' ONE.. TWO. OK.WHE&i SfRlA?'
Ifletters
Tactics
An open letter to the woman
yelling at the corner of the
EMU Monday afternoon.
Dear madam:
What was the intention of
all your rantings and ravings?
Was it to convert me to Chris
tianity? If so, you failed.
Miserably. Your words led me
to the conclusion that Chris
tians are too narrow-minded to
accept anyone different from
themselves, namely homosex
uals. I used to picture your
God as a loving God. But you
stood there and told me that
God “hates” a group of in
dividuals because they are ab
normal. Well, frankly, I want no
part of a God that discrim
inates against homosex
uals, or any group, for that
matter.
I don’t like being turned off
of Christianity, but your
speech and some others I’ve
heard at the EMU have given
me a negative view of your
religion. While I do not base
my entire view of the Christian
religion on one person’s
views, I do take them into ac
count. If you’re looking for
converts, I suggest you try
another tactic. And if you’re
tired of being surrounded by
homosexuals, might I suggest
that you join ROTC?
Susan Phillips
Living bible
I would like to thank Tom
Visoky for including in his May
18 letter one of my favorite
quotations from the Book of
Isaiah, “Woe to those who
decree iniquitous decrees”
and "to those who call evil,
good and good, evil.” I
challenge him, however, to
search for a wider application
of Isaiah's message other than
a condemnation of homo
sexuality.
We are indeed, witness to a
world of great evil. The inabili
ty of governments to negotiate
peace in a nuclear age has fac
ed us with planetary annihila
tion and has thrown many —
especially the young — Into a
state of unreconciled despair
and cynicism. United States
supported juntas in Central
America have effectively exter
minated entire village popula
tions In their effort to root out
‘subversives' and ‘com
munists.’ And here at home,
environmental perils — the
mismanagement of radio
active and toxic wastes, for in
stance — threaten the lives of
all future generations. The list
could go on.
Corporate irresponsibility,
imperialistic greed, and un
checked militarism. These are
the best examples of evil in
our world, and those who pro
mote this kind of evil in the
name of nationalism or
religion are those very same
people who “decree iniquitous
decrees.”
Tom: Since you seek to
champion the “morality" of
God, I urge you to put aside
your judgment of others,
whatever sexual preference
they might have, long enough
to join hands with people of
every creed and lifestyle who
strive for the peace and justice
of a living bible.
Sarah Barton
junior, English
Thanks folks
Well, folks, the sun came
out, the lawn was gr^-en, the
sky blue, the stage multi
colored, and it was not a
Sony Trinitron, but rather the
13th Annual Willamette Valley
Folk Festival that happened
last weekend on the east lawn
of the EMU.
If you weren’t there, naught
can be said but that you really
missed out on a myriad of sen
sory stimuli and a very fine
time. Granted, you could have
gone to the beach or the river
or the mountains or the library,
or gotten locked in the
bathroom with a great novel
for the weekend, but none of
those places brought 225 per
formers out in front of your
retinas and eardrums for
pleasure and cultural
edification.
Hippies? Of course they
were there. But there were a
couple of mohawkian hairjobs
out there as well, and people
who may never have heard of
Pete Seeger or even the
Cultural Forum.
The event would not have
come together without the
long hours and patience of
Frank Geltner, Jan Warren,
Wendy Stolz and Anne Heid
brlnk, to name but a few. To
name a few more; Stan
Ellefleft, Adam Schultz, Jamie
McKillop, Rob Bart, Mary
Heubel and Mark Rosenheim
gave their time and skill. The
Craft Center people worked
wonders too.
If you are harboring any
comments or suggestions
about the festival please write
them down and drop them by
the Cultural Forum downstairs
in the EMU next to the Craft
Center. After all, it’s your
money we’re spending with a
ruthless efficiency down here.
Oh yes, we tried to get ap
proval to extend that good old
Street Fair atmosphere onto
the festival grounds, but Adel
MacMillan our guardian angel
upstairs in the EMU had to do
her job and follow policy. Ah,
policy... By the way, we real
ly had nothing to do with those
skydivers, but it was pretty
spectacular anyway.
