EDITORIAL
Helmsley won’t ever
forget April 15 again
On a day when millions of Americans were rush
ing to the post office to send in their 1040 forms, Leona
Helmsley wished she could. And had.
The former hotel queen, diva of Manhattan, arrived
Wednesday at the minimum-security Federal Medical
Center in (.cxington. Ky. Helmsley. who once intoned
in her hotel advertisements. "I won't be treated like an
other room number." is now known as No. 1511A 054
It was hysterically ironic the 71-year-old Helmsley
was ordered to start her four-year sentence on April 15.
Apparently somebody in the Department of Justice has
a sense of humor.
Very few people enter the clink with as much fan
fare and pomposity as did Helmsley. She took the com
pany's Hoeing 727 to Kentucky and a limo to l-esing
ton Her husband, in tribute, shut off the decorative;
lights on the Helmsley managed liinpire State Building.
Helmsley could theoretically be out on parole in 1(>
months, hut thr saga of
thi: woman who once said
only little people pay tax
i’s is over.
Nearly three years ago,
Helmsloy was « onvit tod
of avoiding tax payments
of more than Si 7 million.
Her Ht year-old husband
was also indicted, but was
found to be incompetent
to stand trial. Beside her
prison senleni e. I lelmsley
also paid out more than SH
million in fines and rest!
tution.
Heimsiey, who
once intoned in
her hotel
advertisements,
ui won't be
treated like
another room
number,” Is now
known as No.
15113-054.
She is but one* of many ( elcbrities to get nailed on
tax evasion federal tigents. unable to pin any other
substantive i rime on him. pinned the "unpaid taxes"
label on gangster Al Capone, who once listed his voca
turn as "second hand furniture salesman baseball's
all-time leader in hits. Pete Rose, also did time for skip
ping out on ties income tux So did country western
singer Willie Nelson (no j.iil sentence, the IK.S just took
everything he ow nod).
A unique and heady list, to be sure
Those who skimp on their taxes sometimes get fa
vorable sympathy from the public After all. who
among us likes to pay the IRS' The answer is nobody
Hut Helmsley never got that sympathy Her abrasive
personality, not to mention her "little people" com
ment. endeared her to no one
t.'iao, Leona
LKTTKKS POLICY
Letters to the editor must tie limited to no more than
.'St) words, legible, signed and the identifii ation of the
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COMMENTARY
Real issues trivialized by media
By Ron Gum jg
Predictably. another com
plex issue is rodur eil to
the st m |i lest black and
white spis trum In (lay s angry
with movie portrayals" [(HH.
April nl. / mera/.f reporter l am
mv Haley should he i ommend
i'd lor trying to edut ate the
University campus about the
portrayal of gays, lesbians and
bisexuals in Hollywood films
Vet, he i n g o n e of t h e
soundbites ill! lulled 111 her
article. I feel reduced to a ster
eotvpe an 'angry voir e
while mv conversation with
Hates was more complex and
ini tint lusive
This hhu k and white roduc
lion is emphasized by the lirsl
letter in response to this artu le
by Jirveii Weslby . n April 1.1
Besides tielng angry . I am
now 'huleiful I 1: ,| ,! j 1M ip| me
that I want to devote my profcs
slonal life to) and have been
ev pi isoid i for my Ignorani e
and rai ism
l ord knows what all parlies
involved will be labeled by the
end of tills discourse, including
U . stbv and I i ouldiTt blame
must students tor turning a
blind eve and a deal ear to the
relevant issues when the dls
course is rodili ed to two sides
name i ailing across a fence
I'm nut surr wh.it needs to
hu addressed most m ii 1,000
word response 1,. Tin' journal
isiu reduction td voices to the
sunn- soundbites' .>) Tin; real
homojihuhl.i in Hollvwuod. .1!
tested to by tin- 1.11 t 11 idt .1 re
i imt bn.ird, Hollywood Sup
ports was formed by msidt-rs
to fight homophobia m the Mol
ly wood mdustrv ' t) A bal
.1111 i'd discussion of positive
and negative gay. lesbian and
hise\uaI portravals in l S
films' I) The different, com
plex real lions to such films as
Silfiii e 0/ thr L.imbs and Risn
Instan t in the gay. lesbian and
bisexual community ' r>i A sin
cere discussion on how gay.
