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1992 Graduation Tab Graduati \jk*t jt m w By ERIC WARD Editor in Chief There's an unfamiliar plank on your horizon. One, maybe three years away. The end gets closer _ j s r A >11 every uay, ana irom 11 you u plunge headlong into uncharted territory. Falling, falling. The plank is college and the end is graduation. The end is a nebulous conclusion never far away. Sometimes we supress it in drunken or druginduced ecstasy, or the most base denial. Always we plan for it. Clear or unclear, big or small, we make plans: Hide in academia a little longer, the best of both worlds. Irresponsibility and respect. Or we'll lake a more elusive approach to avoiding that carnivore, the real world. Join the Peace Corps. Travel. Take a year off. Relax, live like a bum for a while. Tremble. Still it's just out there, a little dot, a little light getting bigger, brighter every day. Can you picture the mist slapping your face, the waves knotting A * For0cSrk?ers0$5,r?' C<24 to 72 lZfp0 ion abys: : ^mSg ' |||Wm mnmti mm? 1w your stomach, the fear pounding your heart? Inching, inching, the commencement sword pricking your back until off the plank you go, into the ocean, into the world. II1CIC die SU1I1C JIIUUICIUS IICIC. We're not ready, and though we never will be completely, we could be more ready. No one sits us down and tells it like it is, like it really is. Fending t r urne. Reference pages free, id diskette also available, and in most cases. "Unble. n & delivery Cdf!r a limits s of unce: for ourselves is the necessity. Pampering isn't, but a medicinal dose of reality would certainly help. When a freshman, sophomore and junior, for the most part graduotinn ic an IHpq not a rpolifu Tt ic (tkivsu jo an iuvU) uvi u ivuiiij. 11 jo a goal, not an eventuality. Then August of the senior year rolls in and suddenly reality punches you in the face, hard and fast. You stagger to your feet until May, when the lights go out and you're feeling for your way in a gray-black room. Direction is now all in your hands, no longer dictated by pa rents or the need for a sheepskin. If you're lucky enough you've found a good job and the right person. Excitement and anticipation replaces fear and uncertainty. Still there's a little voice. These are the end days of youth, of untied, uncommitted choice. Choice becomes your nemesis. The challenge is not of finding something meaningful. There are many possibilites. The challenge is which one to choose. If you stick to plans, who knows when or if you'll have ' another opportunity to go overseas for two years or hitchhike across the country, to "find yourself." But with not making plans, or deviating from them, comes uncertainty. You give up the sense of 11 tn rtainty comfort, of knowing, that you've clung to all your life. And it's all made worse by a lack of identity. Our generation lacks the cohesiveness that accompanied the generations of the '50s. '60s and '70s. Who are we and what is our mission? Are we the "me" generation? The self-indulgent ones? The MTV generation? Perhaps we'll be the environmental generation. Or the schizophrenic ones who couldn't digest all the changes taking place around them: collapse and democratization of East Europe and the Soviet Union, the unification of Germany. Freedom in general sweeping the world. And the bad changes: the environment going to hell. America's onr\nnmi t /-* Kail W\Sll\/llljr gWUIg IU II^ll 11UI11 1I11C1nal abuse and external competition. And our faith in our government waning. We don't believe anymore. We don't trust anymore. We worry. We're young and disillusioned. Our future is also less certain. It lacks the guarantees that we'll do better than our parents, or as well. But we're educated and talented. It is up to us to right the wrongs of the nast. We're jumping into the abyss. Who can say what will happen. 4 mm NAL DESKTOP ^no n I90-0 Ca Seniors facing 'real world' confront fears By GORDON MANTLER Mews Editor vjiduuauug, wncuiti 11 15 nuiii college or high school, is meant to be a memorable experience and many times represents a doorway into the real world. But in this year of economic recession and our nation's overall poor condition, this year's seniors are concerned about their future after they receive their dinlomas "I have some fears and apprehensions, more because of the economy," journalism major Dennis Shealy said. "I feel like I really worked hard as a student. And it's a shame that I worked that hard for the purpose of getting a good job I really want, only to hav'e a tough time getting a job I might not even like," he said. Political science major Ian Ford said. "The economy is of course a concern. You wonder what type of country we're inheriting." Ford also said he was worried about all of the problems USC has had and whether the soiled reputation of USC will eventually affect the degree he will receive. See Fears page 6 L 1 PUBLISHING 444 11 Now! go.