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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1996)
'sday * October],, O The Battalion PIN! r 11 % I Thursday Page 11 October 31, 1 996 M PAlj ick-o’-lantern becomes jack-o’-money Child-care program requires full support Columnist ed to enacting tl eform measures. itown Mason Jackson marketing major rses 'alloween is here. Most people know this by .looking at their calendar, [hose of us who don’t be- linsuch sun-based mea- ^devices know by looking [rOuija boards. But for all of us, there is one definite signal of a holiday’s arrival — the smell of money. Yes, Halloween is now a commer cial entity, ght not be as blatant as the eting orgy that is Christ- (ain’t it great), but it does- ike an in-depth probe to 3d 01 MOffll he important role money iin this holiday. \S (AP) — Thema (some people don’t recog- lorales hometon the influence money has on lay criticized his sc lWeerii thinking instead that rer Crandall dtycai re demonic influence exists, endorsed his op sright, Halloween is the time an U.S.Sen.Philfe ipagans and deviants every- ' Morales wasbti ^p U t o n the mask of their fa- el of the piciupc e d e mon and scare the wits become a s\uit;.. f a f ew televangelists. -ampaign, GramrArjes surface every year detail- rered Crandall'! ie crusade of some religious drich with morel jrlty, PTA member, school ad- i*n North Texas® jtrator or other concerned endorsement, -.convinced that they must body in Texas has ii !n t kids from having any fun, males say, 'I donth tey turn out to be as inept as ite candidate, Hai iconcerned. heard himsaytha iey are worried that by itycouncilman ilngup in costumes, kids . Morales can'll tore likely to worship evil, >od for 2,000peopi least look upon it favorably, f Crandall, how's In jepeople ignore the fact that snow the wantsi Leen’s Celtic 18 million Texans! ns had peo- -emocrat’s spoketi re ssed in dis- /asn't concernedi :to avoid ors’ endorsenttnl jcution by ipirits. ; not shocked loll itlet’snot re a few Rept-i tse the issue ," Steve Hall sil l tacts: Right ; no differentll* kids are >r Morales. Ifso* iring to wreak rigs that campaig* r on the t of inside ganie-i try by dis- one of those# ngthem- ome endorse® sas giant tething, butalotol is, small mutant fish and its are veryprol* p, infectious marketing gim- t really meant / people.” h and some of I tyors on an end* gathered on el’s banquet Boot us are endorsing' mm because lit he forefront ofh J about the con® ve been hit will landates,” 3 Ann 1 Every Halloween we do worship at the altar of something very powerful, yet it is neither a demon nor Beelzebub. micks (pumpkins, Little Mer maids, and Power Rangers). Is a kid’s behavior going to be influenced by what they dress up as? No. As a kid I once dressed up as John Belushi from The Blues Brothers, and to this day I haven’t had the urge to get fat and overdose in a $200-a-day rented bungalow. But there is something influ encing us. Every Halloween we do worship at the altar of some thing powerful, yet it is neither a demon nor Beelzebub. Halloween is about worshiping a deity that’s a per sonal favorite of mine and hopeful ly yours too. No, not Bon Jovi, I’m talking about the almighty dollar. The largest rela tive economic im pact is likely felt by the seasonal “pumpkin cartels.” They appear, much like OPEC, to restrict the flow of product into our country, allowing people enough time to forget the messiness of pumpkin carving and the taste of pumpkin pie. Then, when cultural tradi tions create demand, they flood the market with pumpkins. But pumpkins are small pota toes (a point some botanists dis pute) compared to other Hal loween staples like candy, beer and razor blades. Candy has a near monopoly on the latter part of “trick or treat.” Apples and raisins both made a push for market share but were rejected by all but the health-con scious geek population. Beer, which has had success aligning itself with every known holiday except Alcohol Absti nence Day, has used many mar keting approaches for Hal loween. Most of these involve Elvira, a rather buxom lady in a tight black dress who appears to be in need of both a tan and year-round employment. The inclusion of razor blades as an effected market was less social commentary than it was a cheap, tasteless attempt to get a laugh from cheap, taste less people. Many other products jump on the Halloween marketing band wagon. Some adjust their pack aging. This can be done by molding an everyday ordinary Twinkle into an incredible, or ange and black bat-shaped Twinkie. Others use catchy names, such as the “Jack-o-Rita” at Chi Chi’s Mexican Restaurant. And what do we do with these products? We buy them. We are a capitalist society and our consumerist tendencies manifest themselves at every possible chance. Whose fault is it? Nobody’s. The marketers of these products are just loyal disciples of the dol lar, and the consumers, as we marketing majors are told, can’t be blamed because they are just easily manipulated sheep. So sit back, relax and pass me a Twinkie. Money isn’t the root of all evil, but it just might be the root of all holidays. TTf the Bryan Viking of- I fense overpowered JLTexas A&M’s Wrecking Crew, people would no tice