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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2001)
Monday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-maii: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com ERIC PFEIFFER SAINTS AND PROFITS Editor’s note: Eric Pfeiffer is the campaign manager for ASUO Ex ecutive candidates Bret Jacobson and Matt Cook. This column was written after the ticket was re moved from the ballot. They have since been reinstated and will ap pear in the general election, so Pfeiffer is again on hiatus until after the election. I’ll soon begin my last spring term at the University, and it’s raining outside. Fitting, because University life has been anything but what I expect ed coming in. Ideally, I’d take it easy during my last term of my college career; spend time with my family, tan my starkly pale skin, and not take any classes be fore 2 p.m. But let’s face reality: 20 credits, 8 a.m. classes, two jobs and it’s raining outside. I might be a little depressed if I believed my college years truly are going to be the best of my life. Thankfully, I don’t believe that for a second. I can’t speak for those other soon-to-be graduates, but I am literally counting down the days until I leave the Univer sity, and more4specifically, leave Eugene. There are a lot of topics I wish I had taken the time to write about, but a few unforeseen events came up in the meantime: working on a campus election that refuses to end and a few life-changing mo ments to boot. So, instead, I’m go ing to use this column for a little spring cleaning. Here is a short list of neat little things I think you might be interested in if you’ve enjoyed any of my columns so far: First, for a healthy dose of al ternative and mainstream politi cal news coverage, go to the Web site www.gotcannedgoods.com; you won’t be disappointed. Canned Goods is a non-profit me dia collective that gathers news and art from around the world and assembles it into a conven ient package. Once you visit Canned Goods, be sure to sign up for its free e-newsletter, the Poopa Scoopa. It’s a daily roundup of important political stories from around the world that will save you a lot of time surfing the Web. Canned Goods is also a unique showcase for artists, writers and underground journalists alike. So, if you like crafting media, instead of just consuming it, this is definitely worth your time to check out. While you’re engrossing your self in alternative media, you might as well listen to some good music. If you’re tired of the same crap polluting the airwaves, please give a few minutes of your time listening to the campus ra dio station, KWVA 88.1 FM. KWVA is run by students and features a variety of music rang ing from Spanish-language pro gramming to independent hip hop. There’s something for everyone to enjoy on KWVA and something to annoy just about everyone as well, so don’t listen just once. Keep trying and you will definitely find something worth listening to that you aren’t likely to find anywhere else. And best of all, no Dave Matthews Band. Because this is a column on politics and the media, I can’t fin ish my tenure without mention ing one person in particular: Har lan Ellison. Everyone has some figure he or she looks up to, and this individual is mine. Harlan Ellison is the most-awarded liv ing fiction writer in the world to day, and you probably haven’t heard of him. He is predominant ly a short-story writer, but he has written novels, screenplays, com ic books and even once did a me dia column back in the ’70s that is the inspiration for my own tour of duty. He is an incredible personality and an amazing writer. As he so humbly stated in the introduction to one of his books, your IQ will rise by at least 5 points just by reading him. So, if I’ve maintained your atten tion thus far, it would be in your interest to read something — any thing — by this man. He is a ge nius in the true sense of the word. Last in my spring cleaning ef fort, take a moment to read one of the other campus publications that your student fees pay for. And have a good spring term. You’ll hear from me again v soon. Eric Pfeiffer is a colum nist for the Oregon Daily Emer ald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at epfeiffe@glad stone.uoregon.edu. Letters to the editor OSPIRG fights the good fight We need OSPIRG now more than ever. With all the recent roll backs of environmental and con sumer protections that have oc curred in the last couple of weeks, we students need someone to look out for us. One of those rollbacks by our nation’s administration actually overturned a law that had de creased the limit of arsenic in our drinking water. Clean water is one of OSPIRG’s primary campaigns, which is why we need to keep funding it, so we can make stu dents and the general public aware of this rollback and others like it and fight any future roll backs from happening. Now, more than ever, we need OSPIRG to keep fighting the good fight. So if you care about protect ing yourself from any future at tacks on laws that protect you, then you should vote yes for OS PIRG in the upcoming elections. Courtney Hight junior environmental studies CONTACT US! The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes and will attempt to print all letters on topics of interest to the University community, letters are limited to 250 words. The Emerald rmay edit any letter for length, clarity, grammar, style and libel. Letters may be mailed, dropped off at EMU Suite 300, or e-mailed to the addresses at the top of the page. Also, please fee! free to give your feedback to any individual story or column directly at our Web site. Feedback comments may appear in print at our discretion. Keep in touch!
