The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 01, 1997, Page 2, Image 2
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
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i' 1
signe
PHILADELPHIA DAILY HEV
Philadelphia
usa
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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
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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.
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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
%
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lift J.A CV.I.-ft I . it
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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