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The Battalion
Page 11
77ie Battalion Editorial Board
JULI PHILLIPS, Editor in chief 1
( ' MICHAEL PLUMER, Managing editor KYLE BURNETT, Aggielife editor
BELINDA BLANCARTE, Night news editor DENA DIZDAR, Aggielife editor
HEATHER WINCH, Night News editor SEAN FRERKINC, Sports editor
[TONI GARRARD CLAY, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Photo editor
JENNIFER SMITH, City editor
Son of a gun leaves legacy of laughter
Idol’s death leads to reflections on life of influential man
DAVE
WINDER
Columnist
Presidential pick
attalion endorses Brooke Leslie
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Elections are upon us. This
fednesday and Thursday all good
Aggies concerned with the future
o: student leadership on this cam
pus will turn out to vote. This year,
the choice for student body presi
dent is limited to only two: Jeb
Jones and Brooke Leslie.
I The editorial board of The Bat
talion has chosen to endorse Leslie
as the candidate who can best pro
mote, protect and preserve the best
interests of Texas A&M.
1 The decision was not an easy
qne. Jones has good ideas — such
as promoting across the board
guidelines for student adviser qual
ifications. However, Leshe’s experi
ence, knowledge and presence
make her the best choice.
I Granted, there is only so much
that can be gleaned from a 30-
minute question and answer ses
sion. During this short period of
time, however, Leslie addressed
several important issues with a
dear plan of action.
She is well versed on the origin
and importance of guarding me
'ermanent University Fund (PUF)
the Texas legislature. The PUF
fund is a permanent cache set up
by the state around the turn of the
;century which provides millions of
dollars in revenue each year for the
University of Texas and Texas A&M
exclusively.
I
She also calls for the restructur
ing of the Senate Finance Com
mittee, such as moving the com
mittee to the executive branch of
student government because it
currently ‘has no checks and bal
ances.”
Leslie noted that the minority
population at A&M fails to reflect
society and suggests that the best
way of promoting minority in
volvement is to let other minori
ty members do the recruiting.
Sne also plans to pursue an ex
tension of the number of reading
days currently allotted students
before finals, noting that A&M is
one of only two universities in
the nation, Texas Tech being the
other, that allows students only
one day.
Aside from her agenda, Leslie’s
record in student government
clearly makes her the most quali
fied choice. She has been involved
with all three branches of student
government and boasts an impres
sive list of positions held.
Both candidates are qualified
and willing to share their ideas
with anyone. But if you make the
effort to educate yourself, you will
probably find one to be most qual
ified, most prepared for the consid
erable task of being Texas A&M’s
student body president: Brooke
Leslie.
L ewis Grizzard once said that he wished
whoever wrote his obituary made a
special note about his cutline writing
skills. I hope whoever writes my obituary
makes a note that my columns might have
been half as funny as his.
The popular syndicated columnist died
last week due to complications during his
fourth heart surgery. But he wasn’t just a
writer of whom I was a fan. He was my idol.
It became a goal of mine to come as close as
I could to his career accomplishments.
He started out working on his high school
paper and continued when he went to the
University of Georgia. After graduation he
started covering high school sports for an At
lanta paper and worked his way up until he
was the sports editor for the Chicago Sun
Times. After that he went back to Atlanta and
became a columnist and author.
I’m so glad he did because it is hard to
picture my life without his influence. I had
already read a couple of his books, but my
life forever changed when I read the autobio
graphical “If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, Tm
Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground.”
I stayed up all night reading it in an tm-
heated room at my grandmother’s house dur
ing the middle of winter. Even though I
could see my breath drifting past my reading
lamp, 1 kept on reading because he made
newspapers sound like so much fun. By the
time my mother demanded that I go to sleep,
I had already decided that was the career I
wanted.
It was not uncommon for him to arrive at
the paper at 5 a.m. and not leave until mid
night. He gave up his home life, wife and
everything else for journalism, his first love.
The stories he told about his experiences
in newspapers only made me want to enter
the business that much more. His tidbits
about coaches, players, editors and other
writers told me what a career in newspapers
is like. He intrigued me so' much, every other
profession dropped out of the picture.
His other books also had a great effect on
me because they were so personal, they could
make you laugh and cry on the same page.
Because of books like ‘‘Shoot Low Boys,
They’re Riding Shetland Ponies,” and “Don’t
Bend Over the Garden Granny, Them Taters
Got Eyes,” I actually feel that I knew the man.
It seemed he wrote a book about every
thing that ever happened in his life. Because
of a troubled love life, he wrote “If Love
Were Oil, I’d be About a Quart Low.”
