glad we aren't dead ourselves. Even though
most people who habitually run late eventu
ally make it home, too many loved ones actu
ally do wind up "lying in a ditch some
where."
As for the food, I was always happy that
someone farmed it, sold it, bought it and that
we have an economy where all that stuff
happens. Our economy works (sort of) be
cause the framers of our Constitution got
their ideas based on the thoughts of the great
English philosopher, John Locke. So basical
ly, every Thanksgiving I'm always thankful
for philosophers.
THE football game has nothing to do with
this particular holiday, yet everything to do
with it. Some years ago due to TV scheduling,
the A&M/ t.u. game had to be played a week
after Thanksgiving Day, throwing a wrench in
the gears of all die-hard Aggie fans.
No tailgate dinners, no long weekend fol
lowing the game and, worst of all, after gorg
ing ourselves with turkey and dressing, my
family and I had to gather 'round the televi
sion and root for Ashley on "The Young and
the Restless." She did get sacked a few
times, but it just wasn't the same.
As for Longhorn fans, I think they
must've gotten over that Bevo branding
episode. Perhaps the older t.u. fans still con
sider the A&M showdown to be the most
heated rivalry of the season, but all of my
friends from Austin make the biggest pro
duction out of the Oklahoma Weekend. I
suspect it has something to do with the vari
ety of bars in Dallas. I just don't understand;
I have always been satisfied with the diversi
ty of B/CS nightlife. After all, we have coun
try and western.
Lastly, although there are many holiday
football games and even more enormously
heated rivalries, there is clearly nothing even
dose to the Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire.
Unfortunateiy,the Bonfire's days are proba
bly numbered. The site has already been
moved twice due to construction, fire, traffic
and environmental hazards. There is just no
way a world class university can continue to
condone incinerating hundreds of trees in the
name of school spirit, certainly not on state
property anyway. This bummer "no alco-
hor policy is just the beginning.
Originally, Bonfire was a hugepile of
trash and at least equally as fun. Though it
might bum better sometimes. I'm not sug
gesting we start setting fire to the Bryan
Landfill. But while not being anti-Bonfire,
we should all be much more anti-waste.
Because I was in the Corps, and essential
ly forced to work on its construction as a fish,
I gained an appreciation for a pile of logs that
many students don't have. There was actual
ly enough appreciation left over to spend
countless volunteer hours as a flunking se
nior building that thing. Nothing in this
world (so far) is quite like hanging from a
stretched rope all night long, wiring third
stack logs together with a dip in your mouth
and a calculus test in a few hours. It's just
about as Aggie as one can get.
And it's even more fun than castrating
calves.
Frank S tanford is a graduate philosophy student
Editorials appearing in The
Battalion reflect the views of
the editorial board. They do
not necessarily reflect the
opinions of other Battalion
staff members, the Texas
A&M student body, regents,
administration, faculty or
staff.
Columns, guest columns,
cartoons and letters express
the opinions of the authors.
The Battalion encourages
letters to the editor and will
print as many as space
allows. Letters must be 300
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author's name, class, and
phone number.
We reserve the right to edit
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Contact the opinion editor
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guest columns.
Address letters to:
The Battalion * Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Mail stop 1111
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843
Fax: (409) 845-2647
ell leaders show dedication, respect to A&M all year long
t
T o the stu
dents, faculty,
and former
students of Texas
A&M University:
We are writing this
letter to once and
Upr all set the
.pecord straight as
lb the occurrences
|Gn the night of
Ifjov. 24.
| Bonfire and yell
Practice did not
||ve up to many
||eoples , expecta-
ffions. Yet, that
surely does not give justification for the
[viscous, scathing letters in the Nov. 30
[Mail Call.
GREG RIELS
AND
STEVE
SCANLON
SENIOR YELL
LEADERS
GUEST
COLUMN
We can assure you that no one is more
upset than the Yell leaders and the Red-
pots.
In the cute little Top Ten list, it was
stated that, "Anyone could have lit Bon
fire faster than the Redpots."
Those dedicated students spend count
less hours sacrificing their personal and
academic lives so that all Aggies can en
joy one of our most honored traditions.
In another letter, it was stated that Mark
Rollins was a disgrace and the yell leaders
showed disrespect. This is completely out
‘of line. A disgrace? Disrespectful? Were
we a disgrace at all five Fish Camps? How
about at the Transfer Camps?
Certainly then, we were totally disre
spectful towards A&M as we lead the
Class of '97 in their first yells at the 18
summer conferences; we must have
made a total mockery of our alma mater
across the state as we visited some 25
Mother's clubs and numerous organiza
tions across the campus and community.
