University of South Carolina Libraries
Quote, Unquote ‘I’m confused. I do not know what I watched.’ Eddie Fogler, USC head basketball coach, on USC’s latest win Friday, December 3,1999 ' Wat (5amecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Sara Ladenheim • Editor in Chief Kenley Young • Managing Editor Emily Streyer • Viewpoints Editor Corey Ford • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Kiki McCormick • Editorial Contributor '99 deeds recognized ! by The Gamecock The year 1999 has given this page much comment for fodder. In reflecting upon the year, we thought it appropriate to rec ognize those who did well by the world, nation, state or uni versity — and scold (again) those who said or did things they should regret. Top Impeachable Offenses for 1999 1. Stealing a car 2. Improper use of cigars 3. Not returning phone calls Stupidest Bumper Stickers „ Halle-LOU-ya Palmetto Ivy Most Unrealistic Expectations for 1999 1. Anarchy for the “millennium” I 2. SEC football championship for the Gamecocks ^ (Give us time — we’ll get there.) 3. Intelligent debate over the Confederate flag Worst Strip Tease Poker (As in: Strip Poker before it strips our community. Let’s move on to more pressing issues like education and moving the Confederate flag to a museum.) Mind Your Own Business A ward National NAACP (We’re Southerners. We do things at our own pace. The flag will not come down at the urgence of an outside group.) Best Proposed Use of Green Space A new six-story parking garage Biggest Phantom Menace Hurricane Floyd (Maybe better safe than sorry, but more organization next time, please, Gov. Hodges.) The Grow A Backbone Award Gov. Jim Hodges " (For the NAACP/flag debacle.) The Spine To Spare Award John Palms (For his eloquent appeal to the S.C. people to take the Confeder ate flag from our State House dome.) The Sara F. Ladenheim Carpetbagger Award Hillary Clinton (She came. She saw. She received privileged financial backing to buy one of the biggest houses in New York state. Now she thinks she’s going to win a Senate race?) The Brad Walters Understatement A ward President Bill Clinton “The relationship I had with Ms. Lewinsky was inappropriate. In fact, it was wrong.” The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Triday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock «those of the editors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is •x . _»_ -* — '—*‘ TT>x O.ihxxaxL i# eiirxewwTerf in nsif Kxi efii/fnnt artiultlAC food Adores* The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Stuoeht Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803 Editor gckedftsc.edu 777-3914 News gcknewsftsc.edu 777-7726 Viewpoints gckviewsftsc.edu 777-7TB1' * Etc. gcketcftsc.edu 777-3913 Sports gcksportsftsc.edu 777-7182 Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be ar opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the, submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock Sara Ladenheim Editor in Chief Ken ley Young Managing Editor Emily Streyer Viewpoints Editor Kevin Langston Brock Vergakis News Editors Clayton Kale Associate News Editor Rachel Helwig EtCetera Editor Todd Money Jared Kelowitz Sports Editor Kristin Freestate Copy Desk Chief Sean Rayford Photo Editor Rob Lindsey Encore Editor Student Media Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Kris Black Julia Burnett Betsy Martin Kathy Van Nostrand Creative Services Will Gillaspy Online Editor Corey Ford Asst. Viewpoints Editor John Huiett Asst. News Editor Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor David Cloninger Asst. Sports Editor Greg Farley Asst. Photo Editor Casey Williams Asst. Online Editor Brad Walters Graphics Editor, Copy Editor, Editorial Contributor MacKenzie Craven Charlie Wallace Philip Burt Senior Writers Lee Phipps Advertising Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jonathi* Dunagin Graduate Assistant College Press Exchange Social Issues What are the rules for '90s sex? y^s it the \\/ Ministers T T who first shared a bed on TV? I don’t know, but didn’t you won der where Wally and the Beav came from? Could Ward’s sperm jump from his single bed over to June’s? What accuracy! If Bill Clinton had half his aim, we’d have avoided the whole blue dress debacle. But I digress. The point is people pre tended sex didn’t happen back in the days of the Beav. So the rules were pretty simple: Don’t have it unless you’re mar ried. But now, after the sexual revolution, that rule doesn’t cut it. Even those few who want to save sex for marriage have to deal with the fact that we’ve had a major paradigm shift in the way we think about our most intimate relations. Any given per son you date—or “hook up’ ’ with—might have entirely different expectations. So what principle guides us? Please, where is the Emily Post of hook-up etiquette? There are some trying to disseminate advice. Susie Bright, a columnist for Salon (http://www.salon.com), is one. She has an eleven-year open relationship with the father of her children, and she delights in describing her sundry trysts with the men and women she meets. I just read a column wherein she describes an evening of fisting with a Cindy Crawford looka like. Titillation notwithstanding, most of us wouldn’t find her ideas helpful. And our generation needs help navi gating the waters of love and lust. I’ve been married for a while, but I remember dat ing; and I’m privy to the adventures of sin gle friends. Some of the stories make even me blush: Ali* and Joe meet in a bar. He sketch es her portrait, they have a beer, they talk, they have more beer. Ali goes home with Joe. They start having sex, halfway through which Joe whispers that he hopes they’ll be seeing a lot of each other. Ali jumps off Joe, out of bed, and escapes.