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« VIEWPOINTS TH#%AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD Editor \ STEVEN VAN HAREN News Editor \ JACKIE ALEXANDER Assistant News Editor JOSHUA RABON 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 3 Rivers must compete The 3- Rivers Music Festival is about to deliver another smorgasbord of rock, bluegrass, jazz, funk and blues to the Capital City, but a less-than-college friendly lineup has some of us running for our iPods. God bless ’em — the annual festival is one of Columbia’s coolest events, bringing families, food and •fun together under one PG-rated roof. The nonprofit Shindig’s stated goal is to connect the “diverse people of the region though music and culture” — a noble, necessary cause in the sometimes narrow-minded South. Rappers rub shoulders with country crooners. Gospel and grunge share Mr. KODOtO” IS only good when heard through sunstroke and Bud Light. Lilt U11JL. But the festival’s organizers might have overlooked a segment of the population that enjoys spending time — and money — listening to live music: college students. Living legends such as Aretha Franklin and George Clinton are always across the-board draws, and hometown heroes Sunsnone Still ^feand the Heist and the Accomplice will bring loads of ^^local clientele. But the Queen of Soul and Dr. Funkenstein himself might not be enough to lure some kids from their dorm rooms, especially when USC students are studying for exams. The college crowd could be dangerously anemic in coming years if neo-metal garbage such as Irapt is supposed to bring us across the river. Trust us — high school kids in Jncos don’t have as much money to blow as we do. The White Stripes. Incubus. OutKast (again). Even one of these acts would significantly boost attendance and bring more people to see other bands such as Styx — who, without afro-ed original frontman Dennis DeYoung, need all the life support they can get. “Mr. Roboto” is only good when heard through a combination of heatstroke and Bud Light. Moving 3 Rivers to March to avoid the exam crunch ^^and beefing up the bill with college-age acts would bring more students and kick the festival into high gear. IT’S YOUR RIGHT Voice your opinion on message boards at www.dailygamecock.con or send letters to the editor at gamecockopinionsQgwm.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 JACKIE ALEXANDER Assistant News Editor JOSHUA RABON Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR Assistant Viewpoints Editor AARON BRAZIER The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Assistant Mix Editor KRISTEN TRUESDALE Sports Editor ^ttfEPHEN FASTENAU ^Wssistant Sports Editor Hi CY Dll CV Photo Editor NICK ESARES Assistant Photo Editor KATY BLALOCK Public Relations Director ROSE GREENE Page Designers MIKE CONWAY, MEGAN SINCLAIR StaffWriters A.J. BEMBRY, TOM BENNING, JESS DAVIS, TIM McMANUS, MARJORIE RIDDLE, GINA VASSELLI Copy Editors CAROLINE DESANCTIS, BETHANY NICHOLS, ELIZABETH PARHAM, JAMISON TINSLEY, KRYSTAL WEBBER, LIZ WHITE CONTACT INFORMATION Offices located on the thirdfloor of the Russell House Editor’s office hours are from 2-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays Editor: gamecockeditor@gurm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gurm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfratures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gurm.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 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, DEIDRE MERRICK, MCKENZIE WELSH Creative Services MIKE CONWAY, JOSEPH DANNELLY, LAURA JOYCE GOUGH, MARGARET LAW, MEGHAN WHITMAN THE GAMECOCK is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during j 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 newspapers 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. is.' . • Wt£-Z>-r*jTxz>* <~w 4 = H^ju\ %>rc ___—I Courtesy KRTjCampus Holt's tantrum showed concern for students Even during angry fits, vice president cared about others’ money We received a lot of letters to the editor that were, sadly, not put in print. Apparently, some guy called Ryan Holt was caught on camera having what can be best described as a “hissy fit.” Now, he’s not the first nor will he be the last to get stressed out enough to yell at people. But the letters from you, our good readers, ranged from outright anger to brilliant humor. If we had printed a story on him, they would undoubtedly have run. I can’t say whether Holt’s sojourn to D.C. to hobnob with politicians was successful. I can’t say whether he convinced them as one of the voices of students in America, or whether he was there for the photo ops. What I can say is that he is the democratically elected representative of the student body at USC, and despite having a bit of a stroppy moment, he did not do anything wrong. Even in a temper tantrum moment, the man actually gave a damn about SG money. AAROn, '-ome on> BRAZIER that . 15 n . impressive. bourth-year _r_ philosophy He made student sure that the joke wasn’t costing you or I anything. In a bad temper, probably thinking things were going to be worse than they are, he immediately asked if the money was, for all intents and purposes, “dirty”. Kudos to the man. t?