He talks at length about losing his high
school sweetheart, Paula, then having to go
back out on the dating scene. He would mar
ry two more times but he always talked about
Paula.
told how his father was a prisoner of war in
Korea and planned on being a career army
man. But his bad memories made him turn
to alcohol and caused his marriage to end.
Grizzard dedicated it to every child that ever
had to live through a divorce or an alcoholic
parent that destroyed a good family.
He also wrote a book about his mother
and how much she sacrificed for him. He
talked at length about all she did but only
mentioned once that she spent the last 20
years of her life confined to a bed.
The greatest thing about his writings,
though, was his Southern humor. In one of
his books, he explained why people in the
South use both ‘ naked” and ‘ nekkid.”
“Naked,” he explained, is when you don’t
have any clothes on. “Nekkid” is when you
don’t have any clothes on and you’re up to
somethin’.
He was also a huge fan of country music
and even went as far as to write a couple of
songs. Though they were not number one
hits, they were hilarious. I’d buy any album
with songs like “When My Love Returns
From the Bathroom Will I Be Too Old To
Care?” and “My Wife Ran Off With My Best
Friend and Damn I’m Gonna Miss Him” on
it.
Even though Lewis Grizzard was 28 years
older than I am, I could still identify with
him. We both shared a love of sports, a love
of newspapers, a love of writing and a love
of humor.
After his father died, he wrote *'Mj/ Daddy
Was a Pistol, and Tm a Son of a Gun.” He
Dave Winder is a sophomore journalism major
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 wilf print as
many as space allows. Letters
must be 300 words or less and
include the author's name, class,
and phone number.
We reserve the right to edit
letters and guest columns for
length, style, and accuracy.
Contact the opinion editor for
I information on submitting guest
; columns.
Address letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Cali
013 Reed McDonald
Mail stop 1111
Texas A&M Universitv
College Station, TX 7784.3
Fax: (409) 845-2647
ROBERT
VASQUEZ
Columnist
S :
94
chindler’s List,” an aftershock more
than a movie, has rocked the world
with reverberations set off 50 years
;o. In America, the movie acts as a kind of
liff’s Notes for history, teaching a topic
at knew litde popularity until Spielberg
added pictures.
But ignorance has been a luxury France
could not afford. To this day, France re
mains scarred with memories of that war;
its beaches are pocked with holes where ar
tillery exploded the arms and legs and lives
of soldiers who fought for freedom.
People who five there today remember
and friends who died during that
era. They tell their stories and point to
places where homes and palaces and people
once stood. They thank you for coming and
invite you to stay in their homes, many of
which were built before our nation was
even a colony.
Tm still amazed that I was able to visit
such a land. As part of last fall’s Rudder
Normandy Scholars Program, a group of
A&M students visited the very sites where
these wars were fought, these lives lost. De
signed to educate tomorrow’s leaders, the
program targets today’s top students. The
students are chosen for excellence in acade
mics and for expressing a desire to learn
about the causes of war and the casualties
that result. To ensure that the participants
are the best qualified for the program, and
not disqualified due to prohioitive travel
costs, all expenses for the trip to France are
paid for in the scholarship. The group of
students chosen to pardcipate last fall in
cluded sorpe of the most intelligent, talent
ed and gifted students at A&M. And they let
me go along, too.
For the first part of the fall semester, we
studied about the events that led to World
War II. What would possibly allow for this
war to follow the “War to end all wars”?
What drove Hider to invade France if he
wasn’t even interested in their land? We
then traveled to France to visit the very sites
about which we studied.
The Memorial Museum in France
chronicles the atrocities of war, painting a
nation’s past in black and white detail
stained with blood and ashes. The stark
white facade of the building follows a
steady line that suddenly cracks in the mid
dle. There, where the solid wall disinte
grates into fractured stone and panes of
glass, lies the entrance, where, each week,
tnousands of visitors enter the museum.
This museum is where the Normandy
scholars studied. We watched films and
read about the war in exhibits and displays
that used actual footage and artifacts from
the battles fought there.
One day as we studied in the Memorial
Museum, a siren screamed out. It was faint
as it blared from a horn in the distance.
And for a second, my mind raced, prepar
ing for the worst. The films we had seen in
the months preceding our trip to Nor
mandy had acquainted us with the sights
and sounds of war. That screaming siren
warned of incoming enemies, planes drop-
The joys, fears and trials we
witness in America are deriv
atives of a society aspiring to
a Mickey Mouse ideal. Such
idyllic perspectives don’t meet
with much success in Europe.
_ bombs, aiming to kill. That was the
torn I heard at this moment.
For one second, I thought, “We’re going
to die.” In the theatres and classrooms, the
sound was an effect, the result of some
technician whose job was to scare me. This
time, it worked.
