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Strange family reunion has weirdfood; bad music ALLYSON BIRD GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Watch out for relatives wearing tree shirts One of the great things about summer is that people have all this free time to think of things to do and make plans that usually fall through. And while coinci dences planted by parents and bosses often stand in the way of college road trips, by some act of God, though the "grace" of God is probably the wrong way to put it, the Boriey Family Reunion actu ally happened. Not that I didn't find leaving Folly Beach on July Fourth to spend 15 hours in the car with my parents and a Great Dane puppy to be fun, especially when we were headed to northeastern Pennsylvania. That place is so fun that they don’t even need air con ditioning or showers in the breeze less 90-degree weather. It was plug-in fans and warm baths for us. All the festivities began with a cookout where everyone wore those tree shirts. Being an only child and never having lived near my extended family, I was utterly terrified by this coalition of tree shirted, cheek-kissing, smiling people whose only recollection of me was my seventh grade chubby - kid-with-braces school picture. But no family outing would be complete without someone getting hurt, so luckily some 50-some thing decided to ride down the mountainside on a motor scooter. He was still lying on the ground when we all left after the young drummer in the family promised a band but could only deliver a pony-tailed friend who made dy ing cat noises to pop-song melodies over the drum beat. The real adventure was the din ner the next night. What started out as a Southern-Italian buffet (we're not talking southern Italy, but instead grits meet marinara in Pennsylvania), took a turn down a bumpy memory lane when the karaoke began. I found out that more than one of my relatives had actually followed the host to his gigs to practice beforehand. Somewhere in between an Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta duet with a pseudo-uncle and get ting a round of applause for intro ducing myself as "the big dog's owner,” I found out that I was quite a hit with the fellows. "If I were 20 years younger," one dude began before I cut in with, "Aren't you related to me?" Some old tattooed guy grabbed me for a dance before I was torn from him by a younger version half-whispering and half-yelling, "Don't dance with him; he killed my brother." Looking to my moth er, I was told it was a long story. But one seat was empty, and my mom asked where her cousin was. My grandma explained toher that her boyfriend was a bag boy. He wasn’t a grocery store bag boy though, he puts a bag over his head when he meets new people, because he's shy. While I could’ve kissed the Mason-Dixon Line and shook hands with first palmetto bug I saw, I can't say the excursion was a total wash. Granted, I didn't see any fireworks on the Fourth or go to any great parties, but the car rental place did manage to rent us the wrong car, so instead of a Windstar, we got a 15-passenger van. But we got 'em back by leaving the Baptist youth group that came with it in Pennsylvania. Allyson Bird is a second-year journalism student. IN ¥OUR OPINION Sex ed includes talking about sex While reading the article about the HIV pandemic in South Carolina in last week’s Gamecock, I noticed that there was express attention paid to abstinence sexual education. Abstinence is not the answer. Safe sex, within a loving relationship, or even casual «ex, is healthy and very normal. I view s.ex as a basic human right, which cannot be hindered by law or social pressure. The thing with abstinence education is that it often comes from a religious source, or from a group that is trying to push their social ideas on others. These classes tend to be misleading, push misinformation and use scare tactics to persuade young minds that no sex is good sex. The fact is that suppressing sexual activity, thinking that it’s bad or immoral, can be a very detrimental thing. When a person is taught or given the impression that sex is immoral, disgusting and wrong and when that person comes to love somebody, they have major inhibitions about sharing such a beautiful thing with their partners. I’m not saying that sleeping with everyone you know is a good thing, and there shouldn’t be promiscuous education either. Sexual education should be based on the truth. Abstinence is an option, but it is not the only option. Sexual education should explore all the possibilities. Truth is the answer and the truth is that sex is a very beautiful thing. With the truth in their hands and minds, young people can make their own decisions. Freedom! JOHN SAGONA FOURTH YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecocKviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Winners and Sinners KATHERINE HEPBURN The late actress’ will gives four acres of beachfront property to public use. LANCE ARMSTRONG The Texas cyclist wins his fifth-straight Tour de France, tying a record for consecutive wins. THE PENTAGON There are few things in this world more sick than a terrorist attack futures s market. i ARIEL SHARON Israeli prime minister vows to build a wall between Israel and the West Bank. RICHARD NIXON Former campaign aide says Nixon himself ordered the Watergate break-in. Gamecock Quotables “It’s interesting to think that local radio is so bad that local people are willing to pay $10 a month to hear satellite.” MICHAEL BRACY IN REFERENCE TO PUBLIC ATTITUDES ON COMMERCIAL AND SATELLITE RADIO “He believed that USC's hotel wouldn’t hurt us, but if it did, it was their market, then land, their school. ” ROBERT WISLINSKI ON USC PRESIDENT ANDREW SORENSEN'S COMMENT THAT A USC-OWNED HOTEL . WOULDN'T HURT LOCAL HOTEL BUSINESS GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ONLINE This week’s question Should USC have a univer sity-owned hotel? Vote at www.dailygamecock.com. IN THEIR WORDS “When we hear the word rape we think dark alley, strangers and extreme violence. Rarely do we picture a dinner, a movie, a party, a friend or a date. But obviously this is who and when the majority of rapes occur.” JJ. BABB COLORADO STATE UNIVERSUTY ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGIAN “The Udai and Qusai Hussein-picture-show bore a striking resemblance to the shots of dead American soldiers on Al-Jazeera and the American prisoners of war on Iraqi television last March. In fact, they're both war crimes.” ALI MOOSSAVI WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY THE SOUTH END