____„r •„ i_/*v,n uiv. vjucjuvm wi an, as ridiculous as it sounds, comes at a price. The SG offices have a machine for helium pumping that costs money. Holt covered all his bases, not for him but for all students. Eighty bucks may not seem like much, but to a small student organization that could be a social or a great introductory meeting. Not only that, he probably flew back from D.C. that day to a bunch of homework and he probably had to go to the Student Government offices to pick something up. Maybe he wanted to talk to his fellow SG officials. He probably smelled really bad, an issue of pity or disgust depending on your stance of immediate showering. Either way, only SG people, especially Holt, can really give a defense of his behavior — if a defense is actually necessary. They blew balloons up in his office as a prank. It wasn’t really funny or witty. I expect more from the forward thinking democratically elected representatives. Where’s the D.C. mystery? Dead hookers, illegitimate children, racist novels, uiiuii u uiiu gvii yiuuiiuvimg are staples of corrupt politicking. And Holt did something in response that would chill most politicians to the bone. He was honest, and he cared about us, even to the point of anger. Let it drop, people. I expect Holt laughed at it in retrospect just like we all did when we saw the video. Enjoy it in the moment as a silly bit of banter, but don’t let it color your view of a guy who always helped out people beyond the call of duty. Life seems lighter with hysterical laughing Serious subjects send stark message with sidesplittng stand-up This will be my last column of the school year, and if I don’t pass copy editing — “Journalism 666” — it will probably be the last column of my life. If I were to leave the world of jokes about politics and college life with one message it would be make jokes. The world is a scary place with the Middle East hating us and Iran beoming “nuclear.” /T*1. . _ _ ..A_ l Udl o UW l c.aaun v 1 i-iy you shouldn’t laugh every now and then. Next time you see the president speak, picture him in a comedy club, telling the story of how he pissed off Iran and they developed nuclear technology. At the end of this bit, he would shrug and end with the punch line: “Guess I shouldn’t have called them the axis of evil!” Then, the president would talk about how his Chief of Staff Karl i Rove was involved in I distributing fliers and 11(11 making incmms anonymous Fifth-year Phone calls print suggesting journalism Bush’s chief student opponent, Sen. John McCain, went crazy from his years as a prisoner of war and that his wife was a drug addict. Then he would ask the audience who voted for him; then he would point to one of his supporters 111 aim as*, wiiy. The audience member would say “strong moral values.” Bush would laugh, slap his knee, the drummer would hit a buh dum-crash, and the crown would go wild. While anyone who voted for Bush because of his moral values deserves to be laughed at, not everyone in the audience would laugh. One of these people would be my an old suitemate’s girlfriend. After watching the first episode of “Chapelle’s Show,” most of us couldn’t shut up about the hilarious skit about a blind black man who grew up to be a white supremacist. She, however, thought that something about an issue as serious as racism shouldn’t be laughed at. We can’t just silence, shut down or kill the worst elements, whether they are white supremacists or our president. Humor is a much more powerful weapon than simply speaking out ifriinct- cnmpnnp o If you were a racist, would you be more offended by a TV show mocking beliefs that you hold dear to your heart or a speech talking about how bad you are? The world is a scary place, full of people with backwards, self-centered beliefs who may want to kill you, oppress you or smear the name of a war hero for political gain. But these people are freakin’ hilarious. Bunnies, gifts eclipse purpose behind yearly celebrations Mother’s, Father’s days don’t need to remind children to love parents For many people, Easter is a time of celebration and joy. For me, it was a day of mourning. 1 he taster Bunny has passed away. That, or he decided to be a complete jerk this year and felt — for the first time in my life — I didn’t deserve a basket full of treats. CHASE STOUDEnmiRE Second-year history student 1 m pissed off at the bunny community. From this "day on, I’m rooting for Elmer Fudd. Bugs Bunny can kiss my non-bushy tailed buttocks. Be vewwy, vewwy quiet — I’m hunting holiday mascots. In less than 100 words I reduced one of the holiest Christian holidays into an annual commercialized candy-grab. Same thing happens to Christmas every year. In fact, I can’t think of a single holiday where we really celebrate what we’re supposedly celebrating. Some front is always put up to make things more “fun.” Halloween? St. Patrick’s Day? Valentine’s Day? The real meanings behind these holidays are- completely detached from the way we celebrate them. Sad times. But that’s not the point of all this. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, etc. are great and all. But to me, it just seems a little less genuine when it happens because you’re “supposed to.” Like Valentine’s Day — really, more than half of the guys who buy flowers or candy are doing it simply because they know they’ll get iii trouble if they don’t. So if we want to be sincere, if we really love and appreciate these people, we should do these things because we want to, not because of what . 1 _ „ J_ uiv- v,aiv.nuai jay j. I’m about to finish my second year at Carolina, and pretty much everything I’ve done up until this point has been because two incredible people have bent over backwards to give me every opportunity in the world — including a full scholarship to college. I’m talking about you, mom and dad. They’re more than just a full-time support staff or laundry service; they’re the people who have taught me left from right and right from wrong. They deserve credit for all of my successes ; and none of my failures. They’re better to me than ; I could ever deserve, and they do it not because they have to, but because they want to. So today — not because it’s mother’s day or father’s day but simply because it’s true — I’m saying thanks. I don’t need any candy or bunnies or costumes to know that they’re worth celebrating. One final note — this is my last column of the year, and it’s been great. Barring loss of life or limb, I hope you’ll crack open the paper in the fall and brace yourself for another semester of the legendary Funtastic Fridays