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Wk 0amecock - Serving USC Since 1908 Editorial Board ; rr, Adam Snyder, Interim Editor in Chief t, , Nikki LaRocque, Viewpoints Editor Stephanie Sonnenfeld, Assistant Viewpoints Editor vr iiii wii World AIDS Day means compassion Guns in is treatment, there schools and drugs is no proven cure on the street. At our AIDS for this disease, age, many of us Many in the have witnessed life- Dublic and scien threatening situa- tific sector are tions in what were HaHUIUBiMLiafll hopeful a cure is once "safe" areas, Don't DOSS rig^lt at our ^n" such our suburban . , , gertips. homes and our pub- judgement OR Once upon a lie schools. ^ AIDS Victims. time, sex could But with guns Show Sympathy. spread syphilis and illegal sub- or create a baby, stances, at least we Now, it can kill, can see the danger. Today is World If someone whips out a gun, we AIDS Day. This day, don't judge, have a split second to dive for cov- Only know how horrible this diser. We can choose not to use drugs, ease is. or we can use them moderately, . . e , , .. , not to the point of overdosing. Anyone infected with it deserves our compassion. There are But there is a killer out there, n0 "innocent" victims of AIDS, one who is steadily snatching up Everyone is innocent. No one demore adolescents and women, and serves to die in such a manner. it's silent. It can hide in a perfect- ?T , . it. ii.1. i i- _l j Wear a red ribbon. That one ly neanny-iuoKing uuuy, anu it a , , invisible, tasteless, odorless and act shows awareness, cannot be detected by one's ordi- P^1011nary senses. This is not the time to judge m , . tjttt i-i someone else's act as sinful. Today, We know it as HIV, which can , , J lead to AIDS, and although there s ow ove" GPA requirement upped for athletes Richland 2 their educational school district is on hase and allowing the right track to Richland 2 them to apprecinw>mA^tirr nfvnnrTOK _ _ . Q + d f V?0 Vuin oflf G f\f h t dlstnct "^jrC^T ~ academic stan- owmvutww^ sports, both physdards among stu- ^KTTT-WiTTIT^TTTFBl ically and inteldents, finally. lectually speaking. South Caroli- Raising the Sure, it's a na's High School standards for high heavily debated League requires all , 1 lui * topic. Some student athletes to SCnOOl atrlietes coaches and parmaintain a 1.0 challenges them. ents have quesGPA, the same tioned the wisdom minimum number of a policy that to earn a high could adversely afschool diploma in the state. feet a number of athletes," The It's a low number, averaging State article said, out to about a D mark on an A, Tough for them. Deal with it. B, C, D, F scale. Safe to say, it's Schools nationwide are graduatnot a very high goal to attain. ing student athletes who go on to Last week, the Richland 2 float through top-ranking colleges school board made a preliminary and universities not because decision to enact a rule that would they find the classes too easy but have students maintain a 2.0 av- because they are used to getting erage to participate in any athlet- by. ic activity. The proposal passed 5- It's time all students at uni1 and is up for final approval Dec. versifies realize the true purpose 9, according to The State. of higher learning is to enhance It's nice to see some standards Richland 2 is taking steps are being set, such as standards Prom?te this idea, and it that can really benefit the students. would ^ se for other ^ Having a rule such as this will ide- uote and maybe copy this ally benefit students by improving *dea- ' Student Media Russell House USC Columbia, SC 29208 Adam Snyder Susan Meyers Ellen Parsons Interim Editor in Chief Photo Editor Interim Director Nlkki LaRocque Donnie Baker of Student Media Viewpoints Editor Graphics Editor Lee Phlpps Rosalind Harvey Stephanie Sonnenfeld Advertising Manager News Editor Asst. Viewpoints Editor Sherry F. Holmes Sara Ladenheim Kristin Richardson Classified Ad Manager News Editor, Design Cara Pellatt Carolyn Griffin Marcus Amaker Asst. News Editors Business Manager Amy Shannon Tori O'Hara Jim Green features Editors msi. rrtoio oaaor liiwivc uiicuui Achim Hunt Brian Rish Michele Dames Bryan Johnston On-line Editor Creative Services Sports Editors Julie Baker Graduate Assistant Ben Pillow Chris Culp Erik Collins Copy Desk Chief Casey Decker Faculty Advisor Chris Dixon ,JeS?an "a?er .inilllllJIJUIIJ Copy Editor Crtatwe Servlc" LLQKEQQX9 The Gamecock +803) The Gamecock is the student cock are those of the editors or author News. <803) 777-7726 newspaper of The University of South and not those of The University of ja? Carolina and is published