T EDITORIAL
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SH
Enjoy Springtime while it lasts
Warm spring days were meant to be
spent outside in the sun, not in a
stuffy lecture hall
Call it spring fever. Call it cabin fever. Call
it senioritis, or junioritis, or sophomoritis
or freshmanitis. Whatever it is, it makes
me and a great deal of the student body
very eager to get out of the classroom and into the
sunshine.
Finally, after months of
gray skies and rain, that
orange orb floating in space
has revealed itself to us.
Around campus, flowers
are blooming and their
sweet scents drift past our
noses as we walk to the
academic jailhouses
known as
Willamette, Gilbert,
PLC....
Why do we do this to ourselves?
Why torture ourselves this way?
We are slaves to the lecturer,
taking notes as fast as we
can. We busy ourselves
by participating in
group discussions
anu auenaing
three-hour labs
and studios.
And for
what? A good
grade, mavbe
an A ora B,
or sometimes
just to get by
with a (gulp) C?
Okay, so
maybe grades and
the like are impor
tant, but just as the
knowledge we receive in
the classroom is fundamen
tal to our future endeavors (sup
posedlv), so are the truths we learn
from living life itself. And truly living
means more than just going through the mo
tions. It involves valuing everything we do and
everything around us.
For some reason, many of us have it in our
heads that taking time out for ourselves is not
important, that stopping to smell the roses is
something that can always wait for another day.
But it can’t, because taking the time to enjoy life is
something that needs to be done every day.
There is nothing like lying down on soft grass —
not the mushy, water-soaked grass of the Oregon
rainy season, but soft, dry, freshly cut grass —
while letting the sun soak through the layers of
clothing and skin which envelop our bodies and
listening to the quiet music of birds, or the wind,
or water passing by or melodious notes coming
from a nearby guitar.
The bliss from just being is a relaxation far too
often overlooked when the days are hectic and
short, as they always seem to be. So it is up to us to
find time to enjoy the spring weather while we
can, before the dreaded allergies kick in and we
have to run with muffled screams [because our
pollen-induced asthma prevents us from having
enough lung power for a proper scream) back into
the formerly mentioned air-conditioned sweat
shops of academia.
Come rain or shine, the beauty of the Willamette
Valley is right outside your door. But if the sun is
shining and you find yourself jotting down note
after useless note, remember tbe roses outside are
just waiting to be smelled. We work to get by, but
we play in order to live.
Laura Daniel, a junior majoring in biology, is a
columnist for the Emerald. Her views do
not necessarily reflect those of
the paper.
CHRIS HUTCHlNSOWEmerald
LETTERS
ASUO matters
An editorial in the April 16 Emer
ald argued that students have no real
reason to participate in the election
process because activities of the
ASUO do not significantly affect stu
dents’ lives. This is a very negative
and unconstructive view, and more
over, wrong in many ways.
The ASUO affects any student in
any programs funded by incidental
fees, as well as any student who takes
advantage of the privileges those fees
provide. Take the current LTD bill.
How many students ride the bus to
and from campus, or as their only way
to travel around Eugene? It does not
make sense for students to ignore the
ASUO when popular vote determines
the future of many students’ programs
and privileges.
Unfortunately, the ASUO isn’t as
visible as it could be, but it shouldn’t
require overly drastic changes to rem
edy this. Some candidates for ASUO
Exec, mentioned publishing a
newsletter in the Emerald periodical
ly. Why shouldn't Miner/Unger adopt
the idea?
Also, another recent editorial in the
Emerald highlighted many mishaps of
the election process this year. A few
minor changes like adding more vot
ing booths in different areas of cam
pus could dramatically improve voter
turnout.
Voting for measures and candidates
determines where our six million dol
lars go. The ASUO does need to make
itself more visible and accessible, but
it’s more important that we students
realize that voting affects each of us.
Michael Medlock
Political Science
It’s up to US
This letter is in response to the
April 16 editorial regarding the ASUO
and the student body. First off, let me
reiterate your opinion: "Campus apa
thy relates solely to student govern
ment. not general activism.”
I’m sorry to say that your opinion is
a tragic delusion of what apathy is.
Your opinion expresses exactly the
kind of apathy that has captured this
campus as well as this country.
Our student government upholds
the democratic concept of representa
tion of the student body by other stu
dents who have been elected to those
positions. It has been said that a de
mocratic government is only as good
as the people it governs. With this be
ing true, then your assessment of the
ASUO can only be a diagnosis of your
own apathy.
Your answer to the “problem” of
apathy within the ASUO is “genuine
reform.” Reform seems to be a conve
nient scapegoat for our own problems
of apathy. The “genuine reform” you
speak of must genuinely occur in all
of us — not the system.
The system is only what we make of
it. If you are unsatisfied with the way
things are going, then you have the
ability to express yourself through the
system. The responsibility of the sys
tem to represent me and you ultimate
ly lies in our hands.
Remember the politicians that rep
resent us didn’t get there without go
ing through elections. They were cho
sen by me and you. The leadership
and justice we all desire out of our stu
dent government, or the federal gov
ernment for that matter, is up to us to
decide.
John Skalberg
Undeclared
Enough is enough
Over the last couple of months, I’ve
heard again and again about how
Footnotes is complaining about losing
their current space. Well, enough is
enough. It seems Footnotes is capable
of only two things: whining and un
derhanded tricks.
Not only have they whined to the
EMU Board, but to all the students in
the newspaper and around campus.
Then there were their actions, which
speak much louder than their words.
The most recent action was the mis
use of the computing resources here at
the University. Footnotes decided that
they had the power to subscribe thou
sands of students to an e-mail list urg
ing the support of the ballot measure
for Footnotes.
This was all done without permis
sion or knowledge of the students. I
urge everyone to vote against the Foot
notes ballot measure and send a mes
sage to Footnotes that we are tired of
their whining and tricks. I also call for
a public apology from Footnotes con
cerning their recent actions.
Dan Pierson
History
Brad Smith and
Kari Shelton
The people have
spoken. Our fa
vorite comedi
ans took in a re
sounding 174
votes in last
week’s ASUO
Executive prima- |
ry race. What
this says about
our student
body, we’re not
sure, but what it
says about the
tickets of Osi
tis/Terry, 4
Smith/John and
Madrid/Sal 2000 j
is perfectly clear.
Campus history j
The five-part cre
ative manifesto
in the Emerald
this week by our
very own Dennis
Bolt has us all
thinking about
the past. Univer
sity tradition is
so important to j
allot us,...aw,
forget it.
I
|
V
Peruvian
government
Tiie government i
raid on rebels
who had 71
hostages captive
in the Japanese
ambassador’s
mansion ended
the four-month
old crisis Tues
day. But it also
resulted in the
deaths of 17
rebels, hostages
and soldiers —
the first casual
ties since the
rebels took con
trol on Dec. 17.
The bloodshed
was unneces
sary.
Keiko
The killer whale
and Newport
resident may be i
released to the
wild next
year...awww,
that’s great.
Guess what? We
don't care.