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.

Our last summertime issue comes out! Then we'll, well, slave on the first fall issue. Wednesday, July 22,1998 IS? Sening I be Carolina ( EDITORI Rosalind Harv< Kiki McCormicl Marcus Amakc DHEC rules Right now, argu- iBMMDTTi men's are being JETS made m a Greenville . . courtroom to decide the right of the HHIEm22 Department of The regulati Health and in place to/ Environmental Control to impose regulations on abortion clinics. The issue of the legality of abortion is a contentious one that plagues our country, pitting even members of editorial boards against one another. Fortunately, in this instance, we have no interest in either affirming or taking issue with abortion rights. The case in Greenville assumes the right of a woman to obtain an abortion. This case questions only whether that woman has the right to regulated, safe conditions in an abortion clinic. The regulations seem like a random hodgepodge at first, meant to plague abortion operators. But the justifications are there; they serve to protect the safety of the woman seeding an abortion. We aren't re There are two possibilities here. We're not n The first is that _ 4-L~ if-j T :i uit; iviuuera i-iiuraiy & list of the 100 best Or ...ma English-language novels of this century is a crock, designed to rouse indignation and, of course, interest in the books that they (very conveniently) happen to sell. The second possibility is that USC is not concerned with teaching its students the great novels of the 20th century. The reading lists for English classes this fall do include Hemingway, Salman Rushdie, and MJC ~ Serfiug lite Carolina Co The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The Umvers, Friday during the fall and spring semesters and eight times di exam penods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communcatioi Media is the newspaper s parent organization. The Gamecock Rosalind Harvey Editor in Chief Amy McCorr Kiki McCormick Viewpoints Editor Rebecca Wh Jennifer Stanley News Editor Rob Lindsey Marcus Amaker Features Editors Jenifer Stantej Bryan Johnston Sports Editor Student Media Ellen Parsons Director of Carolyn Grifl Student Media Jjm Green Lee Phipps Advertising Manager ^ r(Tfff(I|t Sherry F. Holmes Classified Ad Manager ' V iitcoi Community since 190H AL BOARD ey, Editor in Chief t, Viewpoints Editor should stand rnnTBBBHl For example, nic regulations EH,EE,S Tf^11^0118, , ,, , state that the clinics chal^- buildings must have MUJHHi 36-inch wide doorons should stay ways and clean sideyrotect women, walks. These stipula tions are important because they ensure easy access for wheelchairs and gurneys, which may be required to transport the patient who is experiencing complications, which do occur with some frequency. Other regulations deal with sterilization procedures, training requirements for staff, and several other rules that improve the 1:1: i* i i baieiy ui uuuuiuuiis ui uie umics. The clinics challenging the rules complain that implementation would be too costly. We hope that U.S. District Judge William Traxler Jr. will remember that Planned Parenthood vs. Casey of 1992 established not only that states can impose regulations on abortion clinics, but that cost is not considered an undue burden, making the clinics' argument irrelevant. adine greats V7 Virginia Wooif, ail of tdditiQ Qreats whom made the list. But we'll also be reading Gloria ybe we are. Naylor, Katherine Anne Porter, and Toni Morrison, taking up time that perhaps we should be spending rpnHincr tViP wall mnnv wVii+p miuo * "t, "4iiwv bM;w that populate the list. We're hoping the first possibility is true, and that our university has carefully chosen the literature to share with us. If we find they haven't, though, weH have to read Kurt Vonnegut and Dashiell Hammett on our own time. imccock Hmi imnunily since 1908 ity of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and iring the summer with the exception of university holidays and of the editors or author and not those of The llniversitv of South is is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student All numbers area code 803 nick Photo Editor The Gamecock lite Online Editor Editor 777-3914 Viewpoints 777-7726 Copy Editors ^ 777.7726 ' Etc. 7773913 Sports 777-7182 On-line 777-2833 fn Business Manager Student Media Creative Director Advertising 777-1184 r- , . -i Classifieds 777-1184 Faculty Advisor fgx 777.6482 Office 777-3888 m 9 [EWPO] The Gamecock VKTCFSgCES] MwofIUA Basgaiwe Mi*. The wo] After a night of sweat-drenched dancing at the Art Bar, after endur ing the " F~ shocking xy- JjS&Sv' "C ' uii aa. (juentin JOHNSti^ with my Columnist friend, Kristina. As the sun's light began to reveal the smogged skyline of Columbia, we decided to take a road trip to Augusta and get tatoos. The event, once it happened (nothing was open at eight a.m. Saturday mnrninpd was dull and somewhat annoying. I chose to have my body tattood with the Arabic words that mean "to shine." And as innocent as all this seems, the whole question was sparked. Sparked by a word inscribed on my body, a word unpronounceable to my tongue, foreign to my eye. The question of skin and the words that ride it ? words visible and unseen. Have you ever thought about the words that ride your skin? Words that sicmnl umir ofhnir-ifv cronHor VAWV j \jui vviuiiviyj, gwiUVi, sexual orientation, class, politics, intelligence? NTS rw ssss nww wSm / it* wS&SS wu. rds we a] From time to time in my brief twenty-two years, I've noticed it. But those words, intangible, ungraspable, were always erased by my sight. Not being able to see it and dwell on its meaning, I forgot these early questions pertaining to words and my skin. But by having a word on my skin, a word I cannot pronounce, a word exotic by its foreigness to my eye, to my tongue, to my skin, a slew of questions have awakened. This word I chose, but what about those words I don't choose? The words hung there by others? The words my hands unconsciously clutch? I think back to spring *97 when my friends and I were eating lunch outside of the Russell House Patio. Two Christian guys approached us and asked us a few God-directed questions concluding by asking us to define three words for them. These words are not as important as the response one of my friends gave. She said, "They're not really words, they're just a bunch of letters." Incensed, I scribbled this quote onto the table. T A~ iL: L?A i wanlcu lu say sumeuuiig, uui soon the words were gone. We settled into our respective grease patties, and my questions were swallowed, missing their chance to surface. Earlier this summer while reading Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker, I was struck by a quote that found itself scribbled onto my wall: Tour conception of who you are has always, at least partially, depend "It's a wonderful step forward for the visual aits." Mayor Bob Coble, on tbe Columbia Museum of Art Page 3 fteATOW M r i > college press EXCHANGE 11 wear ed on how people around you behave towards you." This quote meant something different to me then, but now, its impact has changed. Re-written so it says, "Your conception of who you are has always, at least partially, depended on how people around you word you," it refers not only to behavior, but words. The words planted in your skin, words that take root in your head and blossom into who you are. Take, for example, Morrison's masterpiece ^he Bluest Eye, in which a family of people, not really ugly, become ugly because they are shown that ugly they are. They tell you to reply to schoolyard taunts by saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But did this ever stop those words from entering you heart, echoing through its chambers, causing your eyes to tear? Wo rrnf or* nonrrVif nn in o TTV/ ggt OVJ vaugllb lip 111 YVUiliO, embodying these words and those words, that we forget we have the ultimate control of how our skin is worded. Each of us can write any word we choose on our skin and own it for as long as we believe in it. Why shouldn't we look at those words we choose, excuse all the others, create a self we recognize? A self we can see? A self j we like. After all, wouldn't it be a shame to walk through life scribbled with words that don't fit your skin?