Monday, South Carolina. ETC. (803)777-3913 Wednesday and fViday during the fall and spring semesters and five times The Board of Student PUblica- viewpoints (803)777-7726 during the summer with the excep- tions and Communications is the pubtion of university holidays and exam lisher of The Gamecock. Sports (803)777 7182 Pen<x'8' The Department of Student MeOpinions expressed in The Game dia is its parent organization. Online (803) 777-3913 ??.? - . ? ? _ Student Media The Gamecock will try to print The Gamecock newsroom in Russell Advertising (803) 777 1184 all letters received. Letters should be House room 333. Classifieds (803)777-1184 200-250 words and must include lull The Gamecock reserves the right name, professional title or year and to edit all letter for style, possible li- Fax (803) 777 6482 mtgor if a student. Letters must be bel or space limitations. Names will personally delivered by the author to not be withheld for any circumstance. Office (803) 777-3888 i' 1 signe PHILADELPHIA DAILY HEV Philadelphia usa -(g) I ISLAMIC ftSHl It is unfortunate, but sin< Random Asst. Viewpoints Editor Mv friend Emilie loves movies. She loves the yucky greasy pseudo butter-flavored popcorn you get to eat there. She loves the sticky floor, heavily curtained theater. She loves the 30-minute-long previews. She loves watching movies on her VCR or the RHA channel. She's not picky. She even has dreams of writing her own movie script one day. We've already picked the soundtrack (it's up to two parts these days). But more than anything, Emilie loves to talk about movies. Last year, when we were room Mninn ?"? ???''U *irn+/iL 4-1*/\ ril*Aw4 1nrA/l ma tea, wc wuuiu waw.ii liic onuifuvcu Popcorn Preview Channel with loyalty and amazement. "Oh, I want to see that," we would point. "I have to see this," we'd tell each other. When the Popcorn channel fell from existence, we turned back to E!, our old standby. E! was our direct connection to Hollywood, putting us as close to the world of movie stars as we could ever dream to be. It was Emilie who introduced me to the now too famous "Back to Bacon Game." This is the game where it's rumored that Kevin Bacon can be linked to any actor/actress via movies. For an 1C31U31CJ | Features Editor | I'm a firm believer that life is a constant struggle between how you really feel and how you are supposed to feel. The pressure of the latter comes from within and from the outside world. So I wasn't surprised when people thought I was crazy for wanting to take a course in Women's Studies. Even my advisor looked at me a little strange ly after I chose WOST 111 over a class about my heritage, African Americans in the media. WOST 111, Women in Western culture, sounded a lot more interesting. I figured it was time I took a class at USC that actually made me think. Who would have known I'd be the - only guy in the class. My need to take WOST 111 stemmed from my childhood and the natural feelings I had growing up. In elementary school, I was the little boy with whom all the girls wanted to play house. T rt/Mrni* fn fV\n nfkot* Katto x lie v ti x ciaieu tu miw uui^i wujo because all they wanted to do was beat up on each other during recess. "That's stupid," I thought. Translation: I don't know how to fight. Throughout time, I watched He-Man and She-Ra, played > /s o/\/ N?JV fi ce Fve been here at USC, I can reca] They're all < Senior Yolanta McDavid on ho links to easy example, link Kev to Burt Reynolds: Kevin Bacon was in She's Having A Baby with Alec Baldwin, who was in Prelude to a Kiss with Ned Beatty, who was in Deliverance with Burt. Simple game. Emilie loves to play this game. She thinks of the most obscure actors and tries to connect them with Kevin (with whom we are both on a first-name basis). Fm waiting for the day when she can link Gabe Kaplin of welcome dock cotter to tvevDO. I borrowed her notes to study for a test we had in our zoology class. Not much to my surprise, I found that she had played a new rendition of "Back to Bacon" on an obscure Wednesday in lab. Instead of linking Kevin to others, she was just linking people to each other. But she insists "Back to Bacon" is always her first priority when it comes to movie games. Since I played the game so many times with Emilie, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to see if I could link myself to Kevin. I started by reviewing the list of "celebrities" I knew. I met Newt Gingrich a couple of times. I met Carl Lewis at the Olympics last summer. Hmm, I saw Hootie and the Blowfish at Bar rone in with G.I. Joe and dolls, and I formed close relationships with girls my