* Joe wonders what he did wrong. Joe wonders what Ali’s last name is. Friends Sandra and Lisa meet buddies Matt and Dan at a bar. For a reason un known to this writer, Sandra and Lisa ac cept an invitation to Matt’s apartment af ter last call. Over at Matt’s, the guys keep the girls’ glasses full, and the conversation consists mostly of sexual banter. Lisa and Dan retire to one bedroom, Matt and San dra to another. Dan’s fervent desire to plea sure her leads Lisa to fake a climax. Dan expresses a wish to keep in touch with Lisa and get together for recreational purpos es in the future, though he later acts sus piciously remorseful. They chat until Matt tells Sandra and Sandra tells Lisa about Dan’s girlfriend. Lisa decides to let Dan know about the faked orgasm. Two girls meet four guys in a bar. They become intoxicated and take die party else where. They play a stripping-and-kissing game, which leads to pairing off. The girls feel sorry for the two leftovers. Friends Layla and Kerry meet pals Aaron and Bruce in, you guessed it, a bar. The soused Aaron and Bruce reveal their group-sex fantasies. Layla and Ker ry have a few drinks themselves, and be cause they find these fellows to be fine specimens, go back to Aaron’s place. Aaron and Kerry hook up on the couch, Bruce and Layla become intimate with the din ing room floor. But neither gentleman can perform! So the group retires to a bed room, a nude task force bent on fixing this lame problem. They find dial simply switch ing partners, and remaining all in one bed, does wonders. Afterward, Kerry moons over an absent Bruce for six weeks. Aaron and Layla hook up a few more times. Ker ry and Aaron end up friends. You get the picture: Alcohol, sex with strangers who may or may not be carrying diseases, and very uncomfortable situa tions. It’s strange, but there are no more help ful rules for sex now then there were when June and Ward were sleeping alone. Now, sex is not only acknowledged, but explored and exploited in mainstream media. But the only information we get is that sex is happening on a grand scale. Nobody says how to approach it healthily. So our gen eration approaches sex with no notion at all of what to do. Sure, these stories may not be repre sentative. But who doesn’t find themselves regretting an evening, or wishing they had done something differently. Wouldn’t life be easier with a few rules of etiquette? Like, when is the right time to discuss pos sible diseases? (The rule isn’t set, so dis ease spreads.) When should people es tablish what they are hoping to find in the other person? (No one knows, so people get hurt.) And pardon me if I lapse into what seems absurd, but is it a cruel lie to fake a climax, or is it simply a polite fic tion? And in what manner should you approach your friend about switching part ners? And is it impolite to leave people out of the fun if they are in the room? Or is it rude of the leftovers to stay? A few decades ago, young people de cided to liberate themselves from rules they felt too strict. But they failed to set up a new system for themselves and the next generation — and it’s too late to go back. We’re all sharing beds now. *Names changed to protect the guilty Ignorance of HIV as big a problem as epidemic To the Editor With World AIDS Day occurring this week, I have realized that its meaning for me has changed significantly. On a whim, I decided that it was in my best interest that I get a blood test for HIV, even though my test was negative on Nov. 20,1998. The results were not what I expected. I tested positive for HTV, the virus that caus es AIDS, on March 5,1999.1 had suspected this, especially since my boyfriend did not think that a condom was a necessity. Evi dently, I did not know Josh as well as I thought. Our decision to not use a condom was not that I preferred to be careless. I took precautions every single time in the past. Josh seemed different. I knew that our re lationship could grow into something spe cial. One night, we realized that we did not have any condoms. Josh reassured me that everything was OK; that we did not need protection. Now, I will think of that one instance for the rest of my life. I feel as though Josh has dramatically shortened my life. Even with the advent of new medications, I continue to live each day, knowing that my life could end in a moment. Since my diagnosis, I have tried to research and learn as much about HIV/AIDS as I possibly c<$ld. Unfortu nately, what I learned is alf’too frighten ing; too real. Accurate statistical data on the number of HIV-infected individuals cannot be gathered because half of all those who are infected are unsuspecting. They do not realize just how real HIV is. It can happen to anyone, not just the IV drug user, or to homosexual men. It is rapidly in fecting women and children every day. hi fact, individuals between the ages of 18 24 are among the highest rates of infec tion. I have not dealt well with HIV. I look just as healthy as any college student. I am 20 years old, and already I know that I will probably not live to be older than 40. To look at me, you would never sus pect that I had HIV. And that’s the scary part. HIV/AIDS does not pick who it in fects, nor does it look a certain way. It sim ply happens. Just as easily as it happened to me, it could happen to you. The sad part about HIV is the dis crimination that goes along with the dis ease. Since my diagnosis in March, I have already lost several close friends. I went through a tough time this past school year, and I needed someone to talk to. I was very close with my roommates, so I broke the news. They were very sup portive of my status at the time. Upon re turn to school this semester, none of them have contacted me. After leaving count