Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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fthe (Samecock Cuisine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Rocky Mountain oysters. There are people, and not just English people, who love odd foods. They were raised eating them and it’s a part of their culture. Then again, 1 was raised on baby food, but I’m never going back. I was at the Gamecock Bi-Lo the other day and was appalled to see microwave pork rinds. They were packaged exactly like microwave popcorn and had identical preparation methods. “Place package, this side up in microwave. Cook on high for 2 to 5 minutes.” As if the pork rind concept wasn’t repugnant enough, they can be engineered so a microwave can cause them to puff appropriately. Not only am I striking these little beauties from my diet, but I’m retroactively vowing never to consume pork rinds. Any pork rind I may have consumed in the past is now null and void; I never have and never will eat one.To take it a step further, these aforementioned foods that I will never consume would nauseate even the most culinary cultures. Sure, the French eat frog legs and snails, but can you really see the stereotypical pretentious Frenchman sitting down to pig face in a burgundy sauce? (According to some friends of mine who spent a semester in France, the typical Frenchman is in fact overly pretentious and therefore can be safely portrayed as such.) I would imagine Ian is at home right now, complaining to his friends how odd our cuisine is and how difficult it is to find a jar of blood at any grocery store. The climax of his story will focus on the worst food of all, the daily punishment he endured of the fake rice, fake meat, flat soda of the Grand Marketplace. At that point, his friends will decide Americans have horrible taste in food and vow never to eat anything that disgusting. They will then sit down for a lovely blood pudding. Letters Columnist lacks understanding of poverty in the South To the Editor: Taylor Marshall-Green’s June 13 column “YNKE 123: Understanding poverty” shows little understanding of poverty, but it does demonstrate his ig norance and narcissism. Marshall-Green explains the dif ference between “the homeless and the needy” in the North and the South. Ac cording to Marshall-Green, panhandlers “help the funds come in via Maxwell House cans, guitar cases, top hats and patience,” and they refrain from small talk and trickery in their quest for mon ey, as opposed to the South, where the behavior of gullible sorority girls and their boyfriends allows panhandlers to aggressively approach passersby with outrageous lies. Unlike Marshall-Green, I have encountered patient and meek panhandlers in the South and I have al so been approached by aggressive pan handlers with implausible stories in the North. I wonder if Marshall-Green did a thorough investigation of pan handlers in the thousands of towns and cities in the North and compared them to the thousands of towns and cities in the South before writing the column. Perhaps instead he compared his expe rience in Five Points to a couple of (un named) places he has been to in the North and then wrongly generalized about both regions. Nobody is forcing Marshall-Green to give away the money he made by sell ing CDs. Why is he so enraged by peo ple asking for money? Before writing about the “homeless and needy,” per haps Marshall-Green should learn some thing about the subject. It is easy to write “get a fuckin’ job,” but more difficult to talk to people on the street and learn about barriers they face to gain ing steady employment. In the Colum bia area, every homeless shelter is filled to capacity every night of the year, usu ally before 4 p.m. Many people living in shelters work full time for minimum wage, but still cannot afford housing. I suggest that Marshall-Green take him self to the Oliver Gospel Mission and volunteer to serve dinner to the long line of homeless people waiting for a hot meal each night instead if suggesting that the needy eat melted cheese off of his shoe. Michael Berg 1st year Graduate Student, Darla Moore School of Business Newspaper unfair to Dining Services To the Editor: Come on guys, give us a break. Just because you have the privilege of writ ing for the school newspaper it doesn't mean that you have the solution for every problem on campus. You have a great staff, full of potential, but sometimes you can be very unreasonable. On the article "Dining's summer hours causes inconvenience" you men tioned that Housing should offer only apartment-style options for summer. Housing did offer apartment-style for those who can afford, but in my case, I am glad that they had LaBorde, where I can save money and still have my pri vate room. University Housing has a re sponsibility to offer housing to all stu dents, limiting our options is not the so lution for dining hall problems. Besides, let's be realistic, not many of us would actually take time to go to the Grand Marketplace without a meal plan. Just ask the students who would actually eat on campus, when eating off campus is most of the time as expen sive as using a cash card. Next time, please keep in mind that you are writing for a large group of peo ple with different necessities and dif ferent priorities and most of us cannot benefit from the solutions proposed by The Gamecock. Camila Padua Fourth year, College of Journalism and Mass Communications Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from aH members of tee Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion pace of about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, professional title or year and major if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personalty delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation and should be e-mailed to gamecockviewpoints@hotmaa.com. Though The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space, letters to the editor wiH be published as is. Spelling, grammar and other mistakes wi not be edited. Oily two letters to the editor per student wtfl be printed in a semester or during tee summer. Staff columns take priority over guest columns, unless the guest columnist offers expertise on a subject, or if tee subject’s relevance is limited by time. Anonymous letters wiS not be published. Guest columns and tetters may be submitted by e-mail to gamecockviewpoints@hotmaa.com. Call (803) 777-7726 for more information. John Travolta needs to stop acting, already . Why can’t John Travolta just stop? Wally Altman is a featured columnist. He can be reached at gamecockviewpoints ©hotmail.com. The other night, I went to see John Travolta’s new movie, “Swordfish.” If you like cool explosions, I suggest you go see it; you’ll get your money’s worth in the first five minutes. If not, don’t bother; aside from the special effects and the chase scene near the end, neither of which had anything at all to do with Mr. Travolta, the movie was sadly lacking. I had to be coerced into seeing the movie, because I thought it was going to be incredibly lame. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be just plain lame. B u t that was last night, and now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve decided there’s no reason I should be subjected to lame movies. To that end, I’ve decided that John Travolta needs to stop making movies, because the past few that I’ve seen have ranged from lame 10 appalling, neinous, ana nauseating. That last bit was in reference to “Battlefield: Earth,” which I somehow managed to see. I’ve always thought most Americans, including myself, weren’t quite up to par when it came to choosing entertainment. It seems that I was wrong about most Americans but right about myself, because I’ve gotten the impression that maybe 10 other people in the country went to see “Battlefield: Earth.” I’m pretty sure that not a single person I know saw it, excepting only those sad souls who went with me. Anyway, suffice it to say. that it was not only the worst movie, but the worst thing, that I’ve ever seen. I must admit that when I first embarked down this path of reasoning, I couldn’t make it work quite right, because I kept thinking about “Face/Off” and “Pulp Fiction.” Both were great movies, and both featured John Travolta. Has he become less talented as the years have passed? Perhaps, but I think there is a deeper, more unsettling truth to be discovered. Consider with me for a moment. Who else was in “Pulp Fiction”? Many talented actors and actresses, among them Samuel L. Jackson, the quintessential bad mofo, and Bruce Willis, one of the most talented actors of our time. ■ Who was in “Face/Off”? Nicolas Cage, who has too much style for his own good, but who for once kept it in check and gave a terrific performance. Now, how about Swordfish / Hugh Jackman did well in “X Men,” I’ll admit, but only because he looks just like Wolverine, and what’s-her-name was nothing but eye candy. And “Battlefield: Earth?’ There’s naught to be heard but the sound of crickets chirping. At this point, the truth is all too clear. John Travolta’s best, and only, acting asset is his name. He is incapable of adding anything of worth to a film. Sure, he doesn’t ruin great movies, but take him alone or with weak support and he’s got nothing. All he does is take his millions and laugh at us poor folk, stuck with his crappy movies. That’s why I say he should stop and leave us in peace. I__I