Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Hit.? Serving USC Chris Dixon, E Stephanie Sonnenfel EdHoria Achim Hunt, Bryan Johnston, Karen Layne, J Jennifer Stanley bhbssei # SG Senal not over ji Senate took a huge step during their last meeting Wednesday. They actually passed the first piece of legislation of 1997. One piece of legislation one month and two weeks into the year. What hard workers we have in Senate. Not that there aren't a few exceptions in Student Government. There are actually a few people floating around in that first floor Russell House office who know what they are doing. They have put that knowledge to good use, such as setting up important race relation forums. Passing only one piece of legislation aside, the Senate has also proved its incompetence by losing the Senate attendance books, according to Senate Clerk Donald Gore. So even though most of the Senate has not shown up for the past few meetings, it does not matter. No one, especially not the voters, has any idea who has been around and who has not. There is no record. It's unfortunate such relevant documentation was lost so close to election time. We do understand why Senators have been slacking off lately. Their term is almost over. They have realized they S.C. shouli CCA priso How do eight juvenile prison escapees and the S.C. Legislature fit together? Easier than you think. This past Wednesday, the eight juvenile prisoners escaped from the Columbia Training Center on Farrow Road, a prison run by Corrections Corp. of America. Enter the legislators. A group of them are apparently concerned about the competency of the Corrections Corp. of America. This week's escapees were the second group to escape from the prison since it opened in July 1996. The State reports there have been reports of prison officers using physical force to control the prisoners. CCA gets paid $14 million to manage the facility and has Student Media Russell Hi Chris Diioa News: Editor in Chief Advertisir Strphaak FAX: ' Sonneafeld Viewpoints Editor Achiw If lint Karen La vac Bryan Jeaiifer Stanley Johnston News Editors Sports Editors Joha Lyons IMIkki Thorpe Kelly Photo Editor MePherson Bea Muldrow Fee lures Editors Cnphia Editor 0 The Gamecock is ihe sladenl newspaper of the Uni Wednesday, and Friday daring the Fall and Spring sem periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the e Carolina The Board of Student Fabrications and Commutricatio Student Media is its oarent organization. The Gamecock will try to print all letters rece include full name, professional title or year an delivered by the author to The Gamecock news reserves the right to edit all letter for style, pos withheld for any circumstance. amecock Since 1906 iditor in Chief d, Viewpoints Editor I Board [ohn Lyons, Kelly McPherson, Ben Muldrow, , Nikki Thorpe. te terms list yet cannot get all those campaign promises accomplished, and no one on this campus, save for the head-honchos in SG and candidates, really care whether or not anything runs well. As much as some would like to think, Student Government is not a real democracy. This is merely practice for the real world, and with such practice comes a huge safety net. Said safety net being that if SG workers screw-up, no one really notices, nor cares. The student body on this campus, as a whole, obviously doesn't care about Student Government, considering only about 8 percent of the student body voted in last year's election. So why, if students are so apathetic, are we so riled that the majority of the Senate have been cutting sessions lately? Because we're part of that 8 percent. Senators owe 8 percent of the student body 100 percent of the time and commitment they promised during last year's elections. Don't break a promise. Oh, wait, what are we thinking? SG is practice for the world of real politics. Go ahead, break that promise and get in some practice. d revoke n paet been hired to manage 11 wilderness camps anticipated to open by 2000, according to The State. Some want to CCAs contract revoked, which should be done. The entire connection between South Carolina and CCA is a bit sketchy. Why cant the state use it's own law enforcement officers and administrators to run this facility? Prison and jail are not supposed to be great places they are a means of punishment. But, they, like an offshoot of the government, need to be run firmly and effectively to achieve maximum progress. CCA isn't doing this, which is evidenced by their inability to keep prisoners from running away. Due * IISC * Columbia, SC 777-7726 Mark Hopkins ig 7774249 Be" PiBow 777-6482 4J Co?D^ Adam Srnder Nfltki La Roeque Office Manager Asst Viewpoints Jason Je^erS Jessica Nash CertoonUt Asstfestures Marilyn Regi.aa Greea j Edwards Taylor Asst News Msrketing Director JrIT Nicholson Laura Day Asst Photo Creative Director Erik Collins Faculty Advisor venily of South Carolina and it published on Monday, esteri, with the exception of university holidays and exams diton or the author and not those of the University of South in if inc ruoiufici ui iie \jjjiicvui&. iik ixpojuikiu \* ived. Letters should be 200-250 words and must id major if a student. Letters must be personally room in Russell House room 333. The Gamecock sible libel or space limitations. Names will not be VIEW CW5 Life Nt&ii if we didn't have s SBL Sen. Mattb Things mar On Valentine's Day, a L time when men and women feel the need to express their love for one another by sending "Condomgrams," I think it is ^ interesting to contemplate the differences between the sexes. There is always a lot of talk about ~ sexism and gender roles. Not only is there dispute between the sexes on j, this matter, but there are < disagreements among women about j the nature of feminism. People want women to look a certain way, act a certain way and ' have certain jobs. Even though it is the 90s, women still dominate as teachers, secretaries and nurses and fall behind in top-notch administrative ^ positions. Women still subscribe to ^ magazines that feature "Fifteen ( Brand-New Ways to Look Sultry" as ^ the headline. Women still glob on the make-up and squeeze into size six shoes with size eleven feet. Men endorse this type of behavior ] because if they can convince women not to try, then they don't have to ^ compete. Of course they're worried! j Statistically, in elementary school girls are miles ahead of boys in terms of grades. This trend only slams to ' a halt, you guessed it, when girls hit ; puberty. Valentine's My mother always hates it when I say 'suck.' She says it's disgusting. Thankfully, though, she won't be reading this, so I can say what I want to say without fear. Here goes: Valentine's Day sucks. Ok, Fm sure you're thinking "Yeah. Another column by a female complaining about Valentine's Day >m1 r, nk/\ t-% /I n f a 117 V* a'o tauac auc tan t get a uatc wnu o literate or doesn't have a boyfriend ? real good. Maybe I'll move on to the sports section .. Read at your will, but what I say is true: Valentine's Day reaUy sucks. But, you know what else? I really like it. Nothing like being a grade A hypocrite, is there? Once, many years ago when I donned bowed pigtails and smocked dresses (circa first grade for the confused). I loved Valentine's Day. Back then, Valentine's Day was special. You had to give Valentine's to - - ^ - oivrs poToJ < ^/kgo-oo boot 1 ???? / //' '' / //. MS f , / WO|Rg# IS: FINW6 Of tiulont noHvitv (97) 002, then we ew Richardson, SG senator or VV na wouldn' Lucy Arnold One is forced to wonder what night happen if the trend oontinued... However, I believe that a trend ' Q ;oward sexism begins in early :hildhood. One only has to watch a ew minutes of TBS's The Disaster \ \rea in the morning to get the picture. There are girl toys and there are V x>y toys (and I don't mean Antonio Stbtato, Jr.). 1 he commercials for | x>ys come on and there are monsters ^ md action and heroes and racing md all kinds of exciting things going * >n. I Then the girl commercial comes >n. j Maybe there will be a little fairy lifting across the screen. Or maybe Barbie will put on a new dress. Or, iven better, there will be a baby doll hat cries like a real baby. Thanks a lot, mom and dad. Does t pee, too? I think you might start to mderstand why men and women ire so different once you consider ;he kinds of marketing ploys kids lave to undergo. ^ Boys get balls (yes, literally!), GI Joe men, and guns. Of course they're Q. joing to be aggressive! I don't think j anyone needs to start going around saying that male children are more Day isn't 1 Stephanie Sonnenfeld everyone and you got Valentine's from everyone. Room mothers would come to respective elementary schools, throw parties and everyone would have a good time snacking on sugar saturated snacks and drinks. We were hyper and happy. We knew no better. But, the best thing about vaicuuiics ljay wcic uic waco got to make to hold your Valentine's. Oh, white paper dollies and shiny aluminum heart stickers pasted all over an old Nike shoe box. Those were the days- Everybody?no matter how much you hated or liked them? got a Valentine. Everyone went home with Valentine's. Nobody was left out. It felt real good. Somewhere, in the skewed area of middle school and puberty, Valentine's Day became an extremely selective holiday?you were either loved or not. Guys started giving girls little gifts?wilted carnations were popular <MOW iVKfRE THC-S S CAfOE Ffcom? 