Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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13lt(E Serving U, Chris Dixon, Stephanie Sonnen: Editor Achim Hunt, Bryan Johnston, Karen Layne Jennifer btanl hb SG needs! fop USC ki The revamping of the Homecoming King and Queen at USC was pretty neat. But, like everything else in the world, it was not without fault. On a large scale, the pageant is part and parcel of the Southern tradition of this university. Pageants run strong throughout the South. This one harmless tradition helps to make us distinctive from Northern universities, while giving us something in common with other Southern colleges. But after discontinuing the pageant for a few years, the tradition slipped a bit. The responsibilities of the Homecoming King and Queen were forgotten. Unfortunately, in reestablishing the King and Queen, Student Government Family leav could be e In 1993, when Bill Clinton was a mere rookie in the presidential world, he signed a bill into law called the Family and Medical Leave Act. This law gave American workers time off work to deal with medical situations like serious health problems, childbirth or aiding a family member suffering from an illness. The law offered 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees with job protection and continued health care coverage. One re-election and four years later, Bill Clinton is now urging Congress to expand the family medical leave law to allow parents to take time off from work to deal with family obligations, an Associated Press article reported Sunday. Clinton presented this proposal in his weekly radio address Saturday. In his address, Clinton said his goal was to permit workers to take up to 24 hours of unpaid leave a year for things like attending school functions a_I_: A.-lJ i ui uiiung a crniu io meoicai appointments. Currently, more than 12 million Americans use the Family and Medical Leave Student Media Russell House Chris Dixon News: ' Editor in Chief Advertising Stephanie FAX: 7 Soanenfeld Viewpoints Editor Achhn Hunt Karen Layne Bryan JfMifer Stanley Johnsloi News Editors Sports [Editors John Lyons Mark Hopkins Kelly Be" PBlow MePherson CoPyEditors Features Editors Ntkhl Thorpe Photo Editor Wednesday, and Friday during the Fall and Spring seme: periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock aie (hose of the edi Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communication! Student Media is its patent organization The Gamecock will try to print all letters receii include full name, professional title or year and delivered by the author to The Gamecock newsrc reserves the right to edit all letter for style, possi withheld for any circumstance. 5amecock SC Since 1906 , Editor in Chief feld, Viewpoints Editor ial Board John Lyons, Kelly McPherson, Ben Muldrow, ey, Nikki Thorpe. standards ng, queen forgot to remind the candidates what duties they were supposed to carry out. Which leads us to this year's Homecoming King and Queen. Although both students are actively involved in other extracurricular activities, their responsibilities were not well mapped out, and therefore, the roles of mng and yueen leii to tne side and have not played a prominent part on campus. This is not the irresponsibility of the King and Queen. They both made an honest effort to participate : in events in the name of Homecoming King or Queen. However, a lot more could have been done. Creating a traditional role of Homecoming King and Queen is up to whoever supports the pageant? namely Student Government -Sv e law good, ven better Act, which, according to the Associated Press article, covers and estimated 67 iiiiiiiuii wuiiicrs aiiu is applicable to companies with 50 or more employees. Hopefully, this idea will make it into law. In this day and age, running a family and having a full-time job is an extremely hard thing to tackle. It gets even more difficult when both parents in a family are constantly working, or when a family is dependent on a single parent to not only bring home a paycheck, but take care of children, bills, dinner and feeding the family pet. Sure sometimes a boss will be willing to give an employee time off to handle family responsibilities, but sometimes there are risks involved ? i.e. losing one's job. Clinton's proposal is commendable because it's a st*?n whirh will linln sin manv families out. With this proposal, parents can take their kids to the dentist, attend school functions and be able to meet their family obligations without hindering their employment status. 5 USC Columbia, SC 29208 77-7726 I Adam Sy.dcr cr: 777-4249 Uttice Manager 77-6482 .J's?".J^frcrs Daairl Krowa Bea Muldrow Cartoonists Graphics Editor Laura Day till \M Honjur Creative Director Asst. Viewpoints Marilyn Irgiaaa Green Edwards Taylor Asst News Advertising Manager Jessica Nash Erik Collins AsstFeatures Faculty Advisor |efT Nicholson Asst Photo ersity of South Carolina ? published on Monday, tiers, *iUi the exccpr?Mi s,f ~-rrsitj holidays and exams ton or the author and not those of the University of South t is the Publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of red. Letters should be 200-250 words and must mainr if a ctllHpnt [ i?ftprc muct hp nprcranallv >omJin Russell House room 333. The 6amecoclc ble libel or space limitations. Names will not be VIEWI f* i? I Everybody will b BJ McKle, C Drinking ale Ut seems to me that drinking is a.way of life for many of my classmates on our esteemed campus?where Five Points is frequented more often than class (for those of you who have calculus, I completely understand). And, many would ask what is wrong with going out and having a good time. Nothing, actually. But, I am continually amazed at their definition of a "good time." I am not of the drinking age (which means I never drink) and I don't have a fake ID, something my under-21 friends seek as if it was the proverbial Holy Grail. This means that most of my information comes by word of mouth,, so in some sense I'm much like The National Enquirer. Yet, the stories I hear are what legends are made of, and they get better every time I tell them. From what I've heard, it seems the sole purpose of the Carolina male is to pick up girls, and for whatever reason, they believe this can be achieved most efficiently by heavy 