lesbian and bisexual issues
connect to other subordinate
groups sut h as women and
people til color ' t>) The fai t that
this paragraph doesn't fit the
simplified, stereotyped
length of a newspaper article',
and so forth
lilies* we liegm to learn, un
derstand and accept the pres
ently uiisolvable, complex real ■
Lord knows what
all parties involved
will be labeled by
the end of this
discourse...
lions to homophobia arid other
moral" issues, and the "nor
malness" of different e, I per
sonallv fe.ir tilt? unleashed Irate,
repression and violeni e within
our communities
\\hut 1 tried. apparently un
sUt i essfu 1 iv . to explain to
itatev ts that after the (X A
makes (dtv lesbians arid
bisexuals (iisappear, the next
step is to insure that women are
re feminized and men are re
maxi ultni/.ed and the palriar
that, black, and white power
strm lures ot (.tender and sexual
11 x are reestablished in my
dissertation, the topu is not
solely the historical
homophobia within the l S
him industry but the unreulis
in. u onngraphit images of
masculinity and femininity that
homophobia has helped to i re
ate and entrem h
I am no doubt ignorant at
times, hut I am i outinualIv
learning the ms essily of openly
discussing and displaying my
ignorant e to eliminate it ( Mien,
when I speak, it Is from a self
reflexive search for meaning in
a complex world Ysith complex
inputs that need to he heard,
such as now Instead of assert
ing an opinionated answer and
position for everything. I wish
more of us talked from a posi
tion of ignorant e in an expand
ing seart h for truth and under
standing
Ignorum e ( tin he fruKlr.itmg
and embarrassing, but bolter
those reactions than the verUil
violent e and superiority of
name culling and surt asm
Kor the record, let me state
that Sih'nn' of iht' Liimbs was
an intense, complex Him expe
rience for me I did feel that the
serial killer was tagged with an
easily identifiable stereotyped
guvness and the violence upon
women fry this character was
disturbing Yet. for me, Jodie
I osier's character and perfor
mance revealed astonishing
depth and strength in terms of
female representation in a Hol
lywood film
As far as llusit: Instinct, I be
lieved the film was somewhat
misjudged by Queer Nation and
other protesters The film steals
from Vertigo and asserts a more
misogynist statue than solely
an anti-lesbian, anti-bisexual
bias and should be criticized
from that standpoint, interest
ingly, the only time 1 empa
thized w ith any of the i burnt
ters was the lesbian, Koxy
I have not seen I’rinci• at
Titles or Tried l ',men Tomatoes
because I cannot afford to go to
every film that passes through
the community and therefore, I
do not feel ijualified to com
merit on those films
The truth of the mutter, I
evaluated the above films in a
similar manner to Botev 1 also
praised the positive portrayals
of gavs and lesbians In the
films Tans is Homing, \fy Own
Trivate Idaho and The Virgin
Mai hme However, it should
be noted that these films were
not distributed as w idely in the
t inted States as llusit Instinct
or Silence ol the Tamils
The point of rehashing this
territory is to emphasize that all
voices can't and shouldn't be
reduced to a pro or a con Yes,
I'd like to see more mainstream
positive portrayals ol gays, les
Ilians and bisexuals, but I also
would ini lude groups subor
dinated because of gender,
class and race Surely, it noth
ing else, college teaches us
about the diversity of voiles
trying to lie heard, recognized
and legitimized I know I'm na
ive. but I still don't see why all
voiles cannot be leistered and
heard
Thu other import,mt point
here is to note the irony that an
artii hr on stereotyping reduced
five voices to the same "angry”
gay, lesbian and bisexual ster
eotvpe, followed by the first
angry” letter by Westby that
reduces Dot kslader, Wolf and
myself to hating, ignorant, rac -
ist homophiles The letters that
take Westby to task will reduce
him to a foaming, mad dog
homophobe Meanwhile, the
two reports i received last week
about two AIDS related deaths
and the reasons for these deaths
are trivialized and forgotten
That's what I'm angry about
Hoc Dregg is graduate student
in the University's telecom
munication and film depart
ment