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The Battalion
Tuesday
February 1 3, 1 996
Opinion
Page 11
Gyrate all you want, but be sure to conform
M y mother always
told me to tuck
in my shirt.
I could never under
stand her reasons for
such nonsense. Perhaps
it was the private
school that forced me to
don a hideous green and
yellow tie, blue pants
and a white button-down shirt. An
untucked shirt just doesn’t work
with such a stunning ensemble.
Grade schoolers usually aren’t ex
perts on fashion sense, but I knew
what I liked and
what looked dorky
— which is redun
dant anyway, since
everyone is a dork
at that age.
But when the
bell rang at 3 p.m.
and the school emp
tied, the first thing
to come out was that shirt tail.
It wasn’t so much a sign of rebel
lion, just more comfortable than the
stuffy confinements of a uniform.
But that was then, and this is now.
Or so I thought.
This is college — no parents, no
restrictions, no authority figures to
deal with.
I thought it would be Untucked-
Shirt City.
Instead, I found Conformity Cen
tral.
This revelation came in the form of
several clubs in College Station,
where an untucked shirt was like a
scarlet letter P for “perpetrator.”
As I attempted to enter J.D. Wells,
I heard the condemning demand like
an order from a drill sergeant.
“You need to tuck your
shirt in,” the employee
demanded.
“Excuse me?” I asked,
astonished that such a
rule was possible in a club
that is better known as a
meat market.
“Tuck in your shirt.”
If it hadn’t been for
the friends I was with, I
would have stormed out
of there lickety-split.
But I swallowed my
pride and stuffed my
shirt into my jeans.
I was all set to go in
and laugh at the fools
dancing to the ridicu
lous song sequence of
“Y.M.C.A.,” “Shook Me
All Night Long,” and
“Ice, Ice Baby,” when I
was given my second
strike.
“You need to tuck it
in better than that,” he
said.
Needless to say, I
haven’t returned to this
sterling establishment
that keeps such ruffians
out, protecting those
wholesome enough to dirty dance
inside.
But the conformist disease hasn’t
stopped there. At Xtreme, I was
stopped again because my long-sleeve
shirt wasn’t tucked in.
But at least Xtreme gave me more
options. I could tuck in my shirt, un
button it all the way and expose the
T-shirt underneath, or leave.
The T-shirt option proved to be the
best one, but still ridiculous.
I talked to an Xtreme employee
who did the shirt-tuck check. He said
the rule was in place so that the
crowd would look “neat and clean.”
I suppose it’s necessary for some
one to look “neat and clean” as they
perform sexual gyrations in a cage.
This might-as-well-be-having-sex
style of dancing is performed by many
on any given night there.
Also, he mentioned clubs that have
been forced to shut down because of
alcohol and weapons hidden by an un
tucked shirt.
The safety precautions have good
intentions, just weak methods. A gun
or knife can fit just as well in a pocket
or purse as under pants and a belt.
No pocket or purse searches are re
quired, but the bizarre shirt rule is in
full effect.
This is silly. The collective efforts of
clubs mandating such dress codes
suppress individuality, a trait that is
quite rare in Bryan-College Station.
It eliminates a major reason to fre
quent these establishments — to es
cape the conservative cowboy style
that seems to dominate fashion, music
and style in this town.
So for now. I’ll be avoiding places
with tucking requirements.
Even if Mom doesn’t like it.
Rob Clark is a senior journalism
major who disobeys his mother
In an equal society, women can take the initiative
A scarlet, heart-shaped mist
will descend on College Sta
tion tomorrow. Romance
forecasters promise hazardous
driving conditions by late after
noon. Yes, it’s that Valentine’s fog
that smothers us this time every
year. For you females who will be
out there wading through the
wist all by yourselves tomorrow,
it’s not too late.
I’m not talking about cyber-sex or taking back
an ex-boyfriend. I’m talking about picking up
the phone and taking the initiative.
When the Women’s Movement opened profes
sional doors for women, it opened personal doors
as well. The problem is that women aren’t walk
ing through them.
All of us know women who sit at home on the
weekend or go out with friends when that’s not
what they really want to do. Often, they know
plenty of available men they are interested in. A
Valentine’s Day challenge to these women is to
call one of those men, just once, and see what
happens. They may be surprised.
It’s not that women are always completely
passive in the beginnings of their relationships.
On the contrary, women have a
relatively effective strategy for at
tracting men. It is called flirting,
and it requires little explanation.
In short, a woman does anything
within her personal boundaries to
make it clear to that special some
one that pursuing her would
be easy, at least initially.
There is one major prob
lem with this strategy, however. If a
woman starts out a relationship by flirting
and “waiting for the fish to bite,” she sets
herself up for one of two bad situations —
indefinite disappointment or a relationship
that starts off on unequal ground.
Don’t get me wrong, flirting is a natural phe
nomenon, and it has its time and place, but it
can never replace honesty and candor.
