PICK UP YOUR COPY TODAY. 1997-98 Texas A&M Campus Directory NOW AVAILABLE S TUDENTS: If you ordered a 1997-98 Campus Directory, stop by room 015 (basement) of the Reed McDonald Building from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday to pick up your copy. (Please bring Student ID.) D EPARTMENTS: If you ordered Cam pus Directories and requested deliv ery, deliveries will be made within the next few days. If you did not order a Campus Directory as a fee option when you registered for Fall ’97 classes, you may purchase a copy for $3 plus tax in room 015 Reed McDon ald (by cash, check or credit card). If you did not order Campus Directories, you may charge and pick them up at 015 Reed McDonald. Cost is $3 per copy. (Please bring a work request with your part number, FAMIS account number, account name, billing address, contact person and phone number where the directories should be billed.) The Texas A&M University Directory includes listings of departments, administrators, faculty, staff, students, other information about A&M, plus yellow pages. O The Battalion PINION Monday • October 20,i Mail Call Continued from Page 9 Additionally, most of the phrases seen on the pots are from movies or books, for instance the pictured “whip his ass, sea bass” is from Dumb and Dumber. In fact, many of the phrases the writ ers are so offended by are com mon on commercially available stickers and T-shirts. College is a time of experimen tation and tastelessness if glorified in many different organizations, not just Bonfire. Haven’t they ever seen Animal House? Or maybe they’ve never seen a movie rated higher than PG-13 as their actions and words imply. We suggest they need to grow up and get over it. Katherine McCauley Class of’96 endorse vulgarity and swearing. Both I find are very cathartic while working on Bonfire, a tough and rugged tradition of hard work and fortitude. The people who go out there do so knowing full well that they are to get dirty, and that they will have bloodied or raw hands. Aggie Bonfire is not a politically correct activity, so stop trying to make it one. The more you piss and moan, the suggestions will grow ever stronger and ever lewder. Remember, even after all this, Cater and countless other Aggies will still go out to watch it burn, There is a saying we Bonfire people have for those who choose not to participate: See ya when it burns. Dan Grimm Class of'98 feminists or “pot chasers."Mj: the girls help with Bonfire sin I because they love it. I am sure the Pink Pots and the officer Bonfire Reload Crewspendir. time helping with AggieBoni- than any of the girls who onli; out to cut. Smlid 04™ 1 Christina Weston Class of’97 There have been numerous times in the past that I have been tempted to write The Battalion to right a wrong developed due to someone’s ignorance, but I have yielded. Today however I feel compelled to write. I have to say that I am very happy that Mandy Cater decided to pull her head out of her ass and check out that “vulgar Bonfire crowd.” I am surprised you found your way out to the polo field to see these pots. After all these are the same pots they have had all year, the same ones they have worn to cut. If you are really worried about the A&M image at Bonfire, why don’t you get your ass out there and participate with a pot that has flowers and butterflies or maybe even “Hello Kitty.” It seems that the only people that have problems with the whole thing are those who do not participate. If the University regulated what was to be written on these pots, then they would violate every stu dents right to free speech, the pots after all are not University proper ty. The Red Pots have only voiced that they do not wish to encourage that type of display. Well they are public figures so of course they are going to pan out. I, on the other hand, will fully In response to Michelle Voss’ Oct. 15 feature "Building Their Own Tradition.’’ Voss said that women do not hold the same position as men at Bonfire. Well, crew chiefs and yel low pots are positions held within male dorms. Female dorms also have Bonfire “chairs” who lead the girls out at Bonfire. Just because the position does not have the word “pot” attached to it, that doesn’t mean she is not a leader. True, there has not been a fe male Red Pot, but that is not be cause there is a rule against it. I don’t think I know a single girl who is capable ol the complete dedica tion, sacrifice of free time, and pure physical strength it takes to be a coordinator. If there is a girl out there who can compete with any of the Bonfire Coordinators in those areas, I know I would not like to run into her in a dark alley. I would also like to add that there are organizations that exists solely for the purpose of getting girls involved in Bonfire. Bonfire Reload Crew and Women’s Bonfire Committee are two organizations that work hand in hand with the Bonfire Coordinators to help build Aggie Bonfire. Both organizations are represented at Bonfire site and help to take care of the men and women who build Bonfire. There is more to Bonfire than just being “water wenches” and cutting down trees. There are many other aspects of Bonfire that Voss did not cover in her article. Bonfire girls are not ax-wielding neo-Nazi In response to Michelle to'ft "Tradition brings studentsby nature”column: \ VST6 About eleven years ago I on my first backpackingtnrUCCJi'O three day, two night advert Dr. Barry and I was hooked. My firstri the Texas out my friends and I slept;.as electee a bed of earth under a blanl|ai[ of the stars. We gasped in aweas': pJesidenl lites lit up by the sun strea: oufi’s me< across the night sky. IMh 6 P ur l Since then I have beenor, tepee sin countless excursions rangiiprurn for d three day, fifteen miletripst jncems a day seventy mile treks. I'velrj universil over the continental divide Durage int stood at elevations wheretl on in mee too thin for trees to survive, eeds of th I’ve seen a herd ofelkspri. , up from a forest of fernsarniJIOCn charge across the trail. I’ve t jumped from cliff walls into jame< river pools and relaxed ink jkmes F natural hot springs. l’veev a Xa s A&IV spent a week canoeingdov hefnistry (luadalupe river battlingir rofessor < farmers and flash floods, y yvas ele Getting back to natureis merican l being a guest. It is about sin anfcemenl quietly in the shade allowin: Wild’s re forest’s creatures to comeouti b ochem accept you. It does, asVossi ression at out, put life into perspectivi ased bion one know just how small the