University of South Carolina Libraries
Serving I Edito Adam Snyder, L Nikki LaRocqu Stephanie Sonnenfeld, Correctio: rlpfncnn 1 VXVA1XCFV/11 J There's been a lot wnnj of questions about HUiJ The Gamecock lately. / Did the copy editors Ciemso quit? Do they not LOWBT have spell check? Have we completely lost our heads? Well, the answer -* VIVO, to the first two are with a "no." (Even though r(,s it may look like we don't use spell check sometimes, we do have it.) We'd like to think the answer to the third is a "no" as well, but it's probably leaning more toward "hell yes!" We have certain rules we must live by at the newspaper. Some of those include deadlines, AP style and royally ticking people off. Even when we are following our Video pol doesn't h Go to any lo- |^K7TT9 cation where video poker machines Poker are and you'll see the same thing. From bars in Five |V7TinW Points to tiny gas LadLA stations in border Their i towns, people sit , in front of video markei poker machines wasted 1 mesmerized by at time the electronically flipping cards and the cash they hope to win. Video poker is the state's only form of legalized gambling, and these days its future is looking bleaker and bleaker. First, there's the bad press concerning players addicted to the games. Then, there's the fact that many machine operators don't follow rules and regulations set forth by the state. But, another question should be brought up concerning these games: What benefits do they give South Carolina? Money made from these machines don't go to support educational or civic endeavors. Sure, operators have to pay the government a lot of money to legally run the machines. But, where's the money go? From a recreational side, there really isn't anything wrong with video poker. It offers the same sort of pleasure as any other game. However, it's really spiked with danger. People become heavily addicted to gamStuderrt Media Russell Hou Adam Snyder Susai Interim Editor in Chief Pho Nikki LaRocque Dons Viewpoints Editor Grapi Rosalind Harvey Stephani News Editor Asst Viei Sara Ladenheim Kristin News Editor, Design Carl Marcus Amaker Asst Amy Shannon Nat hi Features Editors Asst. S Achim Hunt Tori Bryan Johnston . Asst. / Sports Editors Ben Pillow ' On l Copy Desk Chief Chris Dixon Chi Copy Editor Case Jessi Creati The Gamecock is the student cock are those of newspaper of The University of South and not those c Carolina and is published Monday, South Carolina. Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and five times Board during the summer with the excep- Ions and Comm tion of university holidays and exam lisher of The Ga P6"0^ The Depart Opinions expressed in The Game- dia is its parent The Gamecock will try to print The Gamecock all letters received. Letters should be House room 333 200-250 words and must include full <p))e Garnet name, professional title or year and to edit all tetter major if a student. Letters must be bel or space lire personally delivered by the author to not be withheld i a tamecock JSC Since 1908 rial Board aterim Editor in Chief e, Viewpoints Editor Assistant Viewpoints Editor n needed? is correct ijvmH strict rules of LLhLim^^I journalistic living, , 7 we're looking for some Jl WltrL a outlet to have some CCISB "c" fun ? to let our hair down. To let everyone know we have a , , . personality and know try begins where our allegiance \ lack Of lies. nprt That's why the " ' new policy of The Gamecock is to keep our cow-loving arch rivals from the Upstate where they belong: lower case. It may be crazy, childish or unnecessary, but we feel if s our duty to the Carolina faithful to show that we're not impartial when it comes to the Carolina-clemson rivalry. And this weekend, and every day we say. "GO COCKS!! Beat clemson!" ker mania elp state F7|T?rTj9HH bling on them, a case in point bemachines *n? Lecen,t case in South Carolina. A TTHTTTTJTT^B woman was gambling near the legality is fate line bej.. . J tween Georgia i in irony, and South Carnoney and, olina and left her o trnppdv baby daughter in s, irageay. ^ ^ ghe ^ bled for hours , only to come out and find her young child dead from the complications of the heat. The tragic stories associated with video poker go on and on, ranging in sagas and traumas. Addiction is only one downside to video poker. Corruption and greed are others. There are soi < ii i l l luuons 10 tne viaeo poKer proDlem, some more pragmatic than others. "We need to either eliminate them [video poker machines] or they need to be much more closely