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i'Mtd Serving I Edito Adam Snyder, L Nikki LaRocqu Stephanie Sonnenfeld, Clinton a gay discri When President Clinton attended a gay and Huma 1 i a 1 XxU'//t'U'i lesbian mnd-raiser, some Americans weren't too happy. According to The State, Andrea Sheldon, executive Clinton re director of the Tra- America* ditional Values J*,j Coalition, referred should n to the event as "an American President kissing up to the wealthiest extremists of the 1 1?A ? aiiiuicu leit. Whether Sheldon and other citizens who share her views like it or not, homosexuals are indeed a part of America. They are citizens, just as heterosexuals. President Clinton is the president of all the American people. He isn't the president of just heterosexuals or whites or upper-middle class citizens. He represents all of us, from the homeless family on a city street Vista dev< isn't profc After years of thought and months flHfeUidH of talk, it looks like Columbia's d k r A *ii Uvl/CH riverfront area will be getting a facelift ? one of the mQQQ economic and Dhvsical kind. The idee Patrons are now but curi coming in droves to residents drink, eat and be to find a merry in the close to call by Vista, while plans are being drawn for the development of a "river-focused" community. Here, developers hope to renovate already standing buildings into restaurants,offices and shops. City officials hope the area surrounding the Vista arid the river will be home to a village of trendy homes, the State newspaper reported. It's great. It's wonderful. It's empowering to the economy. It's a shot in the arm to Columbia's fledgling self-identity. If the plan is successfully implemented and carried out, Columbia could have a cozy river district similar to ones in Augusta or in Savannah. But, in the wake of all the pending development, there lies quite a real problem without a pragmatic solution. Currently, there is a neighborhood which surrounds the Vista area. It is full of low-rent Student Media Russell Hous Adam Snyder Susan Interim Editor in Chief Photo Nikki LaRocque Donni< Viewpoints Editor Graphii Rosalind Harvey Stephanie News Editor Asst. Viewp Sara Ladenheim Kristin R News Editor, Design Cara 1 m- . , Asst. Neu Marcus Amaker Amy Shannon Nathan Features Editors Asst Spo Achim Hunt Tori ( Bryan Johnston Asst Phi Sports Editors Briar Ben Pillow On hru Copy Desk Chief Julle Chris Dixon Chrii Copy Editor Casey Jessan Creative The Gamecock is the student cock are thoee of tb newspaper of The University of South and not those of' Carolina and is published Monday, South Carolina. Wednesday and Friday during the fall _ and spring semesters and five times 1??ar<1 01 during the summer with the excep- tions and Commun tion of university holidays and exam lisher of The Garni The Departm Opinions expressed in The Game- dia is its parent or The Gamecock will try to print The Gamecock ne all letters received. Letters should be House room 333. 200-260 words and must include full The Gamecocl name, professional title or year and to edit all letter fo major if a student. Letters must be bel or space limitr personally delivered by the author to not be withheld for T 1 tamecock JSC Since 1908 rial Board aterim Editor in Chief e, Viewpoints Editor Assistant Viewpoints Editor mm ddresses k m . m imination ?rrr^^m to the single mult millionaire. n rights By attendin and speaking at th Human Right CTHTTTTH Campaign dinnei IjUMmmI Clinton wasn't cor ? doning homosexc presents all aj behavior, a is, and his many right-win support extremist woul zflect that. have us believe Instead, h stood up for huma rights, makin clear, strong statements that jo discrimination, on any basis, wi not, and cannot, be tolerated i: uiuo lAJUiiiiijr. He urged Congress to pass le? islation to protect homosexual against job thscrimination. Thank goodness we have pec pie in a position of power wh are willing to stand up for what i right. And yes, we are speakin about Clinton. ilopment >lem-free wmh houses am apartments, ttia v;Qtn occasionally couli * be deemed "shacks mment , , , by modern housin standards. Like an neighborhood, thes buildings are full c i is great, tenants. The Stat rent area article cites thes will have residents as "al new place black, and most ar I home. poor." Ideally, th city and developer would like to bu; the land thes hraisps sat nn Tdpnllv fhp rpsridpnt. would sell, take their money an< move on. But, this situation isn't om molded in the ideal. Many of thi people who live in this area can' afford to move anywhere. Man; don't want to move. Many can' because they're too old or too sicl to relocate. The City of Columbia hasn' offered residents any options yet but when they do, they need t< consider who they are moving These are people who have lived ii this area for most of their lives They call this place home. Ifsgrea that we're developing the Vista an< River area, but we need to realizi that this development isn't jus impacting the future, but it's als< displacing the present, e U8C Columbia, SC 29208 Meyers Ellen Parsons Editor Interim Director i Baker of Student Media s Editor Lee Phipps Sonnenfeld Advertising Manager inin/i Fsiitnr Shprrv V*. HnlmPR ichardson Classified Ad Manager Pellatt Carolyn Griffin us Editors Business Manager i Brown Jim Green rts Editor Creative Director yHara Michele Dames to Editor Creative Services ( Graduate Assistant Editor Erik Collins Baker Faculty Advisor lCulP 1IF.HIB.J.W.I J? JIBII. Decker Servian Editor (803) 777-3914 ie editors or author News (803) 777-7726 rhe University of ETC. (803) 777-391: St"dent ^bhcf" Viewpoints (803) 777-7726 jcations is the pubecock Sports (803) 777-718: entof Student Megani ration. Online (803) 777-39li Student Media . D ? Advertising (803) 777-1184 wsroom in Kussell Classifieds (803) 777-1184 It reserves the right r style, possible li- Fax (803) 777-648: itions. Names will any circumstance. Office (803) 777-3886 f WiNlisR I 4<$L A m j e irffwswnfTffT?!! n Ltfnni&BMMBMM b "I know he is fi 11 ti College of Charle J USC orga Q s | Columnist | Extra-curricular activities offer so much to your life and provide skills that you will never learn anywhere else. They have allowed me to mature and acquire the skills needed to insure my success in life. I will soon hand over two of my positions in campus organizations, j treasurer of Sigma Chi and Community Service Director of Fraternity Council, but I refuse to elevate my pres? ence within them. These and other organizations that I have been and am y today involved in, have provided me the opportunities to enhance my lead v: ^ cianip auninca, tu uuiiu my puuni; speaking skills and to foster my abile ity to be productive within the society to which I belong. e That is why I encourage you to e get involved. Participate in your fus ture. Enhance your school and the y campus. Organizations come in all e shapes and sizes, numerous types, and s" in a range of involvement levels. There i are over 200 organizations that can meet any needs that you may have and e address the one's that have not yet e come. t Here are just a few of the organiY zations to look at: t ? ; Rnarl trin r t J ^^^Vlewpolnt^dlto^^^l t Let me begin by assuring you, dear 3 reader, Fm not a groupie. I don't really care for their music. It's too cumbersome for me, too mainI stream and boring. But my best friend is a friend of this unnamed band's soundguy. When she arrived in Columbia Friday afternoon after seeing him in Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga., she realized she had a bag of his in the backseat of her car, so we jetted back to Atlanta to return his wallet and credit cards ana even some minor souna equipment. Personally, I think we should have gone to New York or Boston, Mass., with the dude's wallet and plastic. We would have had a much better time, materialistically speaking. Calvin Klein, anyone? We're lucky we arrived in Atlanta at all, considering my friend is a lousy i. Yankee driver and nonchalantly drove . off the interstate on the way there. Then, just as nonchalantly, she drove down a major, downtown one-way ' street the wrong way. I had several ! friendly, intimate conversations with i the other drivers who passed us. Driving with "Yankee Girl" makes l even the most determined non-smoker light up in fear. , Quaking and chain-smoking for my nearly extinguished life, we walked up to the band's rinky-dink bus, waltzed * m\ !k l Alt~i aithful to me, and I don't ha> ston senior Angela Johnson, nizations Greek Organizations, social or honr; these groups build life skills, time management, social comfort and opportunities that can be put on your resume. Belonging to both a social fraternity, Sigma Chi, and an honor fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, I am able to testify to their wealth of opportunities. I have built connections that will assist me in my career. I have learned how to be secure in what I believe in, and yet, to be open in new ideas. All of this and more is touched on when you become a member of a Greek organization. Community Service Groups; This class of organizations provide the opportunities to enhance the lives of others and the experience of helping better someone's life, and your own. This type of organization fulfills the humanitarian desires that some of us may have. From City Year to Carolina Cares, there is a wide array of community service groups that will enable you to help others, better the environment, or provide a better home for abandoned pets. The next class is sports related organizations. Sports offered include biking, surfing and fencing. The Mountaineering and White Water Rafting Club offers trips to Table Rock and other natural sites that will invoke your desire for outdoor activities. Also included, intramural sports allow those creates g in and threw the bag into "Sound Boy's" lap. He hadn't even realized it was missing. See, I knew we should have neaaea to JNew iorK msteaa. Of course, he thanks "Yankee Girl" with kisses, and he nods in my general direction (at this point, I'm feeling like Abby in The Truth About Cats and Dogs), and we sit down to chill and to collect my nerves. It's then that I realized, as I watched "Sound Boy" go through his stuff, that a fair amount of a certain illegal substance also was in his bag. Oh, that would have been swell if nfankee Girl" and I been pulled over by the police on the way over. I can see it now, the two of us denying ownership and then getting hauled into jail for trafficking. That would have been brilliant. To thank us, "Sound Boy" invites us out for sushi and tries to get the lead singer to come along with us (I'm seeing the three is a crowd scenario already), but he gently refuses (I later learn that they all thought I was in my third year of high school because I had referred to myself as a junior, meaning in college). At dinner, we ran up o foV? xxrifVi lr\+a nf ranr ?IoV? a n r? a .