When a woman graduates and looks for a job,
she doesn’t throw a sultry glance and flash a
sexy smile at a prospective employer (most
women don’t anyway). She puts together a re
sume and goes for it. Few people get the job they
want by waiting for it to come to them or by let
ting the company know that they are interested
and available.
I’ve asked men how they would feel about this
approach, and several of them have indicated to
me that they would go out with any woman who
had the courage to call and ask. They know from
personal experience how hard it is, and they will
reward the effort.
Women should just pick up the phone and
Flirting is a natural phenomenon^ and it
has its place, but it can never replace
honesty and candor.
call. It sounds hard because it is hard. If it were
not, we would never be without a date when we
wanted one. Women should keep in mind that
one phone call may turn out to be one of the
smartest ones they ever make. It was for me.
Now, I can’t promise that the guy you go out
with will turn out to be the man of your dreams
or that you will be the woman of his. But you
can both contemplate the possibilities, at least
until the Valentine’s Day fog clears.
Elaine Mejia is a senior political science major
Construction never
seems to get done
I have noticed a
new race of people
on the streets of
College Station. To
be honest, it fright
ens me. I see them
frequently, usually
when I am driving
around town on an
errand of some sort.
Perhaps others have seen this new and strange breed
of people, too. Let me describe them.
They all wear orange. That is their most distin
guishing characteristic. This bright orange garb makes
them stand out from every other race of humans. I be
lieve they do this to attract attention to themselves,
which is a good thing to do when your job is to stand in
the middle of the street amongst flowing traffic.
Each of the blaze-orange men stands with blaze-or
ange flags, and they wave them. The first time I saw
this, I happily waved back a Texas flag to symbolize a
treaty between our two cultures. They just ignored me
and continue their flag waving.
I was so perplexed about the whole mess that I
asked one of my friends if he had any clues as to where
this strange breed came from, and what their purpose
was. He told me they are called “Construction Work
ers,” and that they come from the land known as the
“Texas Department of Transportation.” He said their
goal in life was to make my driving experience more
pleasurable because they exist to improve roads.
“Wow,” I responded after hearing this. I found it
comforting to know that in this cruel world we live,
there still exists unadulterated altruism. I decided to
drive to the last place I saw them working and express
my humble appreciation for their kind endeavors.
I noticed them all waving those flags again. I saw
many orange cones around the area. I saw huge
pieces of intimidating yellow machinery parked casu
ally within the cones; they were not moving. It
seemed an impressive sight at first, but after watch
ing the scene for a few minutes I began to wonder
how it was that they were improving the roads.
I saw them successfully directing traffic — there
were eight or nine of them working on that — but the !
machines were not moving and the other orange m< ti
were just standing around watching the flag waver ;
I saw a huge pile of gravel where there once had bet
black asphalt, but none of the orange men was at
tempting to make those places black again. They
seemed content with the gravel, the cones, the flag
waving and the idle yellow machinery.
I suddenly remembered something else my friend
said about the Construction Workers: supposedly, my
tax dollars were funding this grandiose project. That’s;
when I became mad. I couldn’t believe that my tax
dollars were funding people who were doing nothing.
I had never been totally against affirmative action be- ■
fore but in this case, for this particular race, I simply
couldn’t justify the subsidization and support this
race of orange people was getting received.
I called Young Contracting, the company contract
ed by the city to complete the Texas Avenue construe- ;
tion. Anthony Raphael, estimator (and representative ;
of the orange race), told me that the estimated cost
for the project would be $4.2 million. Keep in mind,
folks, that this bid is significantly lower than initial
estimations of the project, which were so high the
construction was delayed.
One can buy a lot of orange flags and piles of grav
el for $4.2 million.
Please don’t call me a bigot. Please don’t think I’m
racist. But I must say, I just don’t see the reason of
existence for these strange men known as Construc
tion Workers.
Chris Miller is a sophomore English major
The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials 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.
Contact the opinion editor for information on
submitting guest columns.
Editorials Board
Sterling Hayman
Editor in Chief
Stacy Stanton
Managing Editor
Michael Landauer
Opinion Editor
Jason Brown
Assistant Opinion Editor
Editorial
Toward tourism
College Station deserves credit for
its efforts to promote visitation.
Although Bryan-College
Station is not Acapulco, the
area’s attempts to promote
tourism are not surprising.
Texas A&M’s rich history
and its status as one of the
largest universities in the
country bring hundreds of
thousands of visitors each
year to B-CS.
The new George Bush
Presidential Library, which
is scheduled to open in Fall
1997, will only increase the
number of visitors.
Given the increased attrac
tion, the city of College Sta
tion’s attempts to offer tourism
training to its employees are
very commendable.
Currently, most city em
ployees must complete 10
hours of tourism training.
The training includes educa
tion on directing services to
ward a different group of
people, and also addresses
possible safety problems re
sulting from the increased
traffic through the area.
The benefits of the train-
; ng are obvious.
