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I 6 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, April 24, 2002 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at What USC sports star will make the www.dailygamecock.com or biggest impact at the professional level? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION More options for mealtime With a love for Lou Holtz and a hatred for Clemson, being a USC student means appreciating healthy competition. Next fall, USC Dining Services will also learn to deal with healthy competition — the Five Points Meal Plan. The plan allows students or their parents to put money into a debit account and purchase food with a “meal” card at a variety of restaurants near campus. The Five Points Meal Plan might prove to be an ideal option for many students, especially those who live off campus or aren’t satisfied Five Points VS. with on-campus options. the Grand And it’s something for Sodexho Marketplace: to take into serious consideration May the best as it bids for next year’s on meal plan win. campus dining contract. This alternate meal plan should encourage Dining Services to work harder at providing eating options suitable for all students. On-campus food should be comparable with much loved Five Points favorites, such as Yesterday’s and Adriana’s Gelataria. We’d also like to see a better variety of dining facilities on campus. Who is actually satisifed with the options in the Carolina Mall? We believe the Five Points Meal Plan and USC Dining Services can co-exist. We hope they’ll challenge each other to keep the students’ best interests in mind. May the best meal plan win. Winners and Sinners FOOTBALL Five players drafted by NFL; four more sign contracts. Clint Mathis and Josh Wolff will also play World Cup “football” this summer. GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL Science and Math program roommates both ace SATs. Their pet Siamese fighting fish scores a 980 and will attend Clemson. CLEMSON Zero players, including former Heisman candidate Woody Dantzler, are drafted, whereas fierce Humanitarian Bowl competitor, Boise State, has two draftees. Clemson is subsequently teased twice in same “Winners and Sinners.” JOHN MONTGOMERY School of Law dean allegedly attempted to pursuade professors not to testify against $25,000 per year donor. Might have also advised Derek Watson not to inhale. MONTICELLO Thomas Jefferson’s heirs begrudgingly allow Hemings family members to be buried — separate but equal — on estate. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Mary Hartney CONTACT INFORMATION Editor in Chief Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Glnny Thornton Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News Editor University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Kevin Fellner The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Acct Npws Editor Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com • Online: www.dailygamecock.com Mackenzie Clements Newsroom: 777-7726 Viewpoints Editor EDITORIAL BOARD The Gamecock is the Carrie Phillips u . .. w ' student newspaper of The Mix Editor Kyle Almond the university of South Mackenzie Clements, Carolina and is Justin Bajan Chris Foy, Jason published Monday. Asst. The Mix Editor Harmon. Mary Hartney, Wednesday and Friday Brandon Larrabee, during the fall and Chris Foy Carrie Phillips, Ginny spring semesters and Sports Editor Thornton, Martha njne times during the Wri6ht summer with the J. Keith Allen exception of university Asst. Sports Editor cTiincuT MPniA holidays andexam STUDbNI IVItUIA periods. Opinions Brandon Larrabee Erik Collins expressed in The Special Projects Faculty Adviser Gamecock are those of the editors or Adam Beam Ellen Parsons author and not those Contributing Editor Director of Student of the University of Media Sogth Carolina. The Martha Wright “ Board of Student Design Editor Susan King Publications and Creative Director Communications is Page Designers the publisher of The Crystal Dukes, Sarah Carolyn Griffin Gamecock. The McLaulin, Katie Smith, Business Manager Department of Student David Stagg Media is the Sar*h Scarborough newspaper s parent Kyle Almond Advertising Manager organization. The Copy Desk Chief Gamecock is Sherry F. Holmes supported in part by Copy Editors Classified Manager student activities Crystal Boyles. Andrew fees. One free copy Festa, Jason Harmon. Creative Services Per reader. Additional Jill Martin, Paul Rhine Derek Goode, Todd copies may be Hooks, Earl Jones, purchased for one Mark Hartney Jennie Moore, dollar each from the Online Editor Melanie Roberts. Department of Student Beju Shah Media. Corey Davis Photo Assignments Advertising Staff JQ PLACE AN AD Betsy Baugh, Photo Editors Amanda Ingram, The Gamecock Robert Gruen, Candi Denise Levereaux, 1400 Greene Street Hauglum Jackie Rice. Gloria Columbia. S.C. 29208 Simpson. Stacey Advertising: 777 3888 kelly Petruska Todd Classified: 777-1184 Community Affairs Fax: 777-6482 GAMECOCK GOODBYES Forthe rest of the semester, the normal Viewpoints columnists will be taking some time off. Instead, graduating