a problem. No one seems to care that the lo cal high school has a bet ter child-development center than A&M. Appar ently, football is more im portant than educating our young children. A&M currently has no child-care options. Next fall, though, our world-class Univer sity will enter the competitive arena of child development, with its own school for litde people. Unfortunate ly, the Texas A&M Child Care Center may be too little, too late. Mary Miller, chair of the Child Care Advisory Committee at A&M, said the idea of a University-spon sored preschool has been around for 20 years. She said the delay was die result of previous administra tions’ stalling. “It takes people time to get used to new ideas, to explore new possibilities,” Miller said. Star Wars was released several years after A&M first considered a preschool. No one seemed to have trouble with the new ideas of George Lucas. It didn’t take a lot of time for A&M to get used to person al computers or ’80s rock, either. People will explore whatever possibilities they feel like explor ing. Our University just never felt the need “to get used to” the idea of a child-care center. Miller attributes the recent devel opment of the child-care center to the University’s new president. The center wasn’t a real priority for earli er administrations, but Dr. Bowen was quite receptive to the idea. Under the guidance of his ad ministration, a child-care center should be functioning by Fall 1997. A new building will house the cen ter in the student apartment area across from the polo field. At first, Miller said, “it won’t be anything elaborate, but it will be functional.” The advisory commit tee plans to include state-of-the- art educational programming and, eventually, accreditation from the National Association for the Edu cation of Young Children. So far, the center sounds peachy. Students still sneer at Columnist Marcus Goodyear Senior English major University administra tion for dragging its feet — the child-care center isn’t happening fast enough. But at least someone has finally ad dressed the problem. Unfortunately, the center isn’t going to be free — or even cheap. The committee hasn’t set specific prices yet, but enrollment will cost “slightly more than most of the child-care cen ters in the community.” Local centers charge anywhere from $300 to $440 per month. No problem. Everyone can afford an extra $350 a month for quality care, right? Besides, no one can really expect free quality child care — ex cept young mothers in Bryan ISD. Bryan’s Options Child Develop ment Center receives funding from three sources, including the school district. It is one of two Parent Edu cation Pregnancy Programs in the state with NAEYC accreditation, and it is absolutely free to mothers who enter the program. Both A&M and Bryan receive fed eral funding — so why will our quality child care cost so much while theirs is completely funded? The answer is simple. They have a Dr. Ashburn in charge, and we don’t. Options Director Maggie McGuire said “ [Ashburn] is ab solutely 100 percent behind early childhood intervention.” A&M must not be 100 percent behind its new child-care center. It is merely exploring externally funded scholarships for students. The faculty and Physical Plant staff, who Miller credits with pressuring A&M into ac tion, are out of luck. The University’s new center will be another expensive care option for them. Meanwhile, high school students who don’t pay a General Use Fee are getting better, cheaper child care than A&M pro fessors whose salaries are well be low the national average. The new child-care center is a move in the right direction. But be fore students applaud President Bowen, they should remember that our world-class University has less class than Bryan High. Mail ie honor code should be revised ■LE ordered Cam - Bsted delivery- i the next two plus yellow W**' H onesty is always the best policy. Or at least that is everyone says, onesty is such a e that it is included ir coveted “Aggie e of Honor.” And yet, ften in Aggieland, ruth is treated with ility. From national is right down to ell Street, we are not cising true honesty, hink about politics. Why won’t )le admit they have nothing in mon with wrinkled old Dole? luse it would be such a tragedy vercome peer pressure and ik the truth — that’s why. ie on, we know the man needs •e sitting down somewhere sip- lemonade and enjoying his ige instead of promising an elievable tax cut and dancing ind to "Soul Man.” Also, admit ole isn’t very hip. He doesn’t the saxophone or have any friends; he’s just very dull and ng. No matter how many Dole porters I meet, they claim to Dole, but their lack of excite- Columnist Aja Henderson Senior political science major ment betrays this idea. Perhaps this is because they honestly believe he is just the lesser of two evils, rather than having the makings of a great president. The main thing Clin ton is blasted for on this campus is his lack of ethics, including his womanizing. But let’s be honest: Isn’t it highly ironic for college men to be critical of someone for being a player? There are a lot of respectable men at this school, but they don’t all sit around reading Psalms to their dates on the week ends. The same people