Visitors will leave B-CS
with a better impression of
the area because of the hos
pitable treatment they re
ceive. Also, the employees
will know how to react bet
ter to problematic situa
tions, such as traffic acci
dents and thefts, through
their training.
All of this will encourage
visitors to return to B-CS,
and the increased tourism
will improve the economy of
the area.
College Station has taken
smart steps in anticipation
of the increased number of
tourists to the area. The city
of Bryan and local business
es should follow College Sta
tion’s lead and prepare their
employees for the impact of
additional visitors.
Generalizations of
soldiers are unfair
Last Thursday, I was read
ing The Battalion and I came
across Shannon Halbrook’s col
umn about servicemen. I would
primarily like to say that this
young man has obviously never
served in any military organi
zation, thus is filled with
stereotypes and misconcep
tions. He writes about service
men being “raving sex ma
chines with no self control”.
Servicemen are service men,
with imperfections and faults
like everybody else.
Halbrook also describes life in
Okinawa as not being stressful,
only tedious. How can anyone
make that judgment when they
have never left the canopy of free
dom the U.S. military provides.
The ignorance is further high
lighted in this article due to lack
of adequate research. Civilian
sexual assaults are far more
prevalent in both case numbers
and ratios, than the spotlighted
military sexual assaults.
The U.S. military does an
outstanding job of picking out
the bad apples, but sometimes
you find a worm. Instead of
getting caught up in “cringing”
at hard working soldiers, that
allow the freedom to speak our
minds and watch television in
the comfort of our homes,
maybe, we should step out of
the shell of ignorance for a sec-
Mail
(^AT T
ond and realize that a soldier is
a person too.
Max Villaronga
Class of ’98
Accompanied by 99 signatures
Religion, Bible
can't go out of date
I was angered, but not in the
least surprised, when I read
Kieran Watson’s Feb. 12 col
umn on religion. The Bible’s
critics are as old as Christiani
ty itself. I find it humorous
that so many people today—
writers, artists, musicians—try
to be controversial or progres
sive by attacking the Bible,
God, Christians, etc. It’s noth
ing new, but for some reason it
still gives people a kick.
I’ve never read “American
Psycho,” but it sounds interest
ing. I have read the Bible. For
almost ten years now I have
been trying to follow Jesus
Christ, and I am all too familiar
with His critics. Being a Christ
ian can be terribly difficult, but
Jesus never said following Him
would be easy.
The way Watson talks about
the Bible, I wonder if he has re
ally read much of it. It’s almost
always the same; people who
show no interest in knowing the
God of the Bible have no idea
what it means to know Him.
They’re closed up. There are
depths to God and to the wis
dom in the Bible which will nev
er be understood by its naysay
ers. The Scriptures are clear in
saying that if anyone sincerely
seeks God, He will reveal Him
self. He created the world. I
would think He has some idea
how to solve its problems.
The Bible’s critics will contin
ue to throw rocks from afar, but
their arguments will always
sound trite and simplistic to
those who have begun to under
stand and know the One who in
spired it. A man with an experi
ence is never at the mercy of one
with an argument.
H.C. Ross
Class of’94
I am sure Kieran Watson
was just trying to stir up anger
and frustration with his theory
that the Bible can’t fix modern
problems. Maybe he thought
mail call was lacking in letters
so he wrote something contro
versial that he knew would
make people indignant.
Regardless, I would like to
thank Watson for his interest
ing point of view—he has some
valid points. Yes, the Bible was
written over a thousand years
ago; but, does that make it out
of date?
William Shakespeare wrote
his plays about 400 years ago
but their themes still impact us
today. Why is that? People fun
damentally haven’t changed
much. People today still want
the same things people 400
years even 2,000 years ago
wanted. What do people want
—love, friendship, acceptance,
significance. Think about it.
Why are we all here at college?
We are here to make some
thing of ourselves, to develop
friendships, and to possibly
find love. All of these issues are
directly addressed in the Bible
—the things that mean the
most to the human heart are
what the Bible has to talk
about. So, as for me, I’d much
rather stick to the Bible than
move on to “American Psycho.”
Good Samaritans are still
out there. They are the people
who let you into crowded traf
fic, who pull over on the side of
the road to help someone in
need, they are the heroes who
help people in their darkest
hour. Sometimes they do get
kicked in the head but then —
don’t we all?
I just have one more thing to
say. I don’t mean this to be an
insult to Watson — he’s enti
tled to his opinion and I’m enti
tled to mine. I am not minister
Phil banging his Bible, or a tel
evangelist.
I am not like the campus
preacher ranting about God
outside the MSC, or even one of
those people who attacks you
on campus questioning
whether or not you know Jesus.
I am just a student here like
everyone else who happens to
believe that Jesus is much
more than “one hell of a guy”.
Amanda Anderle
Class of ’98
The Battalion encourages letters to the
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lows. Letters must be 300 words or less
and include the author's name, class, and
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