own age. It dawned on me in high school that 90 percent of my friends, including my best friend, were girls. Having close friends of the opposite sex and being skeptical of my own is a major aspect of who I am. Of course, one of the first things that people say when they hear this is that I only hang around girls because of an evil plot to get them into hod Yon spp it's socially acceutable to stereotype all men as sex-crazed, egocentric, unfaithful beast-like creatures. This stereotype resurfaced during the first month of class when one of my classmates told me I was in the class to get a date. She didn't mean it as a personal attack, but it still bothered me. Instead of causing a scene, I jokingly said, "Well, that wouldn't be a bad thing, but that's not the only rea son why I'm here.' The first half of the semester seemed harder than the last. Part of that was because I was afraid the class would think I was only saying what they wanted to hear when I participated in class discussion. People think I'm on crack when I say that a part of me understands what % \y/ '-Per z^\ lift J.A CV.I.-ft I . it m \m?n ?r 11 dozens of times I have been approai over campus." melessness in the Columbia area Hollywo "After all, someone once said everyone in the world is linked It's an intriguing philosophy ai None last spring. I interviewed Pat i Conroy when I was a freshman. De- ] spite my valiant efforts, I really couldn't ] link myself to Kev via these folks. Yet I was determined to figure out this chain of command. After all, someone once said (maybe it was Will Smith) < everyone in the world is linked together , by six other people. \ It's an intriguing philosophy and ' makes me sort of excited. Really, that , means there are only six people between me and Paul McCartney (sigh) ; or me and Eric Clapton (sigh, sigh) or me and Noah Wiley (yes, sigh again). 1 But that also can be a scary thought. There are only six links between me and Ozzy Ozbourne, Charles Manson or Rush Limbaugh. After diligent thinking and too j much knowledge of pop culture, I fi- j sea of es "Contrary to what many may all-out, male-bashing extravag timidating when we start tal bodies, but I it means to be a woman. Because of that, I feel that I understand a lot of the sexist ways in which our "liberated" society treats women. Instead of speaking up, I would sit in the back corner of the classroom clinging to what the instructor said on ji _ f i j r.i <ai7 me nrsi aay 01 ciass. v?e men tguuig to hold Marcus responsible for the whole male species. He can only speak for himself." I started to come out of my shell after I did a class presentation on women in music videos. My instructor seemed surprised by the way in which I presented the information. After that, I spoke up more in class and felt comfortable doing so. Contrary to what many may believe, WOST 111 is not an all-out, malebashing extravaganza. A lot of the class P orw z: 31x01)" 5j1 '<' 1 "3 i WNfD shed by a homeless person. od exist [ (maybe it was Will Smith) together by six other people, id makes me sort of excited." aally succeeded at connecting with Kev. I had to alter the rules a little bit, but I managed to do it. Here goes. Kevin was in Sleepers with Brad Pitt, who I have been dating for about sight months now. Okay, just kidding. Actually, it goes like this: Kevin was in Sleepers with Brad Pitt, who was in The Devil's Own with Harrison Ford, i _ mi n j_i_ rr ivno was miner ugiiwe wim x uinmy Lee Jones, who was roommates with Vice President A1 Gore, who knew my former congressman George "Buddy" Darden, who I worked for my senior /ear of high school. Okay, Emilie, did you ever hink you could be a part of "Back to 3acon?" Alright, give me another chalenge. Fm up for it. >trogen believe, WOST 111 is not an [anza...I must say it's a bit inking about women and their U survive." is spent discussing readings from our textbook, which has stories and poems from a female perspective. I must say it's a bit intimidating when we start talking about women and their bodies, but Fll survive. One of the problems that I have with the class is that the textbook doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that there are men in this society who aren't sexist pigs. Also, the class isn't geared toward men. I know you're thinking, "Well, what do you ex?4.?o T pCLl/ ; UUb ljuot l/l111UV U1C11 SUUUlUil 1/ feel hesitant if they wanted to take a class in Women's Studies. For the most part, WOST 111 is a good class. I know that I'm not the first or last male to take this class. I just wish it welcomed its male students more than it does now. ? 4