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^ VIEWPOINTS AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD Editor \ STEVEN VAN HAREN News Editor \ JUSTIN CHAPURA Assistant News Editor ; JACKIE ALEXANDER The Mix Editor \ ALEXIS ARNONE Design Director chas McCarthy Sports Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR Assistant Viewpoints Editor AARON BRAZIER IN OUR OPINION During lively rebirth, NOLA must give back In true American fashion, New Orleans residents opened their battered doors to an international audience last week, beginning a Mardi Gras celebration that represents a hopefiil mixture of pride and partying for the hurricane-ravaged city. It’s never too soon to get back on your feet, and seeing rainbow clusters of beads lit against the glare of Bourbon Street lamps is a reassuring sign that the Big Easy is too confident to let the spirit of Mardi Gras die. But we hope the city is using some of its earned income to help homeowners affected by Hurricane Mardi Gras must stand for something more this year, and victims deserve results. jvatrina tnrougnout tne region bounce back. Mardi Gras must stand for something more this year, and victims deserve results. Indeed, six months later, not everyone is in the mood to celebrate. i i • t i 11LL1C II1UIC Lildll d month after Sept. 11, New York gave the proverbial middle finger to terrorists and tears by holing up in Madison Square Garden for a sweaty, emotional benefit concert. More than $35 million was raised — not including 100 percent of profits from home video sales — for victims’ families. Like New York, New Orleans has big-name recognition and, more importantly, a world-famous party that can always be depended on to boost city coffers. Biloxi, Miss., Mobile, Ala., and other cities aren’t so lucky; as the front-page icon of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction, New Orleans has a responsibility to share the wealth. We’d be surprised if New York didn’t extend its hand to $hanksville, Pa., the 245--population town where the fourth hijacked plane crashed on Sept. 11. Shanksville wasn’t destroyed and nobody died on the ground as a result of the crash, but a symbolic offering of help goes a long way. Critics of New Orleans’ penchant for “premature” partying will only be proved right if proceeds don’t go to who needs it the most. IT’S YOUR RIGHT Voice your opinion on message boards at unvw.dailygamecock.com or send tetters to the editor at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know about it. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor STEVEN VAN HAREN Design Director chas McCarthy Copy Desk Chief AARON KIDD News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA Assistant News Editor JACKIE ALEXANDER Viesvpoints Editor BRINOY McNAIR Assistant Viewpoints Editor AARON BRAZIER The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Assistant Mix Editor KRISTEN TRUESDALE Sports Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Assistant Sports Editor ALEX RILEY Photo Editor NICK ESARES Assistant Photo Editor KATY BLALOCK Public Relations Director ROSE GREENE Page Designers MIKE CONWAY, KATE FENWICK, MEGAN SINCLAIR StaffWriters A.J. BEMBRY, TOM BENNING, JESS DAVIS, tim mcmanus, marjorie RIDDLE, GINA VASSELLI Copy Editors CAROLINE DESANCTIS, BETHANY NICHOLS, ELIZABETH PARHAM, KATIE THOMPSON, JAMISON TINSLEY, KRYSTAL WEBBER, LIZ WHITE CONTACT INFORMATION Offices located on the third floor of the Russell House Editor's office hours are from 2-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays Editor. gamecockeditor@gu>m. sc. edu News: gamecockncws@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 ; Sports: 777-7182 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 Fax: 777-6482 STUDENT MEDIA Director SCOn LINDENBERG Faculty Adviser ERIK COLLINS Creative Director SUSAN KING Business Manager CAROLYN GRIFFIN Advertising Manager SARAH SCARBOROUGH Classifieds Manager SHERRY F. HOLMES Production Manager c. neil scon Advertising APRYL ALEXANDER, KATIE CUPPIA, BREANNA EVANS, MARY RACHEL FREEMAN, DEIORE merrick, mckenzie WELSH : THE GAMECOCK is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in THE GAMECOCK are those of the editors Or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher 0/THE GAMECOCK. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. THE GAMECOCK is supported in part by student-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. ARAF CObST&OL of U-S. PORT5 ffoTK^RS CONGRESS__ Courtesy KRT Campus Show support for sensible, eloquent speakers It doesn’t take MTV, record deal to give interesting lectures A speaker is coming to campus tonight. Hopefully, students will support him; he has quite a bit to say. The crowd size might be hard to predict, seeing as he has never gotten drunk and thrown a cup at his roommate on MTV or released an album. It you pay a student activity fee, you should reap the benefits, and obviously people are interested in some events that come to USC. The only disappointment is the lack of interest in certain types of events. When students hear the word “speaker,” there seems to be a collective cringe. Classes are supposed to be during the day, right? It seems countless authors, scholars and national figures’ debates, lectures and speaking engagements go widely unattended. These events feature no music, bawdy jokes or reality television Q&As but have quite a bit to offer students. This sounds like harsh judgment, but it really isn’t. Things are picking up. Speakers Morgan Spurlock and Candace B u s h n e 11 _ had fantastic FIELD turnouts last CAATEV ie™esfer Third-year StllI> these political names science gained student attention through national media outlets such as Spurlock’s documentary “Super Size Me” and the television spin-off of Bushnell’s book, “Sex and the City.” i ne trouDie comes with an unrecognizable name. Most 18- to 22 year-olds probably do not recognize the name Morris Dees. Many of these students’ parents might not recognize the name. While doing inarguably incredible work, Dees has not reached a certain level of public recognition. He has been one of the most prominent figures in the battle against discrimination and hate crimes in America. Dees confounded the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization dedicated to ending hate crimes. Dees won a case in the 1990s that obtained