regulated," State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said in yesterday's edition of The State. Despite the many downfalls associated with video poker, there's one that overrides them all: the absence of logic. It's interesting that South Carolina is a state that legalizes video poker, but won't even consider a state lottery. Will the ironies never cease? *CT?Tt!W!T3 !V iMmflBIH m USC Columbia, SC 29208 a Meyer* Ellen Parson* to Editor Interim Director lie Baker of Student Media Uci Editor Lee Phippa e Sonnenfeld Advertising Manager vpoints Editor Sherry F. Holme* Richardson Classified Ad Manager i Pellatt Carolyn Griffin ews Editors Business Manager m Brown Jim Green ports Editor Creative Director , O'Hara Michele Dame* 'hoto Editor Creative Services ^ ujgj, Graduate Assistant ine Editor Erik Collin* e Baker Faculty Advisor la Culp |JTW7Yl>9T3*VTrS y Decker in nager _ _ . ve Services mmi (803) the editors or author News (803) 777-7726 if The University of ETC. (803) 777-3913 of Student Phbhca- viewpoints (803) 777-7726 urucations is the pubjnecock Sports (803) 777-7182 tment of Student Meorganization. Online (803) 777-3913 Student Media . ? ? Advertising (803) 777-1184 newsroom in Russell ' Classifieds (803) 777-1184 nek reserves the right for style, possible li- Fax (803) 777-6482 litations. Names will for any circumstance. Office (803) 777-3888 } SIGNE PHILADELPHIA C Philadelphia USA / f vJov)V^ "V "I'm not loc clemson Head Footbai Thanksgr | Columnist | Whpra arp all t.hp turkevs? I saw a lot of pumpkins, and now I'm starting to see Santas. Isn't there a holiday in between? I've come to accept the fact thai we're preparing for the holidays earlier and earlier. Whether it be Christmas, JIanukkah or Kwanza, people want to break out the decorations and hit the malls somewhere around, oh July 4th. It's not so bad to want to start celebrations early. There's so much tc bake and buy and clean that maybe it's necessary to start preparing for the "big" one (Christmas) early. But in the process of dusting off the blinking lights, Thanksgiving olten gets overlooked The actual process of reflecting on what we're thankful for gets lost in the gravy and day-after sales. What's the reasor for this? Thanksgiving gets lumped into a general holiday season. Some people Take adv; | Columnist | My art history class and I recently took a trip to one of the local museums here in South Carolina. As I was passing through the galleries, admiring the beautiful collection, it occurred to me how many of us actually participate in /tnlfiirol onfiTrifioa lilrn fVioao? xxx vuivuiai uvui t ivivo iuw vnvuvi Unfortunately, it's less than 5C percent. Probably even less than 21 percent. This is truly a shame. Part of the college experience is to absorb the cultural enlightenment readily available to us. I guess this is one of the main reasons as to why mosl of us are required to take a fine arts class. It's not because the departmeni doesn't have a lot of people majoring in that discipline. It's not because thej want to force other non-majors to tak< the classes so they can sucker then into listening to their lectures. It's U If "What _ food is o your r favorite part of a (J Thanksgiving Day Ml ban^ quet?" i )AILY NEWS inwg? C >king for a way to change thj 11 Coach Tommy West, on the1 foott ring lost ii have to choose between attending Thanksgiving and a bigger Christmas celebration. Thanksgiving is close to Christmas and families often engage ' in similar festivities during the two. s Why would you want to choose a holiday where the climax is the mash pota. toes when Christmas promises presents, spiked eggnog and visits tc Santa's lap? f Thanksgiving is notorious for such I fun as long-winded conversations with , Uncle Charlie and cousin Dan about football, watching football with Uncle Charlie and cousin Dan and subse) quently throwing the football with Un. cle Charlie and cousin Dan. We take i less time off for Thanksgiving and must > return to work and school immediately , after; the post-Christmas lull is ended with a bang with the excitement oi ; New Year's Day. Plus, Thanksgiving r isn't the peak season for breaking i out the Bing Crosby and Chipmunks Christmas albums. t Choices are limited at Thanks! giving. In the Shaw household, the mtage of? open a gate we probably would not have opened ourselves up to. I have to admit that if I had not been required to take a fine arts class, 1 I would probably be in a biology class racking up hours to add toward my ' major. But, now that I have taken a s couple