less messages and none of them being re lumed, I gave up. This semester brought hope. I became very close with my new roommate. While I was not legally required to notify herxlf my status, I felt compelled to. Since the night of my disclosure, she has not slept in our dorm room. It never occurred to me that I would cause her to fear being in fected. Unfortunately, it did. The events that occurred next would forever change my opinion of her. My roommate came by and in formed me that she was moving out. Her excuse was that she was going to move in with her boyfriend. I believed her until she showed me the student handbook and point ed out the HIV/AIDS policy. She said, “Look! You can get your own private room because of your ‘special situation!’” I sim ply dismissed this as my imagination be ing overactive. The next day, I received a phone call from a top official at the Hous ing office. I was told to come in for a meet ing to discuss my future roommate situa tion. 1 knew exactly what had happened. Her fear of catching HIV by sharing the bathroom was a subject that she did not discuss with me. HIV only occurs through a transfer of bodily fluids, mainly blood, semen, and vaginal secretions. I was ap palled and I felt violated. Not only had my roommate had broken my trust, but laws against defamation and slander. I do not know where to turn anymore. Ignorance has swept across the US faster than HIV. I wish that one day society would leiun tliat HIV does not discriminate against who it infects, nor should we discriminate against those who are infected. Name, Major, and Year Withheld Letters see pace * Campus Issues Editor's job isn't all perks I love U2.1 really do. They are my favorite band ever. Not one musi cal conversation goes by without my mentioning my hero Bono and my love for his everlasting . talent. You know SaraLa<fenheim y“TT:“ Wita in Cilinl walk by — I m the short girl with the of The Gamecock huge L.L. Bean Today's is her backpack with the last paper. She laige U2 patch sewn can be reached on the back pock- at gcked@sd.edu. et. And no, sorry, but I can’t tell you where 1 got it, so don’t ask me. Now that I’ve gotten that little piece of information out of the way I can safely say that this column will be my last con tribution to that little tri-weekly piece of perfection — The Gamecock. In many ways my time on the staff could be compared to my love for U2. It started out as a minor infatuation that has grown into the monstrous thing it is now. It’s hard to imagine that my time as editor is over, but it is pretty cool to know that I was the last editor of the 19s. For those of you un aware of what it is like to be editor, take notes. rirs. ui ail, yuui umie is iuui. i iiavc iu say that because I love my office. 1 have a better view then most professors, 1 have a nice big comfy chair, free voice-mail, a brand new computer and to top it all off, a win dow allowing me to look into the news room and watch my people work. It is re ally cool. The second coolest thing is the Student Media scholarship. I like it a lot. Okay, now that I have all the perks out of the way, here are some of the not-so-cool things you have to put up with: (In other words, the honeymoon is over and you woke up next to a big, fat, hairy Italian named Pauly whose idea of a good time is to imi tate Tony from “Who’s the Boss.”) 1. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays do not belong to you. They are now property of the University of South Carolina. And learn fast that people do not seem to real ize that the paper is produced on these three days. That’s right. You will receive a mil lion phone calls a day asking why someone’s whatever wasn’t printed even though they brought it in early Monday morning. Too . bad the little fairies that put the paper to gether magically aren’t around “early Mon day morning.” Or... 2. You will be there so late on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday that, in all actuality, the paper will be produced on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So maybe some of these wayward people will get to have their press releases written up after all. 3. After playing voice-mail tag for weeks with your friends, you finally make plans only to realize that the date is on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday. 4. Doing homework at 4 a.m. 5. Not doing your homework and be coming a really good bullshit artist. 6. Meeting other editors from other col lege newspapers and laughing for hours on end about the dumbest things each respec tive student bovemment does. 7. Realizing no one understands. 8. Realizing no one understands and no one cares to hear your complaints. 9. Having to work in an environment where sex is the only topic of conversation. Ever. 10. Overhearing the most random, fun ny things like: “I would rather touch Jew el’s teeth than smell a pile of shit,” or “I want to get rid of Pokemon.” 11. Having pizza parties once in a while that remind you of the days when you played 7Up. Then you see some people playing 7Up and the whole metaphor is lost. 11 a. Ooh! Another perk 1 forgot—you get to say, “I hate everyone equally.” And mean it. 12. Having the Taco Bell smell linger in the newsroom for days only to realize your news editor accidentally left a taco in the drawer. 13. Missing all the good TV shows like “Friends” turd “The Simpsons.” ■ 14. Asking simple questions like how big is your story? And getting the response: “As big as my COCK.” So now that you have way too many reasons why you should hate being the ed itor, here is one final reason why you should love it (but since you probably won’t get the opportunity to be the editor, sorry for stringing you along)—how much you know you arc going to mbs it when you arc done.