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GAY LIFE AT USG Kathy LaLlma and Angie Wilson prepare dinner in Kathy’s apartment. Kathy and Angie cook together nearly every night of the week, photo by michelle dosson Walking the Line STUDENTS DESCRIBE LIVES OF CAUTION, ACCEPTANCE BY SARAH HAMMOND THE HAM EEOC K It’s 10 p.m. on a Saturday. The red Beezer’s sign glows on the porch. A few cars roll down Greene Street waving Gamecock flags. “Do you hear yelling?” Sam says. She checks the score on the game; we’re winning, and she rattles off some statistics about the his tory between USC and Geor gia. So she likes football. She also sells Mary Kay makeup and plays the violin. Sam skipped football for a concert at the Roger Center tonight. Now we’re at Beezer’s having a late-night sandwich. We’re talking about women; we're talking about love. | “It's just kind of an awe and fascination,” she says. “The whole person. The whole pack age. What women do, how they do their hair, and — what do they put in their coffee? You know, do they paint their toe nails or not? Why not? What Alan Hancock says gay life at USC is a lot like straight life at USC. photo by sarah hammond do they shave? Why? The col ors that they like to wear and the different—everything. It’s fascinating.” Her name isn’t Sam. We’ll call her that because she doesn’t feel comfortable put ting herself on the line pub licly. She’s active in USC’s Bi sexual Gay and Lesbian Asso ciation, and she’s out to her friends. But she wants to grad uate in December, and she’s concerned that if any of her professors read this article, it might affect her grades. So gay life at USC is still tenuous. But Sam is the only person in this article who won’t be named. Many stu dents are ready and willing to talk. Gay life is straight life “I think the general theme of gay life at USC is just that it’s straight life at USC,” says Alan Hancock, a third-year ge ography major. Fourth-year business major Bryan Quick tries to articulate gay life. “It transcends to all levels. There are men, and there are women. There are Christians, Methodists. There’s black, white, Asian. But gay is a part of all of that.” Security is situational. “If I’m in a motorcycle bar with a bunch of straight peo ple, I’m not going to take my boyfriend,” Alan says. He laughs, “That’s an extreme ex ample.” His friend Glenn Prince joins us on the Preston porch. Glenn’s a third-year speech major who just transferred from Arkansas State to join USC’s debate team. Both he and Alan are aware of the line ♦ GAY AT USC, SEE PAGE 3 Greenery to replace parking BY GREG HAMBRICK THE GAMECOCK Students will have even farther to go to get to class as trees replace parking spaces in the first phase of USC’s beautification project. The project slates even more park ing space to be eliminated in its later stages. * The project, to begin Oct. 29, wilTharrow Sumter Street, adding greenery along the sides from Greene to Devine and a planted median from Devine to Blossom. This first step in the $4 million dollar project to improve the streets around campus will elimi nate the on-street parking beside the fraternity houses and Labor de and Moore dorms. “Parking is always a concern,” said Ben Coonrod, university landscaping architect. i ne scnuui is reviewing uie uan sit system so that other parking op tions further from the campus will be more appealing, Coonrod said. The improvements to Sumter Street will include new bus shel ters on either side of the street and a better pull off stop for the buses. Other improvements include a 6-foot-tall brick wall in front of the Laborde and Moore residence halls and a wrought-iron fence in the median similar to the one on Blossom Street. USC spokesman Russ McKin ney hopes the new landscaping will protect students crossing the busy strip of road. “This will force pedestrians to cross the street at certain places,” he said. The crosswalks along the Sumter Street will be imprinted in colored asphalt so that they are more prominent. At least one of the street’s two lanes will stay open diming the 9-month project and the shuttle stops will remain open. Other improvements planned for the campus area will also re place parking spaces with trees and shrubs. To improve the area around the Strom Thurmond Health and Wellness Center, the school will begin “streetscaping” Blossom Street from the Greek Village to Pickens Street. i . —q'pssom oyygij GRAPHIC BY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA Streetscaping is a universal term for improvements to the area around streets that can include lighting, greenery, and benches. The school is also planning streetscaping projects from Pendleton and Bull streets, which will mean the loss of additional spaces for on-street parking. McKinney said that these other improvements won't begin until funding becomes available. Columbia City Council is still weighing other suggested im provements by the school, includ ing narrowing the section of Sumter Street in front of the Horseshoe to two lanes and pro tecting pedestrians by lowering the speed limit in front of the Rus sell House. School officials said the two suggestions will be presented to the Columbia City Council when funding becomes available. Hope for survivors ruled out at WTC BY LARRY MCSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER NEW YORK — One week after terrorists brought down the World Trade Center, the mayor said Tuesday there was virtually no hope left of finding any of the 5,400 missing souls alive. Meanwhile, a federal grand jury has begun in vestigating the attack. The somber news from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani came just a few hours after the nation, led by President Bush on the White House lawn, paused for two min utes to honor the victims. The re membrance came at 8:48 a.m., ex ®ctly one week after the first of two hijacked airliners struck the twin towers, followed soon after f by hijacked planes crashing at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Nancy Pelaez, an administra tive assistant on her way to work in New York, paused and wiped away tears. "When you keep silent these two minutes, it seems like a really long time," she said. "I’m thinking of people who were look ing for their loved ones." By Tuesday, 218 people had been confirmed dead at the Trade Center and 5,422 were still listed as missing. Five survivors have been found, but none since last Wednesday. Just 135 bodies have been identified - little more than 2 percent of the dead and miss ing.j After a week of round-the-clock digging by thousands of rescue ♦ ATTACKS, SEE PAGE 4 Firefighters collect donations Proceeds will go to families of firefighters killed in New York City BY JESSICA FOY THE GAMECOCK Columbia and Irmo firefight ers raised $5,800 in five hours on campus Tuesday for the fire fighters who died in this past week’s rescue efforts in New York. “Please donate to our brother and sister firefighters who lost their lives in New York City. Please donate to our fallen fire fighters. Thank you so much.” These were the words of the firefighters in front of the Rus sell House from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The cheering and spirit of the firefighters was a far cry from the silence that settled over the USC campus only one week before as students learned about the terrorist attacks that gripped the nation. The firefighters turned their boots and helmets into donation boxes and held them out to any one that walked by. At the end of the day, they were happy to re port that they received $5,800 that will be sent to the Interna tional Association of Firefight ers and then given to the fami lies of New York firefighters who died in Tuesday’s tragic events. As students, faculty and staff passed by, they dug into their pockets and gave what they ♦ FIREFIGHTER, SEE PAGE 4 Travis Carricato collected donations Tuesday for the families of New York firefighters, photo by josh skidmore USG’S PAST Sept. 24,1895 The first woman student at USC, ^Tances Guignard Gibbes, enrolled for classes. WEATHER Today Tomorrow Sunny, T-storms, 84/65 84/64 INSIDE TODAY’S ISSUE Guys who watch < USC gets ready soap operas for Mississippi State Soaps aren’t just for women. No. 18 Gamecocks take on No. 17 ♦ PAGE 7 Bulldogs Thursday. ♦ PAGE 10 ONLINE POLL Sept. 19,2001 If the United States goes to war, would you enlist? Vote at * www.dailygamecock.com. Results are published on Fridays.