of those classes, I'm glad I ! . did. Exposure to fine arts has made I me appreciate true creativity and artis4-rtlonf Firo rtntrnr Konn o niftorl orficf | UV> MUCllli 1 vv/ 11vYUi Kyv/V/ii u guwu lu iuuv< My closest masterpiece was the eighthgrade science poster with all the pret5 ty little construction paper cutouts ^ Nor was I ever a great dancer. Ballet 5 shoes and tutus were just not my thing But after watching actors and 5 dancers on stage and looking at paint^ ings at the museum, I realized thej > put a lot of time and effort to cultivate 1 their talents. Masterpieces are not ere ' ated overnight. One work can take i as long as five years to create. Anc ) singing. I highly doubt one can picl "Collard greens and ham." Mark Simmons Criminal Justice Graduate student Hiiwiisiiwvffpvniiv V it right now. I'll worry about weird fact the visiting team has i jail game. i shuffle o lines are clearly divided between the cooks and the "others." The cooks fran> tically shuffle ingredients, usually in! volving more sticks of butter than consumed in an entire year. The "others" compare notes on the pre-meal peanut and cracker selection and now mucn traveling their jobs involve. If you're lucky, you may have the opportunity to catch gossip about the 1 dysfunction of the family. The first | qualifier for dysfunction is showing up late or not showing up at all at one of these festive events. Even if you don't attend Thanksgiving because it'll be the same rituals three weeks later at Christmas, this doesn't exclude you r from dysfunction. You will still be talked about as looking "a little on the f pale side, losing weight" regardless. [ All of these events make up part [ of Thanksgiving, and so does griping about them. My biggest complaint is letting that bog down what holidays are about, especially the one desigs nated to reflect and give thanks. Columbia' up the songs from "La Boheme" over the course of a week. Their dedication to their work is an inspiration. It deserves recognition. What I admire most is the way fKoao nrfisfirnllv fnlpnf.pH individuals can express themselves so freely. Be it through dance, music or paint. They don't only capture the essence of emotion, which is a talent unto itself. They also make us feel what is to be felt with their work. It's one of those gifts a few have or cultivate. Those who do present us with these rare talents should be appreciated. By attending any of the numer^ ous cultural functions taking place downtown, we show our support. r Students at USC have an ad> vantage, also. All the major cultural attraction places are located right 5 around the university. The Koger CenI ter. Town Theater, Columbia Muse l um of Art, just to name a few. "Stuffing." Eric White Criminal Justice Senior * \ o x/w v e ju* I that next year." von the last six USC-clemson f holidays This year marks a change in my festivities. My immediate family has decided to skip out on the cross-country trek to eat turkey. Our family is far away and schedules are too conflicting. We're saving Mom the pressure of cooking by eating out for Thanksgiving and by going to Hawaii for Christmas. We're not discarding tradition and celebration ? we're modifying, cutting back on the stuffing we don't need. Dad will still watch the Lions on turkey day. Come Christmas, well sing carols, only itH be in Maui. Part of me will miss spending time with the extended family, but a bigger part is happy to start new traditions. By reducing hours spent in the car, we can actually spend more time together and talk about the things we are thankful for. Including Uncle Charlie, who'll be simultaneously tossing the football with cousin Dan. _ .A s rnie arts Take a look into the Koger Center catalog. They present some great ballets and operas every season. You can also find things going on here at USC. We have a kickin' symphony orchestra and some talented actors over at Longstreet. And for any amateur writers out there, take a look in to some of the poetry readings. You can just sit back and listen or present some of your own writings. I know it can be a "huge" tossup between deciding whether to spend your Friday night at Five Points or at the ballet. Some might view a night at Pavlov's as a more enrichin? cultural experience than watching a bunch of guys frolicking across the stage in leotards. For those of you who feel somewhat otherwise, I hope every once in a while you take advantage of the enormous cultural collection present here in Columbia. " "Cranberry sauce." Erica Lanier Criminal Justice Freshman i