lambasting Clinton need to look in the mirror, because they would probably die to know Slick Willy’s secret. Hmm. Don’t we feel better al ready? Purge, purge. Politics is not the only area in which honesty is being slaugh tered. Our student body itself lends the perfect example. Over 40,000 people are here, and if they were all asked about their plans for the fu ture, they would likely say they are going to own their own business and stash cash. Okay, time for that honesty thing to kick in again: Out of the tens of thousands of people here, a few people are going to strike it really big and even go on to become high-contributing alumni, while others are going to struggle and might even end up being one of the working poor on (egad!) welfare. And this pain in my leg reminds me of another thing — can Aggies just get honest about that standing up at the games tradition? Come on, we know our legs hurt. This tra dition is very straining on the joints, and it is downright scary if you are standing on the third deck — a.k.a. nosebleed alley. If just one section would get honest, fight the power and sit down, I’m sure that everyone would. It’d be one huge, relieved wave. From politics to our beloved A&M, we need to practice the pre cious family values that Aggies claim to hold so dear and stop run ning scared of the truth. Until we achieve this, the part of the honor code that reads “Aggies do not lie” will continue to be laughable. Church relies on its past, not popularity Regarding Heather Pace’s Oct. 30 column, “Catholic Church’s policy evolves slowly to present day”: Here is a simple analogy. If you take the color yellow and add some blue, you get green. Green, as you know, is not yellow. Likewise, if the corrupted ideas of modern soci ety were to be accepted by the Catholic Church, the Church would no longer be Catholic. Furthermore, like the society in which we live, the Church would be gin to fall apart. The Church’s au thentic teachings on preserving the dignity of all human life (including the unborn), opposing the use of ar tificial birth control, and encourag ing families are essential elements of its existence. It is true that many people, like Pace, are trying to coerce the Church into conforming with soci ety. However, true Catholicism will be as it always has been: standing for something, so that it does not fall for anything. Any variation is not Catholicism. What is popular is not always right; what is right is not al ways popular. Jacqueline J. Miller Class of ’99 Modern world only brings, down Church It may come as a shock to Pace, but the goal of the Church is to save souls, no to be “modern.” Attracting people to church at the expense of all that makes the Church what it is seems to me to defeat the purpose. Why try and book more passen gers on a sinking ship? I am not Catholic but, as a Christian, I am in sulted by Pace’s insinuation that the apparent conflict between science and religion (which is in fact a con flict between the two religions natu ralism and theism) can only be solved if Christians adopt the as sumptions of the other side. And comparing the Church’s geocentric doctrine to its refusal to ordain female priests only shows ignorance of the fact that the latter has Biblical backing and the former does not. What Christians must realize is that this pragmatic approach will never work. As the Church has become more politically correct in recent years, it has increasingly lost membership. And besides, who says God is po litically correct? We must in all things strive to live according to God’s will, not that of modem soci ety. The truth does not change to suit those who would reject it. Jason Knott Class of‘00 Kudos to RHA for clean up support Regarding Wesley Poston’s Oct. 24 article, “RHA adopts program to clean up church parking lots”: As president of the Campus Ministry Association and as one who works at one of the North- gate churches, let me express our appreciation to the Residence Housing Association for helping clean up the church parking lots at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. We are all deeply appreciative. I have picked up cans and beer bottles off our church park ing lot on numerous occasions, and we are grateful for “allies against trash.” Let me encourage the businesses of Northgate to help in this effort by providing more garbage cans in their parking lots and by sending out their employees at quitting time to pick up trash. Frank Yates CMA President Graduate Student Tolerance required for all of humanity Regarding Charlie Johanson’s Oct. 24 Mail Call, “Homosexuality has no place in world”: I am not gay, but I do think homosexuals deserve at least the rights accorded to everyone else. They are no less needed and valuable to society. Johanson’s statements also re semble the attitudes toward mi norities in this country years ago. This person is bigoted and a men ace to the society he seeks to up hold. People who refuse to accept the fact that other people’s private choices are no business of theirs are wrong. It is they, and not their victims, who should be shunned. Christopher Cook Class of ’99 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author's name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor.