Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

0a Serving USC Sii Chris Dixon, Ed Stephanie Sonnenfeld Editorial Lucy Arnold, Achim Hunt Bryan Johnston, Ks NikkiTh I ?7 1 i riTCuumu should be Ifs a logical step. If one is I not accepted somewhere, i then create a place where s one is. 1 This is the concept s Columbia's Metropolitan Community Church is based s on, and it certainly is an Y understandable one. 1 If one is trying to worship in a place that purports love f to thy neighbor, then turns ? around and bashes on the sins of said neighbor, the t spirit of Christianity is not t being well practiced. H i Who would want to stay I somewhere where they were t verbally condemned and t atnrpfl and rpnrnnnVipH simply for living a life natural s to than? Especially in a place c that is meant to support and i love its members. 1 We believe the t Metropolitan Community c Church has every right to i exist. c What has this church and its affiliation ,UFMCC, done c save open its arms to the c persecuted? t Whether or not one c Art, book show a ne1 Ifs safe to sav that South d Carolina has gotten a bad t rap in recent years. C First, there's the 01 confederate flag issue. Then, there's the church burnings, a Oh, don't forget the Citadel, a These issues have really C come to overshadow all the U good that South Carolina has to offer ? like its artistic B community. S This past weekend, w Columbia played host to the T first annual S.C. Book Festival h at the Koger Center. More ft than 70 authors, most of ft whom are either North 01 Carolina or South Carolina a based, gathered to discuss o1 .1 ? uieu wuijwj. According to The State, 2,500 to 3,000 people showed S lip to partake in the festivities, c; where former USC poet-in- a residence James Dickey was is honored posthumously with n a Distinctive Achievement f' Award. ii Although the festival is a s] new tradition, it has the a Student Media Russell House I Chris Dixon News: 777Editor in Chief Advertising: 7' Stephanie FAX: 177-1 Sonnenfeld Viewpoints Editor Achlm Hunt Bei Karen Layne Brymn Gr Jennifer Stanley Johnston News Editors Sports Ed,tors Lucy Arnold Hopkins Features Editors CoPyDeak Chief u Nlkkl Thorpe J? Photo Editor . i Jeff / The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the Universit) Wednesday, and Friday during the Fall and Spring semesters, periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors i Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is I Student Media is its parent organization. mils The Gamecock will try to print all letters received include full name, professional title or year and m delivered by the author to The Gamecock newsroon reserves the right to edit all letter for style, possible withheld for any circumstance. 1 mecock toe 1908 itor in Chief , Viewpoints Editor Board iren Layne, Ben Muldrow, Jennifer Stanley, lorpe. for all >elieves homosexuality is mmoral or not, no one can lay that keeping an open leart and being kind to an ibused group is wrong. Someone could feasibly lay that, but they could laidly then call themselves oving Christians. Religion, and the right to >ractice it, should be tccessible to all. If that means people have o take an alternate path off he beaten track, then so be t. We wish the members of dCC who felt pushed out of heir old churches didnt have o go through that. "Traditional" churches ihould be much more ompassionate to their nembers going through any rind of struggle, whether it re an addiction or discovering ?ne's sexual orientation or naking a life-altering lecision. The way to turn people >n to Christianity is not to :ondemn them and make hem change to fit a mold >thers have created. festivals w S. C. otential to be a tradition hat showcases South arolina's interest in all forms f writing. In turn, this festival can lert citizens of the state to 11 the talent that South arolina has when it comes ) literature. In addition to the S.C. look Festival, the annual poleto Festival in Charleston nil also be starting soon, his is another festival which onors various art forms mnd in South Carolina. It jatures music, dance and ther forms of art which have >me foam the heart and souls f many talented local and ational artists. Perhaps events such as poleto or the S.C. book fair an show the rest of the juntry that South Carolina n't a state where dissension lies, but rather it's a state all of many dynamic idividuals whose talents peak well about themselves nd their state. use Columbia, SC 29208 7726 Adam Snyder 77-4249 Office Manager j4Q2 Jason Jeflers Cartoonist a Muldrow Melissa Sellers aphics Editor Online Editor i La Rorqtae Marilyn l Viewpoints Edwards Taylor Inna Green Marketing Director Lsst News Erik Collins ssica Nash Faculty Advisor ist Features T Nicholson lsst Photo r of South Carolina and is published on Monday, with the exception of university holidays and exams x the author and not those of the University of South the Publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of AU . Letters should be 200-250 words and must ajor if a student. Letters must be personally l in Russell House room 333. The Gamecock libel or space limitations. Names will not be VIEW] ^A_J ft UfiU Cft" Pati Childrer U he life of a child is suppose to be innocent and carefree They shouldn't have ti worrv about the erown-ui world. But even if they do, they can't d< anything about it. A child's life i determined by the government, hi parents and his friends. The recent changes in the Soutl Carolina driver's license law highligh the lack of control youths have ove their lives. Now, teenagers canno drive on their own until the age o 17. Interestingly enough, many peopl< around us at USC think this is f grand idea. Although, just a fev years ago they would have been uj in arms over such a change. Whethe: ifs because we're older and wiser 01 just growing more conservative, weVi forgotten what life without contro is like. Plus, more and more high schoc students are bringing in part of thei Graduate stud< To the Editor; I suppose I should be angry tha someone went to my car while it wa parked m a handicapped space outsid of Bates House and used a key t carve "cripple" into my front dooi But this letter isn't about anger. Thi letter is an invitation. It occurred to me that thi vandalism took some time and effor and there must be someone out ther who is quite interested in m condition. Perhaps they're confuse about why I have a handicappe sticker, especially if they've seen m walking around without an noticeable "handicap." Thus, here: the invitation, to whoever the vancL - f POINTS vtould'mt scktod ft 5 StVKH, RJTI TO mat Mounts vim Mb # w 1 ' W ?V * * w ' * WEHCW EKPM (fl eated in God's imaj ricia Voelker, Reverend of Colui i have no ^ | ADAM SNYDER | 0 family incomes with after-school jobs. ^ Limiting the youths' ability to get to a job could injure some poorer 0 families. Don't get me wrong. I do believe 3 teenagers need to be better educated on how to drive. But, I don't think ^ an age can determine when you're most fit to drive on your own. The r provisional learning years at 15 and 16 are helpful, but driver's education and driving in controlled environments would be more ; beneficial than a restrictive two years 1 of driving. 1 The core of this problem is not 1 age, but age discrimination. Our r system of government does not r recognize youths under the age of * 18 as citizens. They have no vote, no voice in the government, so therefore they have no choice. It takes an immigrant only seven r years to become an active citizen of mt addresses issu or vandals may be ? come talk to me. it If you're interested in my past, I s can tell you about being born with e a hole in my heart and less than a o 10% chance of survival. I can talk r. about the life-saving open-heart s surgery when I was 15 days old, or the six cardial catherizations Fve s been through. I can show you parts t, of my last open-heart surgery in 1993, e which was filmed at the request of y NBC. Or I can describe what it's like d to walk out of the Intensive Care d Unit two weeks before classes started, le Maybe you'd like to hear more y about my present condition. I could is tell you what it feels like to get winded al walking up a flight of stairs, to not 1 t Molt CKore jffio t |W H? K,tVStKM) M) I??w >( ?e, not your image mbia's Metropolitan Community ( 9 voice, no the United States, but technically speaking, it takes 18 years for someone born in the U.S. to be an active citizen. I understand it's impractical for a 7-year-old or a 16-year-old to vote or hold office. They don't have the experience or maturity to take on the responsibilities of the adult world. But, a 16-year-old who viciously murders someone will be readily tried as an adult. He or she is expected to be mature enough to sit through a trial and be judged by people who are nowhere near his peers. They cant serve on a jury, but a jury can determine their future. The same goes for the government T4- 4-aaIt a V? nw] Vvtr Aiir norPflts' it lAAjn. a xiai u xigixu k/j vvu w?? generation, but finally the voting age was reduced to 18. Until then, you could serve your country in war in the draft, but you couldn't vote for who would be sending you overseas to fight in Vietnam. At 18, you can have the greatest power in a democracy ? the right es concerning th be able to jog more than half a mile., or to feel a pacemaker in your chest. You could come with me to the P.E. Center, where the staff of FitPlace has devised a cardiac workout for me. There's no need to be shy ? I'm sure my trainers would love to meet you! If my future interests you, I could tell you about the open-heart suigeiy I know is in my future, or about the time I asked my cardiologist what my long-term prognosis is and he responded, "No one knows." There simply aren't many people who have survived my condition, certainly not enough to make any predictions about my life expectancy. After Fve told you all this, I would t tVly I i ' ! of God. Church 4 I choices ( to vote. But almost every state won't allow you to drink until you're 21 years old. They deem you responsible enough to help deride the fate of the next presidential election but not responsible enough to decide your own fate on a Saturday night. Truly, the most individual power anyone has in the U.S. is the right f to vote. And youths can rally, write letters and even boycott schools, but they're mute when it really counts. Government officials will listen to their complaints, svmpathize and even make promises for reform, but when it comes down to it, nothing will be done. That's because ifs not in the politicians' interests to go out of his way for a faction that can't even help him or her get r6-elected. Youths must wait and take what mom and dad or Big Brother deal to | them. They must accept it, because tVio-ro'a nntVnncr t.ViPv ran dn. If s for your own good," they say. Whatever happened to the American promise of self-determination? Le handicapped make one last, crucial point ? there are many people in the world who are worse off than I am, and I consider myself very fortunate because my health is as good as it is. So please, give me a call at 544-1067 and well arrange a time to meet I look forward M to hearing from you. 1 In the meantime, if anyone spots | someone in a handicapped space who doesn't appear handicapped, please remember that there may be more to that person than meets the eye. And no one deserves to be called "cripple." John Shumann Graduate Student M.P.A. )