damages in the millions from one of our country’s most prominent neo-Nazis. He has dedicated his career to a cause greater than himself, making significant changes in doing so. If for no other reason, students should be inclined to see him to observe the change that one determined man has made in the world. We should all feed the supposed youthful idealism we have before it curls up into a ball and gives up for good. I m not trying to knock any tastes or types of events; I’m simply encouraging students to look a bit further than usual in seeking entertainment on campus. For the lucky ones, college is only going to last three more years. The rest of us have even less time. We all need to take advantage of living in a compact area that provides us with more cultural opportunities in a month than some towns get in decades. Take advantage of each and every type. See Dees. Take in his experiences, his message. Show everyone just how much students still care. Cyberstalking proves obsessively lame, slack Internet peeping Toms invade space, become lazy, crazy letdowns Let’s talk about stalkers. Stalkers are scary people. They follow you everywhere you go, watching your every move. They invade your privacy and basically freak you out. I’m not talking about the “wait outside your house in the bushes” kind of stalkers. I’m talking about cyberstalkers. They are a special breed. They’re too hi-tech to stalk the old fashioned way. Instead of binoculars and telephoto lenses, a decent computer and a hi-speed Internet connection are the tools of the cyberstalking trade. web sites tnat provide access to member profiles are like crack-coated candy to a cyberstalker. Why do I bring up such a creepy topic? Well, I have a cyberstalker. My cyberstalker has found a special place in my heart; it’s right there next to indigestion. She uses my Internet profiles to burrow a hole into my life. Much like a tick. My Internet hemorrhoid followed me from Facebook to Myspace to Photosite to Xanga. I just gave away how BRHIDV much time mCnflIR I spend on Fourth-year the ^ternet. print I m a Web journalism junkie. So student think about the time my cyberstalker spends poring over the useless information I post about myself, trying to find out what I’m doing my every waking minute. Sad, I know. I he really sad thing is, I’m not that interesting. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a fascinating creature. I am obsessed with me. But even I don’t want to research myself. But someone out there cares so much about my life that she checks my blog and my profiles from home during breaks. She even has her boyfriend check in on me from another college. My boyfriend doesn’t even read my blog. Surprisingly I’m disappointed with my stalker. For one thing, she’s lazy. She sits at home in front of her computer. Imagine a dumpy girl in her underwear surrounded by half-empty cans of Bud Light. She “watches” me from the comfortable privacy of her room. She’s not out at midnight hiding in my bushes. She’s not peeking in my window at ungodly hours. Granted, my window’s on the third floor, but damn it, show some dedication. Another thing that disappoints me is that she got caught. That takes all the mystery out of the game. But this does not deter my cyberstalking friend. It’s been almost five months now, and she’s still at it. in ail seriousness though, stalking and cyberstalking are not funny. I speak in jest about my “special friend,” but sometimes these mildly amusing situations escalate into dangerous situations. Sometimes stalkers get violent and try to break in through windows or beat down doors. They even assault their victims. So be mindful of the information you put out there. You never know who’s watching you. Do you think it is too soon after „ Hurricane Katrina for New Orleans , l OLL to celebrate Mardi Gras? > Mixing signals sends caustic, false messages, confuses others Pseudo-friends should stop pulling girls’ hair, wearing phony smiles Remember the days when boys pulled girls’ hair and it meant they didn’t like them? Or even more simply, if you were nice to someone it meant that you actually - valued them as a person? These gestures have somehow come to mean - that you like ALEXIS that pig-tailed ARAOAE wonder on the Fourth-year playground print or that you journalism a r e j u S t student pretending to like someone when you smile and stop to chat. T-« 1 rocusiiig uii uur cvciyuay interactions with people, we’re going to head to the workplace. There’s that co-worker everybody talks about. Being the considerate person you are, you don’t engage in these conversations. You’re genuinely nice to this person, and they are nice to you in return. Then comes the day when you find out that this person doesn’t actually like you at all. In fact, the person came out and said, “I don’t like [insert your name here].” Heinous bitch. Why, if they actually don’t like you, wouldn’t they just come out and say it? News flash: You’re at work to make money, not friends. And while it helps to have people at work to talk to, there are plenty of others to waste your energy on who actually like. You’re not doing anyone a favor by pretending to be sweet to everyone who works there. Take the same faux pas and apply it to dating. People in relationships are the worst. Being a huge advocate for relationships, I can’t stand mixed signals. Although I have fallen prey to the annoying little habit of dating, I tend to be pretty direct about how I feel. If I burp in front of you, rest assured it means I’m comfortable around you and am not afraid to show my unladylike tendencies. If I call you, it means I like you. If I don’t make an effort to see you, it means I don’t want to hang out with you. It s annoying to be in tne privacy of your own home and have a person gush their feelings to you, only to have them tell other people that they don’t like you. Whether the truth is that you adore the ground I walk on or that you wish you could just “Delete Alexis?” from your Nokia, I want to know. On behalf of discontented daters everywhere, stop pretending to be tough. Don’t be afraid to let the walls down and show your sensitive side. As my final plea, stop with the mixed signals! 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 gamecockopinions@gwm. sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom a1> 777-7726 for more information.