staff membeisoflhe Gamecock will be writing theirfinal contributions, after years of late nights and missed classes - all forthe love oflhe ’Cock. | PoPeMoBlLe (2.002. A\ODEL...) Thefuture whoops a llama’s ass JASON HARMON GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM You don’t have to be a fake Jamaican to see what tomorrow holds. As we prepare to graduate and see how poorly college life has prepared us for the real world, or a reasonable simulation, it’s time again for one of those marvelous year end columns. Considering that the only other major work I’ve had published here was the lead story in last year’s parody issue (voted best issue ever by people who never read The Gamecock), I wondered how much I had today. But it isn’t every day you’re given an open forum, and I’m sure the next one Will be a long time coming. As the great prophet Criswell once said, “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” Of course, he also said Des Moines would turn into a “homosexual city” and that Denver would be turned into congealed jelly via your typical mysterious force from outer space. And while I have no ability to see the future, except that Clemson will always suck, that can’t stop me from just making up stuff. Therefore, through the power of a rubber chicken, rich sawmill gravy, secret voodoo spices™ and a signed photo of Bob Barker, here’s your “Guide to Tomorrow” (expires April 23). ♦ After years of waiting, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications will finally move to a new location. Unfortunately, it will be in the basement of the new arena. ♦ Boiling Springs, S.C., will become a thriving metropolis after naming the main road Phil Petty Boulevard after its local hero. It will eventually swallow up my neighboring hometown of New Prospect, where dozens will weep for the lost past when a stoplight is installed. ♦ The Gamecock will be able to endorse candidates without starting a campus-wide controversy. (Sorry, this actually happens in a parallel universe where Jimmy “ J. J.” Walker becomes president.) ♦ A Cryogenically frozen Hulk Hogan will return in 2078 and become the 187-time World Champion. ♦ Strom Thurmond will die. (This one’s a bit fuzzy, folks.) ♦ Student Government will pass a resolution calling for a massive construction project after running out of walls to paint. ♦ In a final effort to beautify the campus, all parking will be eliminated. Students will park in Irmo and ride mules down 1-26. Trustees will be carried in sedan chairs down Main Street. ♦ Clemson will suck. (It deserves repeating.) ♦ The major networks will tone down their coverage of the Robert Blake murder trial when they realize no one in the key youth demographics knows who the hell Blake is. ♦ Future Gamecock farewell columns will be measured using the Jason Harmon Memorial Self-Indulgotron (patent pending). Doesn’t the future look like fun? It does to me, but I think I inhaled a few too many secret voodoo spices™. That would explain the visions of journalism professors singing a heartbreaking rendition of “Someday My Dean Will Come” at graduation. Remember, the future is yours to harness. That is, unless you’re carrying a trustee to work. Harmon is a fourth-year print journalism student. He began working at The Gamecock in the first semester of his junior year and has been a copy editor, wire editor and staff jester. IN YOUR OPINION Article was biased toward Israelis Last Wednesday’s front page article “Powell pushes Israel to withdraw” totally ignores the horrific atrocities that Israeli troops are continuing to inflict on Palestinian civilians within refugee camps. News reports confirmed that Israeli soldiers have massacred hundreds of civilians, many of whom are children, within these camps. They have bulldozed Palestinian homes with people still inside them. Israel has restricted rescue services to the camps, leading to the deaths of Palestinians who could have survived with medical treatment. Why are Palestinians the only ones asked to stop violence, while Israel is passively asked “to withdraw”? i ne Associated rress article in The Gamecock quotes from Tuesday’s episode of PBS’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer.” I watched this program on Tuesday, and it showed footage of a refugee camp in shambles after Israeli incursions and of streets filled with the rotting bodies of Palestinian civilians. Why didn’t the article mention the hundreds of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli troops? Aren’t their lives of any value? SHEIMA SALAM TH!RD-Y!i\lt INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES .frUDENT Columnist should see broader view This letter is in response to Ann Marie Miani’s column in Friday’s paper. For Miani to be a fourth-year print journalism student, she has no tact or skill in writing. For her solutions for the problems in the Catholic Church: Modernized celibacy won’t help the children who are being molested and exploited by Catholic priests. People aren’t turned into pedophiles overnight because they aren’t engaging in a normal relationship with a member of the opposite