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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1988)
m W THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER By presenting a wide range of opinions and ideas reprinted from hundreds of iSlI J|l| campus newspapers, we hop** to enhance the quality of campus life as we in ISl |l|p form, entertain and engage the national student body We acknowledge the m commitment of student journalists across the nation, support***! by their media advisers and journalism professors, to report the activities, issues and con cems of their fellow students PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER ■ Sheena Paterson-Berwick ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER ■ Mike Singer DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS RELATIONS ■ Dick Sublette EDITORIAL ■ Managing Editor Karen Bollermann Julie Du Brow. Senior Editor Rebecca Howard. News Features Editor Brent Anderson. Life and Art Editor Marc Bona. Dollars and Sense Editor Mark Chamock, Student Body Editor Liz Camfiord, Assistant Editor ADVERTISING SALKS ■ Sales Supervisor Ava Weintraub New York Marc Besningrr Joseph Finkelstetn, Karen C Tarrant West: Laune Guhrke. Athar Siddiqee, Claudia Mali*. Sales Assistant Midwest Lame Meyers, Inc CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION ■ Operations Manager Annalee Kyan Koss Fischman, Bulk Sales Troy RenneberR, Assistant RESEARCH ■ Director: Steve Nachtman EDITORS ON KKIJXIWSHIPS • Brent Anderson. Daily Nexus, U of California, Santa Barbara ■ Marc Bona. The Daily Iowan. U of Iowa ■ Mark C'hamock. The llrvezr. James Madison U., VA • Rebecca Howard. Kansas Stale Collegian. Kansas State U CHAIRMAN: Albert T Khnnjpr VICE CHAIRMAN: Tay Yoahitam EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL INL J. DAVID REED, Immediate l*a««t IWent. Society for ( ollegr JoumalialM, The KtuUrm Neum. Emm tern lllmoi* U FRED WKDDIJ-; Immediate Pant President. Weatem AMaociation of Umvnmity Publication* ManuKcrn. Oklahoma Daily, II of Oklahoma MONA CRAVENS, Director of Student I'uhlica Ilona, Daily Trajan. U of Southern California EDMUND SUIJJVAN. Director. Columbia Srho laalic Preaa Aaaoriution. Columbia U . NY TOM ROLNICK1, Executive Director. Awwaialed Collegiate IVena DK. DAVE KNOTT, Immediate Pant Prmidenl. College M«-di.i Adviaer*. The Hull Stale Daily News. Hall Stale II , IN UK. FRANK RAfJIJUSKY. Manner of Sludcnt Daily Haramrtrr. Oregon Stair U .IAN T. CHI1JIRKSH, Dim tor «»l Student |*ul> lira Don*. llnivrnaty Daily. T*uul IWh U W. H. CA8EY. |\il»lwhrr. Daily Iowan. II of lown Kl> HARHKR, lirnrrnl Man.wi Intlrftrndrnl Honda Alligator. U i f Hondo IIAKHY MONnCVIDIJO, Gorwrol Murmu r lhr Hr11 A Hlack.V of < «*orK>n liRI ( K I). m/IJC, <»f Sludrnt Public ■< 11<itm. Stair Prmiw. Arizona 8UI* U KRIC JACOBS, Immrdiatr l’»M l*matdenl. f’ol l«*l(r f liiuioru & Advertising Mannjftr* Thr Daily /Vniuy/taflMi.ll of iVnnaylvanm U. i* publiihMl mi lime* a y«*i»r by Thr American Collegiate Network, 3110 Main Street. Santa Monica, CA 9040ft Tel 213 460-2921 Copyright 1**HM All rinhta renerved UI’A Conaumrr Audit mrmhrndup applied for Amount 1*187 COMMENT AND OPINION New homeless shatter ‘psychotic’ stereotype By Dan Morrison ■ The Daily Tar Heel U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Twenty-five years ago, a social work er would have spoken of the “homeless” in terms of foster children and run aways. But the meaning of the word has changed, and so have the people it de scribes. Americans could ignore the homeless in 1960 and 1970 because they weren’t considered people worth saving. The old woman talking to herself on a park bench wasn’t viewed as a victim of the economy, but rather as a woman who needed psychiatric help. The casual observer had cause to feel this way. The period from 1960 to 1980 was one of “forced emancipation” of America’s mentally ill from over crowded mental institutions. A bankrupt Indiana farmer ... now sits next to the confused old lady on the park bench. Experts estimate there are as many as 3 million people sleeping in card board boxes and huddling over street vents. But in 1988 those 3 million are not all psychotic. A growing number cannot afford to live decently. A bankrupt Indiana farmer who once put food on American tables now sits next to the confused old lady on the park bench. A 1986 article in Society magazine L i: it S' § entitled “The New Poor” states that ear ly in this century, the poor were mostly uneducated immigrants with little job training. The ethnic barrier has been broken. The article says that “the new poor are a much less homogenous group that includes structurally unemployed persons . . . the mentally ill and the ‘voluntary poor’.” The Society article also points to the reduction in affordable housing. Be tween 1971 and 1978 the number of single-room dwellings in New York City fell from 170,000 