No doubt, we embarrassed the student
Let's put to rest a rumor
we've heard. No, we were
not drunk (none of us had
anything to drink) nor have
we ever been drunk at any
yell practice or function.
body throughout the year at all the Vol
leyball and Basketball games. Midnight
Yell Practices, and as we — along with
the 12th Man — beat the hell outta t.u.
Another line of this letter mentions the
lack of sincerity with which the "Spirit of
Aggieland" was done. How sincere and
respectful was it for you to disregard the
line of that sacred song, "We are the Ag
gies, the Aggies are we, true to each other
as Aggies can be," when you wrote this
letter to attack a fellow Aggie?
Yes, Mark, more than anyone, realized
that the "Last Corps Trip" was anything
but perfect, but to insinuate it was inten
tional or that he just put no effort into
memorizing it is absurd. We can testify to
this due to the six times he flawlessly re
cited it to us that night.
In addition, let's put to rest a rumor
we've heard. No, we were not drunk
(none of us had anything to drink) nor
have we ever been drunk at any yell prac
tice or function.
Finally, you claim the overall experi
ence was "bad bull." Nowhere but at
Texas A&M could you find 50,000 stu
dents, former students, and friends gath
ered together to celebrate being an Aggie.
How can you both see all of these peo
ple and their love and Spirit for Texas
A&M and classify Bonfire '93 as bad bull?
We regret that your senior Bonfire was ru
ined; however, we feel that Texas Aggie
Bonfire was and will always be a success.
All of us sincerely thank you, the true
members of the 12th Man, for your sup
port as we do our best to serve you. It
has been and continues to be an honor
and a privilege to serve as Senior Yell
Leaders. Gig 'em, and we'll see you at
the Cotton Bowl!
Greg Riels is a senior management and fi
nance major and Steve Scanlon is a senior
political science major
693-939 3 '
294-9191
5!
irge
Pizzas ,
Yell leaders display
maturity at E-walk
When looking back at Elephant Walk
'93, two things stick out in my mind.
First is the successful efforts of the Class
Councils and the Traditions Council to
restore the tradition back to its original
meaning. The second thing I remember
is the character of the senior yell leaders,
in particular Greg Riels.
Once the seniors rounded the Acade
mic Building to do a few yells, several
underclassmen were ready to attack the
seniors with the annual ketchup and
mustard bombardment. One guy in par
ticular was squeezing ketchup and mus
tard on a senior when Greg approached
him to stop what he was doing and
asked him to clean up the mess he had
created.
The guy in return decided that Greg
needed some ketchup and mustard deco
rations of his own. He squirted the
ketchup and mustard in Greg's face and
all over his clothes. If it were me that
had the ax handle in my hand, I doubt I
could have held myself back. What Greg
Riels did was exhibit what I believe to be
true Aggie Spirit. He did nothing at all.
For those of you who feel the yell
leaders embarrassed you or ruined your
Bonfire, you may want to look again. The
yell leaders do so much to show the rest
of the world what it means to be an Ag
gie. Maybe the next time you think about
writing a letter condemning them, you
ought to examine how much time and ef
fort you put in to representing this
school.
Michael Mason
Class of ‘94
Helpful Aggies aid
stranded motorist
After attending the A&M vs. Baylor
football game, we experienced a
blowout as we were leaving Waco. Im
mediately, four freshman A&M band
members stopped and changed our tire.
Another car of Aggies stopped to see if
any more help was needed.
As a mother of a freshman at A&M, I
was very impressed with the sincerity
and helpfulness that was shown to us
that day. These boys are a fine example
of the Aggies Spirit I've heard so much
about. Thanks again!
Jeanette Jones
Ft. Worth, Texas
Dorm residents' acts
embarrass University
After much debating in our office, we
decided to write a note concerning true
( ? ) " A gg ie Spirit."
We feel that this spirit was truly ex
emplified this past Wednesday (Bonfire
Day), when some boys in Law Hall sat
in their windows and yelled out to two
individuals who had been involved in
an auto accident in the parking lot adja
cent to their dorm. \
Their very appropriate behavior in
cluded yelling such things as "Beat the
hell out of him"; Beat the sh— out of that
t-sip"; and "You should kick his a — ", as
onlookers (obviously visitors to the cam
pus) showed signs of amazement.
We staff members really appreciated
being called b and w , as well
as other names,as we walked to our cars.
To these boys in Law Hall we say,
"Keep up the good work in showing that
true (?) Aggie Spirit!"
But seriously, there are many of us
who are generally proud of Aggie behav
ior. However, we are ashamed and em
barrassed by yours.
One suggestion to you, boys, the next
time you feel cocky at least pretend to be
mature college students, show your faces
when you feel like making rude com
ments, and allow real women the chance
to slap them for you.
B. Chapman
Department of Sociology