sex. They aren’t taking out on young children their frustrations about not having sex. Priests could have sex with nuns and leave children alone. Obviously, these men were sick when they entered the priesthood. Ahniit hnr iHoac ahflllt slavery reparations, I’m an African-American, and I don’t want any reparations because my great-grandparents and their mothers and fathers were slaves. But don’t compare the labor of European and Asian immigrants to the trials and tribulations of slavery. I don’t recall Rockefeller cracking any whips or branding any immigrant for working in his sweat shops. However, immigrants should also be given an apology because they were degraded, just like the slaves who were sold and traded like they were cars. I have no comment for her opinions about Student Government because they deserve none. For her last opinion: If you aren’t an expert, don’t comment on the subject matter. You don’t know what the people in Israel have been going through with this war over a piece of land. Americans really didn’t know what it was like to have a sense of pride and protection for our DroDertv until Sept. 11. Now, if someone took over your home, would you not fight for it? Or would you just say, “I’ll go and buy another one”? Some things aren’t that easy, and, if it was, there would be perfect harmony in the United States. Finally, Miani shouldn’t compare the trial and tribulations of what is really going on in the world to going to see Paul McCartney. She needs to do more research and get a broad standpoint before she comments on things. At least Miani should see some of the things that she is writing about from another person’s standpoint. Otherwise, articles like this just take up valuable space on the page. But I guess that when you live in the world and haven’t , been through a drastic situation, you obviously don’t know anything about how the world really works. CALVIN J. GERALD FOURTH-YEAR ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION MANAOEMENT STUDENT ♦ LETTERS, SEE PAGE 7 My college days are numbered TAYLOR MARSHALL-GREEN GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM My one biggest regret is taking only seven years to earn my degree. “Well, it’s over now, yet lean see somehow. When it’s all gone wrong, it’s hard to be so strong. We pay our debt sometime. ” - ALICE IN CHAINS, over now My days are numbered here. My nights are numbered. My classes are numbered. I’ve been a college student for seven years. Well, that’s not altogether true. I’ve taken my months off, gotten back into college, quit, re-entered, slowed down and sped up. Now, after four majors, a certain amount of required credits, a couple extra ceramics classes and some shitty class called “University Something or-other,” I’m wearing a borrowed cap and gown this May and receiving a hard earned degree. It wasn’t long ago that I got juiced by doing a metal show on WUSC, late at night. That radio station we have here did as much for me as any class I’ve taken, A lot of nights, it put me in the booth cutting albums of Napalm Death, instead of some bathroom in Five Points cutting rails of coke. Ah, the music scene in this town. Besides a bunch of self serving dolts who think to cut a major record deal you have to trash the rest of the city’s talent, this place has a ton of potential. Yet, this town is impotent when it comes to people attending shows. JCjAcUiipie. wain iu go to see Martian Death Lyric?” “Nah, I’ve got a headache. You go on without me, I’m gonna sit at home and watch ‘Boy Meets World.’” Get up! Go out and watch the bands! Band members practice in sheds that they pay for monthly because they want you to come out and hear their music, not their parents. I’ve done some awful things to my body after live shows in this armpit of the Bible Belt that we call Cola-town — from getting my head bashed in by beerbottles, to getting beat down by a slew of frat boys in the back parking lot of Pavlov’s, to drinking bong water in Bates House after seasoning it with vanilla extract. Hell, I’ve even slept in the briars outside of the Blatt P.E. Center because I fell from the train I was hitching a ride home on (it was easier to just lay in the thorny patch than to raise myself from it, hammered). I don’t condone or advise these activities. In fact, I mention them as a tool to show you how stupid you could be. Don’t be me. I was a misguided fool who was theoretical in thought and even less consistent in actions that served me in and out of the classroom. Yes, folks, the world calls, and I must be the seven-year graduate to answer the call in the most kiss-ass voice I can muster. Because it was more than one > professor who told me that, to get by in life, you’d better be prepared to smell the scrotum. And because of their insistence on this principle, I’m at peace with this “certainty” in life. One thing I truly regret is taking only seven years to finish college—this football team we have is going to win a national title in a few years. My twin brother has always made me aware of this difference between us. He went to the University of ♦ MARSHALL-GREEN, SEE PAGE t