)ruary 18, SS and we alreaf. ut renewing on isald, who teat: sophomore-fe ^aid students! 'ers before tint, doing the mat ’ didn’t change ery Commis r statistical 300 figure sei ft he averaged rom the first l! i averages tter, thestudi ie lottery's ) saying that in ieople where 01,000 arm a arn $1,000 et iconic is $51 players try top of 39. The odd e one in 575,' ues that, since oneybet onCa ‘ople who have expected distil >57,575.70. cket science, ts figured itoi The Battalion . gg : Page 3 Tuesday • February 18, 1997 Gghs & Low ay’s Expected 71°F ght’s Expecti 56°F norrow’sExpf' i p By Melissa Price The Battalion 68°F ove sees no color — it is a phrase that has been said time land time again. )morrow#! Vifhi ' e some students are dealing ,, vith everyday dating issues, others hxpec CQ vre having to deal with yet another 54°r Jatingissue on top of that — dating - Meone of another race, courtesy o ■ Bn y^| eat j e( a junior English ma- ■vho is Caucasian, has been dat- Jier African-American boyfriend (even months. She said she nev es race as an issue when looking [dating partner and does not un- tand why some act as if skin col- | important. Ve always seen people for peo- Meade said. “I don’t look at my fiend and I any differently than bther couple. And that is what re — a couple.” eade said that while she has buntered some prejudice to ri p her dating of an African- [ prican man, most people either accept the rela tionship or do not have the courage to say anything to her. She said the hardest part of dat ing interracially is dealing with the reactions of others. “The key is not to care what oth er people think,” Meade said. “You have to be able not to notice the stares, because you will get some.” Meade said she has found that people have a more difficult time accepting a black and white couple than other interracial couples. She said she does not think she would encounter as much prejudice if she was dating an Hispanic man. Some couples are not considered interracial because it is not obvious one of them is of a different race. Jonathan Purifoy, a senior chem ical engineering major whose an cestors are from Spain and Mexico, married his wife Christie two months ago. He said people do not consider he and his wife, whose an cestors are from Greece, an interra- Mixed-race couples look beyond skin color cial couple because he does not have dark skin. “I think it would be very differ ent if I looked more Hispanic,” Jonathan Purifoy said. “People tend to let their guard down around me because they don’t see me as a minority.” Purifoy said they must over come differences like any oilier couple, many people do not con sider them an interracial couple. He said learning and experiencing different cultural traditions and customs is the best thing about dating interracially. Christie Purifoy said although all couples experience some prob lems, interracial couples must over come added obstacles. “People have a hard enough time getting to know one another and growing closer every day,” she said. “It would make it a million times harder than normal if your friends and parents were telling you you shouldn’t be together. It would put a lot of unnecessary strain and pressure on your rela tionship.” Annette Ferguson, a junior in ternational studies major, recently broke up with her Hispanic boyfriend. She said she never really thought about the fact that her boyfriend was of a different race. “It was never like I thought, ‘Wow! I’m interracially dating!’ It was just, T’m dating this cool guy that I like a lot,”’ Ferguson said. Although some parents do not support their children dating inter racially, Ferguson said her parents have supported her dating outside of her race. She said they agree with her that race does not make a difference. She has never discussed her personal ex periences in interracial dating with her parents because the issue has never come up. Ferguson said although some parents allow their children to be friends with people of other races, they forbid interracial dating. She said this is usually a sign of the parents’ ig norance about other races. “When parents forbid interra cial dating but say it is OK to be friends with people of another race, they are just masking their prejudice,” Ferguson said. “If they have a problem with their child dating someone of a different race, then they really have a prob lem with the race itself.” Meade is concerned about the possibility of interracial couples having biracial children. She said some people who say they do not have a problem with interracial dat ing will get upset when there is talk about having a biracial child. Meade said she does not consid er this a problem. “I think that by the time I am ready to have children, there will be a lot of‘mixed’ children everywhere,” she said. “I think my boyfriend and I are strong enough to deal with that if it were to happen.” Meade said she does not under stand why people view her and her boyfriend differently than a same- race couple. She said they were able to enrich each other’s lives because they are from different races. “I feel sorry for the ignorant peo ple who feel there is something wrong with interracial dating,” Meade said. “You can learn a lot from someone who is so different from you, and it is sad that people are going to cheat themselves of this experience just because someone has a different skin color.” Jonathan Purifoy agrees. “You can’t rely on what people’s appearances are because so much can come from someone who is not your color,” Purifoy said. "If that person is someone you love and they communicate that love back to you, that is what is important.” music review We’re looking^ ANTAJ2 idespread Panic's latest effort proves disastrous By Brandon Truitt The Battalion immer w ;ounselo f> ' idespread Panic’s latest album, bombs & butterflies, is really nothing more than a compila- n of bad celebrity imitations. Each member of the band has a sound t seems to be a tribute to those who e before: therefore, the album as a ffliole fails to say anything new. liThe guitarists are a couple of Carlos Intana sound-alikes, but the guitar lines ftk both the Latin flare and rhythmic di- jffin, SRORtf ^ Nrsity that Santana had and end up R s Opinion ^landing like dueling banjos. - s Web EdUD* [ : John Hermann plays keyboards for the “ ’ £ O 0 End. His organ playing is reminiscent of ^ H0T ° E# D oors ’> but none of the organ parts CaRTO as catchy as Light My Fire. For the st part, the organ lines do not take ad- tage of the eerie discord the instru- has to offer. Instead of a worthwhile an line, it sounds like a three-year-old Widespread Panic bombs a butterflies Capricorn Records ★★1/2 — r S & ^ ;ton, Cry® Ifluck, Kevin Cureton'l™ nikonya Tiber Huff, tick, Matt MU teonJenneHa^: iston, Glenn , & Jeremy MM® iele Chancello' i James, lael Depot, , Division ofSW Building, Ne*® 1 , Battalion.^..* 5-0569. day. Fax: 845' a single copy ^ recharged adepnngseffi; m periods) al^; dress diar# 11. plunking on the same three keys over and over again throughout the album. Judging from the organ, it is no sur prise Hermann’s piano skills are a little bland as well. The piano parts have catchy rhythms, but the lack of variety and soul keep them from approaching anything beautiful. Even worse, the pi ano makes the entire album sound just a little too much like the theme song to Charlie Brown. The drumming in the band is so sim ple it could be a tribute to the great one- armed drummer of Def Leppard. All the drum beats lack are enough spice to actu ally require two hands. The percussionist Domingo Ortiz also imitates Santana and provides no new sound. The largest problems with the album center around John Bell’s vocals. He sounds a little like his Athens, Ga., prede cessor Michael Stipe, but Bell’s lyrics lack Stipe’s conviction and emotion. The problem with Bell’s singing is not that it sounds a little like Stipe’s, or possi bly Meatloaf’s, but that it is hard to hear on the album. Bell sounds as if he is singing on the other side of town from his band. His words are inaudible. His notes go un heard. Worst of all, no one can sing along. Widespread Panic sounds a lot like Phish, and neither can recreate their live sound on recording. What begins as a seven-minute rock and roll free-for-all at a concert ends Widespread Panic up being a seven-minute annoyance louder or softer. when recorded. Some of this has to do with the lack of true dynamics on the album. Breaks in the music often occur to create slower parts, but the instruments never play This blandness of sound makes the al bum a bad imitation. The band sounds similar to everything else. The worst part is their sound is a soulless version of everything else. 7982 0^1 846-3565 Open Mon. - Sat. 10 am - 6pm Oance^/A^olic Appare'/?dr