1 l^YV 1U1JV \jL In the 1990s, America has been experiencing a modem day "Tale of Two Cities." New York City and Los Angeles aren't the same as they used to be. They have been feuding for years, but you may not have noticed. There has been an underlying tension most of the century as the two cities battle for top honors among America's mostloved cities. f or years, INew York was the city to beat. The center of ail news, business, culture and sports. But during the 30s, 40s and 50s, as the movie industry boomed, so did L.A. At the same time, New York was deemed as overcrowded, dingy and Old World. Yes, there had been good times, but its good times had passed. Somewhat of an exodus had begun and the nation's interest shifted West. JOINTS Rt'S N"F* gS\\ct\ Vff* pjrx&Mies ( < c juiced up and res morn ramecock gaurd on the basketball t ohol way of li Jason Moore drinking. Now, I've watched my friends drink, and one thing they don't become is graceful. What they do become (this the rule, there are some exceptions) is loud and obnoxious. This, they believe, only adds to their sex appeal and can be compared to the actions of the great Scandinavian moose. The male moose, when aroused or inebriated, will bellow or in some other way demonstrate his mooseliness. Similar actions occur on a regular basis in Rafters every weekend ? smashing a beer can against one's forehead, etc. And just as the moose compete for their female counterparts, so do Carolina's finest. On one occasion, two guys waged on who could drink the most before passing out. All this, mind you, in hopes of picking up some hotty. So, they drank and danced (rather badly, I might add) for close to an hour, before ty and LA: mo Adam Snyder i * 111 i i i i i The most visible aspect of this exit was the departure of the Brooklyn 1 Dodgers to L.A. New York also lost the Giants to San Francisco. This may not be the most important shift 1 in a city's vitality, but as we have ! seen today, it is the most identifiable change to a city's identity. Today, this superficial change is { happening to L,A. The West's 1 Emerald City is lacking an NFL team. It's beloved Dodgers are on the auction block and Brooklyn is calling them home. ' But this is only the very crust of L.A.'s problems. Orange County is bankrupt. Race relations have been s at a fever pitch this decade. Crime is on a rampage. It isn't a pretty picture. O.J. Simpson's criminal and civil \ I ftlSNE miXK rag idy to play even if it '"'ff eam's upcoming Tuesday game versi fe for some Uf: simultaneously upchucking in her lap. Impressive, don't you think? pa - -Speaking of passing out, this dis seems to be the latest trend in college re ? drinking. It's become as fashionable Wl1 as bell bottoms (which weren't even h*Q in style in the 70s). j People seem to want to drink until they pass out. I found this quite ^ interesting, so I decided to do an ^ informal survey. I found that 95 ^ percent of guys said they did it to impress the girls, 3 percent said it ^ occurred involuntarily after receiving their tuition bill, and 2 percent said ^ they simply expired while waiting on the elevators in Capstone. g^? Fortunately, I haven't witnessed many of these face plants because, a frankly, it looks like it hurts. My advice to the unfortunate few who wa experience this on a weekly basis is to well, you know, lie. Talk about how you wrestled the a inc paining utivci/ laujr ui Bttvcujfuui girlfriend from a runaway Shuttle- ^ cock (though I doubt you would have a girlfriend after she heard how you got knocked out by the waitress at -t_ Bar None). But, don't just say you ^ j passed out. dern versions < cases may have captivated the nation, for but it has captivated the county's age pocketbook. Funds are lacking for schools, city improvements and tak especially crime prevention. crii So, when a young man is broken feel down on the side of the road with a tak flat tire, someone can easily come along, rob and then kill the stranded ha^ motorist. This time it was Ennis of v Cosby, who fell to his death because if a hrnkpn Hnwn ritv Rut Hops if r?ln matter who it was? It has happened bee and will happen again. Tnen there is race tensions. LA is fc hi as a population where poor African- Sqi Americans don't see any hope. They she feel cornered in by a police force city whose public relations have been seriously injured by the Rodney King p o > and Simpson cases. bet LA's situation is tragic for those who live there. But why live there? a si Today's New Yorkers wonder nee why. They are seeing a reversal of aro ? I IM) ouLrmv \ j Ifci&LI und. ^ & 10 was at 3 in the ' js Kentucky I JC students However, some of us know that ssing out can be a blessing in guise..Think about it... Do you illy want to remember dancing . th the yack-woman who was in ' vn with the circus? After all, a umatic experience like that could id one into a life of alcoholism. Perhaps the greatest threat of nking excessively is that you might forced to join one of those groups i Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm sure y have helped thousands of people, : do you really want to share your . fit intimate thoughts with Fred, I s overly sensitive divorced guy? Personally, I wouldn't want his >ulder to ciy on. I wouldn't even nt to know his name. Yet, this is upport group world, and there are ndreds lurking out there, just iting to pounce on any Joe with j self-esteem. There's even support groups for >se who know people in support up6 (fix* people who have absolutely hing constructive to do). 4 Of course, youH never see me at ; of these meetings. I can't afford -I'm still paying off my parking sets. of a classic tune in their city from 50 years g > " The new "no tolerance" policy en by the police force has reduced ne rates to those of 1965. A new ling of (dare I say) cleanliness has en over the island. Believe it or not, subway stations /e virtually lost the sweet smell irine. Trash-covered floors on many tforms have tiled and walls have d n painted. Even the world's center for smut >eing touted as the "new" Times aare. Adult cinemas and porn ps have been weeded out in the ^s center of culture. The cycle continues. A balance of ver might not ever be found ween East and West. But today, New York can claim nail victory while LA might just d the next 50 years to turn itself