2; s ffir jT YOUR Room*A7if $ to distribute, ai would have nothi i an amendment applied to fim I t tell you s iggressive than females until they an eliminate childhood television ducation. Girls get doll babies, doll >abies, and maybe a SkyDancer (pull he string and she twirls!). Is it any vonder women slip into the role of aretaker so easily? Children's television shows aren't nuch better. Boys have the X-Men md girls have My Little Pony. I vouldn't call it an even trade. Call me a conspiracy theorist which would just happen tc he hue), jut men are purposefully trying to LCCp V* Uiilt H LI Ulil icail?<lllg bllV/li ?tential. Actually, and this is a whole >ther column, the white men in power ire doing their best to ensure that lobody gets the opportunity to rise o the top of the bucket. Men control women in a lot of vays. The magazines, movies, sommercials and other media which xatray desirable women as emaciated sorpses are a start. There aren't too nany better ways to make sure someone won't achieve than by starving said person. And smart women are never given he credit they deserve. A smart voman is invariably Scooby Doo's /elma?ugly, annoying and often ibnoxious. (Although even I was mpressed with one episode that featured Velma and Shaggy in a tree sporting cave-people costumes. "You nuch fun at my school?and if you got one, you were cool. If not, you were left to watch everyone else enjoy their deflated flora. February 14 wasn't really a good time for my friend Kate and I. Basically, the only Valentine's we received were from our parents and of course we always received a $5 check in the mail from Grandmom. It made us sad to see all these girls we know get Valentine's from the boys they were "going with." We were young then and pretty clueless about love (ok, so now we're old and still fairly clueless), but we made a vow to wear black every Valentine's Day. We decided that Valentine's Day was depressing because it reminded us that we weren t "going with" anyone. We felt unloved. So, we were a bit immature, but I talked to her last week, and we discussed Valentine's Day at length and almost eight years later, we still think Valentine's Day is depressing. We thought college would be a 0 //#-' S V N ? //' T fN. i ''-^4 r/ _ ^ "V 5 *&C\ ? ^ " ^ f 1 /" tn "_J [ N "7 ^ f'r^j % y \ r\ _S 1 I a fetishist id we didn't have ?g mce codes. ibout boys Tarzan, me Jane." Wink, wink, say no more!) I must point out my favorite exception to the entertainment industry's babe rule, The X-Files. Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson have crafted a Dana Scully who is intelligent and beautiful, in a nonemaciated sort of way. Of course Carter also subscribes to conspiracy theories, so this could explain the exception. Unfortunately women cannot put all the blame on men. Men don't usually help (thanks to my father for being just the opposite), but neither do many women. Instead of recognizing the truth behind so much of this objectifying commercialism, women slap on the high heeled shoes and the 52-week bra, then grin and bear it. If women want to be taken seriously as people, unfortunately the perceptions most of us get from the media have to change. Well, or people could read my column from last week and stop believing everything they see on television. And maybe one day women will be in charge of the entertainment industry, and well only allow men to appear on tv. in g-strings and flipflops. Except for GI Joe. He's quite the boy toy already. AOA rl OY70 muse uayo better time for Valentine's Day. But, I still remember living in Preston and McClintock and seeing all these flowers and mylar balloons covering the lobby, waiting for loved individuals to come and fetch them. DISCLAIMER HERE: Valentine's Day isn't depressing in the sense that it's driving us to take above average amounts of prozac or pull a Sylvia Plath and stick our heads in a oven. No, no, no. It's just all the pink and red hearts make us wonder if well ever find the love of our lives. Pretty simple. And, pretty narcissistic. Luckily,, Valentine's Day is only one day long. Twenty four hours?1,440 minutes. Yet, there's a plus to Valentine's Day and that's the candy. There's a whole aisle devoted to Valentine's Day at the Super Wal* K L 1 'iL _J _ Ti i man. anu ns gionous. u reminds me that right now, I may never find my perfect guy?a combo of Holden Caulfield, Paul McCartney,Hugh Grant, Eric Clapton and Matthew McConeaughy?but I can always buy cherry cordials.