Well, drop off those sugges
tions, keep the sunburn cream
handy and thank you for com
ing. See you next year.
Tobay Fitch
WVFF coordinator,
EMU Cultural Forum
Overpaid
Since Jeff Nudelman feels
so “grossly overpaid” perhaps
he would like to donate his sti
pend to someone who Is work
ing in student government and
using the money earned to
support a family or
themselves. Not all students
can or do depend on checks
from rich daddies: Should
working in student govern
ment be denied to anyone who
needs to earn a living?
Mary Hopa
SEARCH
debbie howlett
A woman’s place...
A woman’s place always will
be at the front of a University
crew shell.
Victoria Brown hadn’t come
to the University in 1972 with
the intention of making waves
at the bow of a crew shell, but
when the season ended, the
waves she’d made were
enough to make some athletic
officials green around the
gills.
Brown’s tenure began in
nocently enough when her
boyfriend, who was coxswain
of the varsity team, overslept.
Brown went to tell his team
mates they’d have to wait a bit.
The crew team, being without
patience as well as a cox
swain, decided that Brown
would do for the day.
The west coast’s first
woman coxswain fell for the
sport hook, line and oar lock.
However, Oregon State
University and the University
of Washington, tried to bring
Brown out of her shell.
Women, they collectively
figured, had no place on a
men’s varsity crew team. The
OSU athletic director, Jim Bar
rett, held the NCAA rule book
high, carried on over violations
of Pac-8 directives and said he
would withdraw his team
unless Brown was evicted
from her spot at the helm.
Without a team to race
against, the University squad
voted to keep Brown at the
helm. It ended in a 4-4 stand
off. Brown decided the matter
by refusing to compete (a
move that leaves her a martyr,
at least in my mind, for the
next few light years). Eventual
ly the team refused to row
without Brown as the
coxswain.
Brown competed in only
one race that season, winning
against Seattle University. She
will always have the memory
of being tossed, an obligatory
gesture for the winning cox
swain, Into the freezing winter
waters of Dexter Reservoir.
The moment was photograph
ed and recorded. Brown did
not try out for the crew team
the next year.
But Brown hasn’t been
forgotten.
The University club sport
program recently christened
their nearly new 8-person
shell; with the name “Victoria
Brown.” The naming is a
maneuver usually reserved for
wealthy benefactors who pur
chase the shells.
Yet the story carries another
twist.
The name of the shell and
what that name stands for hit
close to home with the Univer
sity's present eight-man cox
swain: Brenda Thornton.
Thornton was almost barred
from competing in the Na
tional Sports Festival regatta
— because she is a woman.
This time it was the NSF folks,
holding an Olympic rule book
high, ranting that there would
be no mixing of gender in such
a noble Olympic event. Only
through some fancy finagling,
and one gentleman who was
willing to put his job in jeopar
dy, did she manage to
compete.
Brown lives in Seattle now.
She’s married and has two
kids. She met this year’s crew
team during a competition in
Seattle.
Thornton is giving up crew
after this year and will concen
trate on school and other
pursuits.
But Brown's name, and both
women’s spirit will tie carried
on the shell forever.
And maybe our neighbors to
the north caught the name
emblazoned on the gunnel of
the University’s shell as it glid
ed through the water at the
Pac-10 varsity championships
last weekend — with Brenda
Thorton at the fore
Debbie Howlett is the 1983-84
Editor of the Emerald.
letters
Homophobia
The debate over the ROTC’s
discriminatory policy has had
one very obvious result: from
statements made during the
Assembly debate and more
particularly from letters
published in the Emerald, it is
perfectly clear that an ag
gressive discrimination,
sometimes subtle, more often
violent and self-righteous
does exist against homosex
uals as a group. Illogical argu
ment and twisted rhetoric thin
ly clothe a frightening
homophobia. That there ap
pears to be so little understan
ding and compassion on a
university campus should be
cause for shame and dismay.
Perry Powers
professor, romance languages
Oregon daily
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