Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ONLINE This week’s question Should the Russell House pro vide more services than eater ies? Vote at www.dailygame cock.com. Last week’s question Do you agree with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals deci sion to strike the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance? See other poll results at www.dailygamecock.com. YES 14% NO 86% TOP 10 Features/amenities/ events we want in the Carolina Center The Gamecock staff creates the weekly “Top 10.” Submit topics to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com 10. The next Tyson farce, er, fight. 9. More students and more fans for basketball games. Numbers in the range of 17,600 to be exact. 8. Ice sculptures! OK, not really. 7. A Waffle House. 6. A section devoted to people willing to be as vocal as Baseline Jesus. 5. Please, please, no Fetish Balls. 4. The Miss America Pageant. 3. Cash cards accepted to buy food, or beer. 2. Good concerts, not '80s relics like Springsteen. 1. Wins! QUOTABLE “It’s like they stabbed me right in my back... It’s like starting all over again. I never thought this would happen to me... I’m in shock.” WANDA DAVIS PROPRIETOR. CAROLINA STYLES New choices leave old problems CHRIS FOY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM New choices for students kick out RH tenants and don’t address complaints A couple of weeks ago, some dis turbing behavior happened in the Russell House. Some of the shops in the Carolina Mall abruptly end ed their tenure here at the univer sity. Workers who have been here for 20 years were told to hit the road. As a business major, I can accept the fact that sometimes people have to be let go, that sometimes you have to get rid of some of the smaller businesses for the greater good of the business. What I cannot accept is the general disregard for the livelihood of these workers and businesses that fell under the Russell House's “expendable” list. I don't find it acceptable when a business that has been here for a couple of years is given less than a week to be moved out Furthermore, it's appalling to hear that when they can't comply with such unreason able demands, their water is cut off. I don't find it acceptable that an other business of this university (which was actually given a month to comply) is let go after being in business here for 20 years. What's worse is finding out that the owner is a single mother with a couple of small children. Businesses aren't always nice. They can't always be if they wish to be successful. But what they can do is actually treat people with digni ty and respect. Making someone move a business is hard enough for the owners, let alone if they have one week to do it. Of course, maybe you'll disagree when you find out what's coming in to replace these people: Namely, a Cinnabon shop. Frankly, I'm going to find it hard wanting to spend money there because I don't know if that one shop was worth getting rid of other shops that USC students used. But this whole Russell House ren ovation is a bit of an enigma to me. After they decided to start so late, you can bet they won't be finished by the time the fall semester starts. They're going to great measures to add new things, but with all these new shops come new inconve niences. I could sacrifice a candy stand if it meant I wouldn't have to go down to the mall now just to check my mail. It just seems that when all these new and “grand” things are being put in, it would be done with the stu dents in mind. Obviously, we're not the greatest concern of these peo ple, especially when you consider that the food in the GMP is where the majority of complaints about Sodexho lie. New, snazzy places where we can all spend some more money won't change the fact that most of the food still sucks. But I, like most USC students, will be able to adjust. After all, many of these shops are being put in to update our dining facilities. It would just be nice to see one project occur on this campus that will ultimately make us more proud of our university rather than be embarrassed by it. Foy is a fourth-year entrepreneur management student. African ‘Sesame Street’deals with HIV LUKE SMITH GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Even puppets not immune to worldwide HIV epidemic (U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The cameras flashed at the Children's Television Workshop press conference. Reporters timid ly dished toughquestions while tears streamed down the cheeks of frumpy bearded puppeteers. It was a sad moment for puppets everywhere. For the first time in ages, the sun was not keeping the clouds away from Sesame Street. Naively, the cloth-caped humorists believed they were immune, instead they were reckless and empowered by their own perceived immunity and immortality. But now, finally, HIV/AIDS has befallen one of their own. Yes, a friggin' puppet has HIV. The female character, tentative ly named “Whorio” at press time, is rumored to be an orphan and has indeed contracted the HIV virus. It is not known or has not been an nounced how “Whorio” contracted the illness, but it does lead doctors to believe it might be possible that the HIV virus can be transferred through the hands. “Whorio's” pup pet-master has declined blood test ing and has not returned my phone calls. The character is set to debut on “Takalani Sesame” (South Africa's own “Sesame Street”) and it is un decided what color the new charac ter will be. God help us if they make her black, or white, or red, or any color that any group in the world can associate themselves with. We'd no doubt have an excessive amount of complaining about how all the 'orange' people feel they are being stereotyped as carrying the HIV virus. CTW Vice President Joel Schneider said the new puppet would be very confident and proud. They certainly don't want to give the impression that HIV is something to be concerned about. Keep the morale high at any cost, “Sesame Street.” At any cost. The possibilities this character opens for the show are endless for the Sesame Street viewer (average ages between three and seven). Schneider maintains the new char acter will not explicitly discuss any thing about sex or anything inap propriate for children to watch. Nevermind the implications a char acter with HIV brings along with it. Especially an orphan. Whorio could've been molested in a back al ley after she was abandoned or se duced by the orphan-headmaster person or raped by her Catholic priest. But how would a priest get AIDS? That’s for another time. Let alone the possibilities when Mr. Snuffle-upagus’ trunk is thrown into the mix. contrasting news reports irom Reuters have indicated that CTW has no plans to bring the character stateside. However, Reuters also re ported that negotiations to intro duce “Whorio” to the United States version of the program were al ready under way. Special thanks to Reuters for making absolutely no sense with these reports. In a nation like South Africa, where in some areas as many as 40 percent of people have AIDS (again, this a Reuters fact, and it makes lit tle sense), there seems to be some cultural relevance to a character liv ing with HIV What makes an issue culturally relevant in South Africa doesn't make it relevant or pressing in the United States. If Schneider's remarks are true, and the U.S. branch of CTW is in ne gotiations to bring the character stateside, “Sesame Street” is setting itself up for a Mr. Hooper-like de cline. viewers will nghttuily see no rea son for their preschool-age children to learn about HIV and dealing with an issue so complicated the majori ty of adults can't handle it. There is no reason to burden a child with in formation it took a weeping Magic Johnson to break to the public. Children don't need to think about HIV; they need to be concerned with being children. Smih writes for the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan.