Oregon daily emerald., July 30, 1981, Page 4, Image 4

yours
Perfect example
While I missed the Greg Wasson article
on legislative interns, I would like to add
my own comments to those of letter
writers responding in the July 15 edition
I feel very fortunate to have had the
skills and abilities of University intern
Stephanie Nichols earlier in this session
She is a self-starter who learned quickly
and was also able to take direction
Nichols was able to parlay her interest
in the elderly to excellent advantage She
worked closely with me my staff and my
in-district Senior Advisory Committee
(composed of lay people in Coos and
Curry counties), displaying tact and un
derstanding to everyone’s mutual ben
efit
Indeed, under her guidance, that
committee sent representatives to Salem
and successfully introduced amend
ments to a bill on the state s Policy on
Aging which is now law When she left at
semester's end, my office felt a real void
If the voters choose to return me to the
House for the next session, I only hope I
can be assisted by such a capable
University product Nichols, to my view
was a perfect example of how the intern
program should work
Bill Bradbury
Stale representative, district 48
Don’t forget lit
Concerning the front-page story in the
ODE of July 16 about renewed emphasis
on student writing the over-headline
"Balance shifts away from literature”
may be somewhat misleading, and I
should like to remind Emerald readers
that the heart of the English department,
and of a liberal education, is still litera
ture however broadly defined While we
take our duties to teach writing seriously,
it would be an educational mistake for us
to neglect the values provided by the
study of literature and for students to
think that literature is or can be less
important in the fulfillment of their lives
than it formally was
Thelma Greenfield
Acting head
English department
Bum rap
I hate to quash Oakley Glenn's pet
theory about deadheads, but it |ust ain't
so While many of us do travel from city to
city to see the Dead the vast majority of
the people in line two weeks ago are
residents of Eugene Those deadheads
truly into it were between St Louis and
’ WELL, WE NEEDED THE MONEY.,,'
St Paul following the Dead when tickets
went on sale here in Eugene So it is
upsetting to find out that we have been
labeled "transients" with all the winos
and bums One woud think that with all
the money we re pouring into the
University we would get a little respect,
but obviously we don't Just remember,
all you staid, conservative folks, next
time you go to a football or basketball
game at the University, it was made
possible by thousands of us drug-addled
freaks — who for the most part live right
here in Eugene
Mike Seidel
junior, history
Steve Smith
senior, marketing
Francis Schafer,
sophomore, geography
Militarily consistent
If I remember correctly, since the
Reagan administration came to power it
has announced $35 million in military aid
and advisors to El Salvador, offered the
sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Venezeula,
I08 M-60 tanks to Morocco, 24 Cobra
helicopters equipped with antitank
missiles to Jordan, Boeing 747 and 727s
which can be convered into military
transport aircrtaft to Iraq, removed res
triction on sales of "lethal weapons" to
China, and has promised to supply
defense weapons to Taiwan
In addition it has made several propo
sals requiring approval from Congress
such as the resumption of arms sales to
Argentina, the resumption of covert mili
tray aid to guerilla forces in Angola, an
extra $600 million in military credits in
1983 and 1984 to Israel, and F-16s as
well as $3 billion in economic aid and
military credits over the next five years
Whatever else one might want to say
about the boys from California who are
playing politics back in DC, you have to
admit they are consistent, although deep
inside my heart I can't help but be more
than a little proud of not paying taxes
Dave Isenberg
senior, international studies
Page 4
Paige, perchance
One moi.iing last week my eye caught
the "Perchance” letter to the editor I
found myself confronted with a chal
lenge of wits in the ususal competitive
macho style I must admit that I almost
took this challenge as my mind was
thinking of various colloquial contortions
of the English language But then my
mind wandered to the editor's note on
the very same page (Paige trial) The
article itself is unsettling, but its location
in relation to the "Perchance" letter is
much more significant
The "Perchance” article illuminates
a naive and petty mentality which
remains ignorant of a very serious
human problem The oppression of
women Once we have settled who is
going to open doors for whom and what
"word" we can call each other, then the
so-called "feminists” can put down their
signs and run to the arms of men holding
patronizing smiles
This attitude smothers individual po
tential and interpersonal relationships
What rational human being can read the
Paige article and feel good about
himself/herself7 The writer of ''Per
chance” ended by saying that the
women s liberation movement has struck
out At the moment, in despair. I agree
Lillian Lahe
Writing as thinking
As much as I appreciate your article
"examining renewed emphasis on
student writing abilities," I still feel that
you have missed a very significant point
writing is, to borrow Mary Lawrence's
phrase, a thinking process A university
is an occasion for thinking, and writing,
as an expression of analysis, has never
been absent from our collective mission
Rather than bemoan statistics and
point to trends, we must all realize that
the free and accurate exchange of ideas
is our only hope for survival Flaws in
educational systems are not, of course,
easily to be escaped, but I must insist that
writng is such a central issue that none of
us may ignore it
In short, it seems to me that assigning
blame and citing soi-disant remedies is
not the point I want to see "eople learn
to communicate, for or.^e we fail to ex
press ourselves, we are all lost
Please take the sensationalism out of
the issues and help all of us to start
thinking again
Stephen Schuber
American English Institute
Thursday, July 30, 1981