-xu tau w xvii iwio ui ian non unu sake, and "Sound Boy" didn't turn out to be a total rock-band prick. We had an amusing moment when some drunk, middle-aged businessman looked at him and drawled, "Man, you look like the guy from Greenday! Doesn't he look like the guy from Greenday?" m X 23 re to be by his side watching c on the positive aspects of her lor offer mai who are not necessarily in an organization to compete and enjoy activities like swimming, soccer, football and volleyball, to name a few. What's a great about intramural sports is that they don't necessarily require a huge amount of skill to be on a team, even though it does help. A student with no experience in sports can readily get involved here. If religion is your love of life than look no farther. Whether it is FCA or the PALMS Ministry, religious activities are abundant here on campus. These organizations offer Bible study, trips and community service projects that will fulfill your religious desires. Other religious organizations also offer similar opportunities as those of Greek organizations. All you have to do is look. There are many other influential organizations here on our campus that are just as important and accessible as those listed above. KnA is an organization that has widespread coverage when it comes to topics and activities. Others are there as well. Unfortunately, I can't name them all in this short column, but I can tell you where to go for a start. The Office of Student Affairs has all the resources needed to begin your research. Located in the basement of the Russell House, the one under the roupie ex It's then that I realize, as through his stuff, that a illegal substance also v would have been swell had been pulled over by tl I just love it when aging professionals think they're hip and still "with it.". "Yankee Girl" and I stayed for the show and for some beers afterward on the bus, then we began to head back to Columbia at 3a.m. \TVvf o rvw^UInrr> "Vonlrnn nut a piuuiciii) uiiui x cumtt uui announces that she can't make the drive back without falling asleep, so she makes a U-turn that defies the law of gravity and pulls into an EconoLodge. That's when we finally got pulled. "What are you girls doing here?" the officer demanded. Well, jerk-off, what the hell does it look like? We want a room. We said it much more sweetly than that, of course, considering my buddy deserves a careless driving ticket right about now. "Don't you know what this is?" A hotel? Hey, I thought it was a logical guess, but "Officer Friendly" informed us that it's actually a crack house and a house of prostitution. So he checks my friend's license and let's us go but not before telling us exactly where to stay for the evening, leavii^ ^MPCTHtVe , PBmweR ' I )ver his shoulder." ^ ig-distance relationship ay pluses Preston Dining Hall, the staff can answer most questions and there are plen- ^ ty of students down there as well. I will offer some criteria to be aware of: in order to be a University recognized organization, the organization must submit and have approved their constitution-equal rights topics. Being recognized by the University, the organization has access to a ma- a jority of university property and s (J services, i.e. mail boxes, room use, etc. So, it might be useful if the organiza tion is University recognized. All together, the list of opportunities offered at USC is endless. All one has to do is start at the Office of Student Affairs, ask an older student, or a professor. If you've ever looked in _ the Mortar Board you have seen that there is a huge amount of students do ing and accomplishing a lot. Whether it is NAACP or the WILD Team, students are learning life skills that will assist them in this world in which it matters who you know and what you know. Only through extra-curricular activities can these goals be accomplished so easily or at least within the ^ short time frame of four years. perience I watch "Sound Boy" go fair amount of a certain ^ ras in his bag. Oh, that ^ , if "Yankee Girl" and I lie police on the way over. us with this remark, "But if you want to stay here, fine! If you're looking for crack or to do some hooking, then you girls are in the right place!" This officer has obviously never ^ been around hookers before or else he ^ would have realized that the vast majority do not drive around in beat up Hondas wearing Docs and club clothes. We found beds elsewhere, and we eventually made our way back to Columbia without a major incident, besides me spilling scalding hot coffee all over my hand. No biggie, Fm just maimed for life. As we pulled onto Huger Street, "Yankee Girl" sighed, T m never leav- A ing this place again!" Never being the time between now and her flight home for Thanksgiving, of course. It's all relative. Just as long as she doesn't go down to the water's edge, where vans have a habit of pulling up and opening the door while unnamed lead singers look on and don't do anything to stop this from happening. 1