to 14,000 due to “tax abatements and condo conversion.” Society says the “voluntary poor” are “remnants of the ’60s counterculture, . . . who are drawn to the simplicity of street life.” Included are people like 40 year-old Joyce Brown, a former stenog rapher who is suing the city of New York for taking her off the streets. Her case brings to light a major difference be tween the American homeless and their brethren in foreign countries. The United States is the only country in the world where a citizen can legally live on the streets. If a college dropout wants to soul-search while living like a pauper outside a bus station, the Con stitution is behind him The Latin American poor are poor only by our standards. We see pictures of them barefoot and carrying heavy baskets down dirt roads and assume they are “poor.” Most don’t even realize they are poor until we bring it to their attention. Latin Americans have been sensitized to a life of poverty from birth Ninety-nine percent of them will always be poor. The American p<xir, however, are a minority. The United States is the only country in the world where a citizen can legally live on the streets. For the American blue-collar worker who once brought home $200 a week, the thought of poverty hits hard. A Col ombian coffee picker has few expecta tions placed on him by society. If he was born into a coffee-picking family, he will pick coffee. An American, on the other hand is expected to rise to his God-given ta lents, and anything short of that is often considered a failure. It is true that a majority of America’s homeless have a history of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as mental disorders. But among their ranks is a growing number of economic misfits—single adults and entire families who have fal len through the cracks. Their plight makes headlines and exposes a gaping wound in American society that de mands more than a mere Band-Aid. Forgotten art of listening needs a renaissance People urged to communicate better By Stephen Buckley ■ The Chronicle Duke U., NC A friend of mine says the key to deal ing with conflict is communication. She has a point. In everything from world crises to parent-child rela tionships, open and honest com munication is essential to achieving understanding and progress. The problem, however, is not that folks aren’t talking. Lord knows the world is overflowing with “great com municators,” men and women who possess the enviable ability to come across with power, clarity and eloqu ence. Instead, there appears to be a dearth of good listeners. Listening has become a forgotten art, especially in day-to-day relations. Parents teach good manners, instill values and shape their offspring into responsible, upstanding human beings. However, moms and dads rarely encourage their children to be good listeners. The old warning “Stop, look and listen” has been replaced with “Look both ways.” One reason for the de-emphasis on listening may be that parents refuse to listen to their kids’ ideas and opinions. In a great number of parent-child situations, the deaf are leading the deaf. The irony is that listening is neces sary for success in almost every pro fession. The best doctors hold their pa tients’ thoughts in high esteem; lawyers must be able to hear what their clients are saying—or not .saying—before they can advise or de fend. Ted Koppel, the host of ABC’s “Nightline,” is commonly referred to as the best interviewer on television. What really sets Koppel apart is his ability to keep interviewees from rambling off the subject or squirming around the issue. Koppel can do this because he is a superb listener. Consider Jesse Jackson, whose push for the Democratic presidential nomination shocked political experts and skeptical columnists alike. Voters cited a variety of reasons for supporting Jackson, and the most im portant of these was the perception— especially among the working class and the poor—that this candidate lis tens to the people. Listening is just as important on a more personal level. Some of our most nagging frustrations occur when we feel someone doesn’t value what we say. In failed marriages, a common complaint is that one spouse did not listen to the other. The same goes for suicide victims, who often leave notes that essentially say, “No one was listening.” Some may argue that to point out the importance of listening is tanta mount to observing that the sky is blue. Hut that doesn’t solve the prob lem. The world is teeming with people yearning to be heard. Witness the re cent popularity of radio counseling shows and telephone party lines. Without question, there is much vir tue in being able to express one’s thoughts effectively. Nevertheless, we should cultivate a balance in our thinking, so that we listen as intently to the other half of the conversation. Our world does not only need open mouths. It also needs open ears.