I looked up and listened for the sound to
stop, but it didn’t. And then I realized it
was only another recorded sound for a
film, some stray effect from one of the
multi-media displays in the museum. In
America, such a thought would have never
crossed my mind. But we weren’t in Ameri
ca. And that made all the difference.
The joys, the fears and trials we wimess
in America are derivatives of a society aspir
ing to a Mickey Mouse ideal. Such idyllic
perspectives don’t meet with much success
in Europe, which has seen so much more
of death and war without benefit of cellu
loid. It was subtle differences like these that
struck me most.
The Rudder Normandy Scholarship Pro
gram is taking applications for students
who are interested in participating this fall.
Participants are chosen basea on various
criteria including academic achievements,
extracurricular activities and expressed in
terest in the program’s purposes. If you’re
interested in applying, go pick up an appli
cation at the Bizzel Hall West near the MSC.
Juniors and Seniors are given priority, but
everyone is encouraged to apply. Hurry, the
deadline is fast approaching.
Tm grateful that my experience with
war and death comes largely from the small
and silver screens. To me, like most in my
generation, it all happened a long time ago
in land far, far away. But once, just once, I
saw it up close. And Tm grateful for that,
too.
Robert Vasquez is a senior journalism major
Din
Student views Texans
as racist, uncivilized
I used to go to a local club, but quit after
knowing how rude the staff of that dub is.
On several occasions the porter rejected my
European Community passport as a valid
identification when according to the U.S.
immigration service it is the right form of
identification everywhere in the United
States. He also claimed it was not written in
English when, being a passport of a Euro
pean community, it was written in three
. |«European languages including British Eng-
iSSlS'lpish f| e interrupted me when I was telling
him that and reluctantly let me in. I was
then required to pay $3 cover and was later
shocked when I met another student who
entered an hour after I did and did not have
to pay cover. Later I met a rude waitress
who collected brandy glasses at 1:30 a.m.
She violently grabbed my glass, pulled
strongly and almost started a fight.
If you are used to dealing with civi
lized people, you will never find your
niche here or anywhere in Texas. This
confirms the awful reputation Texans
have worldwide of being uncivilized,
wild and primitive. Both my parents, who
are Continental Europeans and my British
friends tried to persuade me from coming
to Texas, claiming that Texans are racists
and haven’t evolved in 100 years.
All European public schools have the
same budget per student regardless of
whether they are located in posh areas or
slums. Health care is free and the same for
all citizens. More people were killed in
Houston last year than in any Western Eu
ropean nation. The death penalty was abol
ished 40 years ago. European Community
jobless benefits are twice as much as in the
U.S., and these benefits last forever.
I have never met more uncivilized peo
ple. An English friend once told me, “Don’t
go to Texas because you are not going to
learn anything, and you are going to have
the worst time of your life as if you had
traveled 100 years back into history.” His
words turned out to be prophetic.
Humberto H. Jorge
Graduate student
Columns appear on
opinion, not fact page
As I was walking across campus browsing
the Mail Call Friday afternoon, I had to walk
to the nearest computer lab to write in re
sponse to Aimee Llewellyn and Kelly Dodd.
OK, look at the top of the page where Dave
Winder’s article appears. Now what do you
see? Wow, look-ee there, it’s the “Opinion”
page. What is an opinion? Well according to
those little quizzes I took in elementary
school, a fact is what is based on facts, and an
opinion is not based on fact but rather what
one believes to be true. Now I have to fully
support Winder’s article because not only do
I believe it to be mostly true, but it is his
right to beheve anything he wants. Do you
have facts based on why you feel certain
ways or is everything factual? Anyway, I di
gress.
This is for Winder. His columns are
not unintelligent. They are entertaining in
an otherwise drab news system which
only reports horrid statistics and occur
rences for ratings. Throughout the history
of journalism, there have been writers
with a humorous, entertaining side.
However, his writing style is very monot
onous. Try. something different before
you run it into the ground. Remember,
people like best what they don’t get very
often, (i.e., as with food and college stu
dents).
Men’s group valid as
any minority group
Well, since all of the women are going
to be busy during their national week, we
men need to have something tq do as well.
So, let’s have a national “Men’s Week!”
This can be a time when our oppressed mi
nority can come together and get in touch
with our inner selves. We can learn about
contraception, prostate cancer, eating disor
ders, self defense, hate crimes (Lorena Bob
bitt for example), and give out awards to
men with outstanding commitments to
male issues.
We should call ourselves “male.-inists”
(taken from the word “feminists”). After
all, every other prejudice- oppressed person
is jumping on the bandwagon forming
their own “minority-based ’ groups, so
should we. We don’t need to have different
societies based on color, religion or race
Ags, you’re our future, stop this ridiculous
^ ' of is '
fad of isolating ourselves from one another.
Kevin Stewart
Class of ‘96
Aaron Tuttle
Class of '96