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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Kameron Cole
Stefanie Knowlton
Campus bar scene loses its aMeal
7bere is not
much of a
choice for
students in
terms of a
good all
around
campus bar
Lately I’ve been feeling old.
Well, not exactly old, but older.
Maybe that is how I am sup
posed to feel, considering that
this is my fifth year at the University of
Oregon. But should this recognition
of age be the worst at campus bars?
This column is a reflection of the
Opinion
Aaron
Artman
disgust a former bar
fly feels when he real
izes his old stomping
grounds have turned
in to an underage and
under-mannered
Abercrombie and
Fitch fashion show
where shoulder
punches and dirty
looks are just a few of
the requirements
needed to muscle your
way to the bar for an
other drink.
Message to all patrons of Taylor’s
Bar & Grill: We realize that your frater
nity decided to go dry, but please
take your immature bel
ligerence — along
with your fresh
from the high
school football team
physique — to the
dorms where your
attempts to score
can make some
body else keel over
with laughter.
1 aylor s used to
be a place similar
to the bar made
famous by the
television sitcom
"Cheers.” You
could walk in,
take a seat at a
booth or the bar s'
itself and ex- »
change pleas- {
Ciova n ti i Salt mena/Emerald
antries with the bartenders before in
dulging in an extremely stiff drink. It
should be noted that Taylor’s still has
the best bartenders in all of Lane
County, but it is less obvious now be
cause they also have to deal with the
same annoying crowd mentioned in
the previous two paragraphs.
Once seated, people watching was
just one of the many ways to pass the
time before the next friendly exchange
with the bartender. The crowd was
much more diverse back in the good
ol’days. Hippies would dance with
sorority girls while some 40-year-old
street person saluted the band by
holding up his drink and bellowing
out a drunken scream.
Arid the live music,
although grossly ama
teur on occasion,
offered a range of
styles from the
whaling
blues
of J.C. Rico to the moving acoustic sets
by tlie late Pete Ellis. Now patrons are
lucky to see the Zoo Keepers, complete
with their party hard persona that mix
es 80s pop sounds with L. A. cheese. It’s
not sexy. It’s not fun. And you sure as
hell can't dance to it.
As for people watching, you can
quote A1 Pacino’s character from
“Donnie Brasco” and say, “Forget
about it. ” There is better people watch
ing on “Beverly Hills 90210.” Well,
perhaps not better, but equal in the
sense that the homogeneous nature of
the characters is the same. The one ex
ception, however ironic it may be, is
that there are more girls with bleached
blonde hair and suntans in Tay
lor s than there are in Bev
erly Hills.
Rennie s isn t much
better, but at least you
can walk up to the
I bar without testing
your manhood.
The problem is
that once you
reach the bar,
the wait can
be long. The
word hustle is
definitely not
in the vocabu
lary of the res
ident bartenders. Instead, some hid
den agenda fueled by the ego of the
bartender dictates when your request
will be met.
After the exaggerated wait, make
sure you request beer instead of a
mixed drink. With the exception of a
“Long Island” or “Rennie’s Lemon
ade,” the mixed drinks here are more
mix than drink. This money-making
conspiracy results in morning-afters
where, unless you can strike a con
versation with somebody drinking
one of the above-mentioned fruity
cocktails, you wake up alone with no
hangover, having spent 20 more dol
lars than you wanted to trying to get a
buzz off drinks that contain less alco
hol than vanilla extract.
The campus bar scene here in Eu
gene offers students a dilemma. You
must make a choice: Either get ham
mered with the juvenile and ill-man
nered crowd at Taylor’s, where at
least you can count on the bartenders
to treat you right with a stiff drink, or
head to Rennie’s, where winning a
popularity contest plays more of a
role in getting a drink than it ever did
inwinninga high school student
body election.
My advice to all patrons of the cam
pus bar scene: Quit fronting.
Say “excuse me” if you are bumped
or somebody bumps you. It s a
common courtesy, not a test of
your manhood. Remember,
we all have the same agen
da.
If manners are too
)much tor you, or it
your toughness
relies on the bar
scene that much,
then please stay home
for the next two terms
until I graduate.
There will still be plenty
of time for the fashion shows
and egotistical posturing after
I’m gone, but at least I won’t
have to deal with it.
Aaron Artman is a colum
nistfor the Emerald. His
k views do not necessarily
|X. represent those of the
Sml newspaper.
1
Letters to the Editor
University is big business
Perhaps all those people who have such low opinions of
University students would like it if we went away? (ODE
“Problems result in low opinion of University students,”
Nov. 17). We could stop patronizing their stores, stop sup
porting their medical and dental facilities, stop buying food
and beer from their grocery stores and stop bringing thou
sands of people into their town to spend gobs of money. We
could also stop subsidizing their public transportation sys
tem, stop paying their rent and stop hiring hundreds of them
to work at the University and city businesses. Whoever has a
low opinion of University students should take a close look
at their pay check and figure out how much of it is linked to
the University.
The police would actually be the least happy of the bunch
if we went away. Without students as an excuse, the city gov
ernment might takeaway their little toy helmets, their shiny
shields and their oh-so-neatogas canisters. After all, use it or
lose it boys.
Chris O'Connor
Economics major, class of 1998
Duck Call pitfalls
I am writing to warn fellow students of the perils of using
Duck Call and the precautions that should be taken when
doing so. I hope that students will read this and avoid future
mistakes.
After registering for my classes and attending them, I real
ized that one was not going to work with my schedule and
proceeded to drop it via Duck Call. Then during finals week
one of my professors told me that he had me marked down as
being withdrawn from his class. I immediately went to the
Registrar to straighten out the matter. I had to petition to rein
state the course. At that time, even after explaining my situa
tion of how I tried to drop one class and mistakenly dropped
two at the same time, the clerk did not mention to me that I was
stil 1 registered for the class I had tried to drop in the first place.
I found out at the end of the term when I received my grades an
received an F for a class that I had never even been to. Al
though this was a scheduling error, both of my classes were
numbered 199 so I got them confused, my petition was de
nied to remove the grade. I have an F
on my transcript that I did not deserve
to receive. I made an honest mistake.
Please be careful when using Duck
Call. Even though it is incredibly te
dious to sit on the phone and listen
to the automated woman drone on, it
will save you a lot of trouble in the
long run if you pay attention.
Angie E.Valinoti
Junior in Philosophy
CORRECTION
In “Storms bring
leaks, damage”
(ODE, Nov. 30)
DanaWinitzky
should have been
identified as EMU
Facilities Manager.