Friday
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-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
MICHAEL J. KLECKNER
Iwas allowed to spend time in
the presence of two dignitaries
Tuesday, and from start to fin
ish it was rewarding. I moved
from awe to confusion to under
standing in the course of nine
hours. Now I hope I can synthesize
the lessons and make them a part of
my daily routine.
I began Tuesday morning by
walking over to University Presi
dent Dave Frohnmayer’s office, as I
was the lucky winner of a Student
Alumni Association contest to
spend the day with the president. I
had coffee and talked with Frohn
mayer, and I began to see the mind
numbing assortment of duties he
undertakes every day.
From legislative matters to high
er-education journals, Fanconi
Anemia updates to the latest cam
pus fracas, Frohnmayer has to shift
gears at a moment’s notice. He must
move from presiding over a ribbon
cutting ceremony dedicating a new
building or honoring a late, great
scholar to grappling with big-pic
ture questions of how the Oregon
Progress Board (which Frohnmay
er sits on and which develops and
monitors benchmarks of Oregon’s
social public policy goals) should
handle new legislation aiming to
change the structure of the group.
As we sat in his office and he de
scribed his standard day to me,
Frohnmayer pointed to a large
stack of University Awards — to be
given out Saturday during Family
Weekend — on his desk awaiting
his signature.
I began to ponder the complex
labyrinth Frohnmayer must navi
gate every day, but I was interrupt
ed by the TV cameras that set up to
shoot the requisite photo ops.
Frohnmayer was no less at home
here in the artificial light, taking
the opportunity to eloquently
pump the school, to explain the ne
cessity of adequate state funding
for higher education and to de
scribe the way the University gives
the state economy a 5-to-l return
on its dollar. And the whole time,
he was signing those University
Awards, occasionally interrupting
his patter to remark that he knew
one or another of the recipients.
I always feel as if I am navigating
my own labyrinth. I am focused on a
career and agoal, but I don’t buy it
100 percent. I take classes, I get good
grades, I work full-time, I engage in
extracurricular activities and main
tain some semblance of a life. Add to
that the emotions, needs, desires and
frustrations of our strangely discon
nected postmodern life, and I won
der how I am able to function at all. I
certainly don’t have the effortless
flow, the ability to deftly step from
one gig to another, that Frohnmayer
puts on as easily as his glasses. And I
worry even more about developing a
sense of peaceful contentment; how
can I build a full career into a deep
sense of inner happiness? I wonder
what I need to do now in my life.
I left Frohnmayer’s office in the af
ternoon to see the spiritual leader of
Tibet, live in concert. By 5:30 p.m., I
was nestled on my bench at the very
peak of the back wall of Portland’s
Memorial Coliseum. Just before 6
p.m., I started to cry as His Holiness
the 14th Dalai Lama came onstage,
bowing and smiling repeatedly. I
was still confused about my path to
ward effortless multi-tasking, and I
thought perhaps this 66-year-old
monk could help.
Then the Dalai Lama began to
speak, and I was filled with clarity.
It really is very simple.
All of the trappings of our
modern Western life are not the
point. A career track and being
able to multi-task isn’t the key.
National identity, race and
gender, the Dalai Lama said,
“are secondary. The impor
tant thing is humanity.”
If we aren’t content, if we
are confused or unhappy,
he said, it isn’t because
we’re lacking material
things or a better career.
The 20th century saw the
greatest expansion of ma
terial goods in human
history, but it was also
the bloodiest century
ever, the Dalai Lama said.
Obviously, we are lacking
something else. .
“We need to pay more at
tention to deeper human
values,” he said. “If we com
bine our brain and our heart, we
can overcome man-made prob
lems.”
The Dalai Lama is a joyous, unas
suming man. He laughed and gig
gled constantly, belying his stature
as one of the world’s most important
voices in discussions of global disar
mament and international relations.
He stressed the need for people to re
connect with values—compassion,
contentment and self-discipline—
and to reconnect with other people.
All parts of the world is part of
yourself,” he said in slightly shaky
English. The modem world is totally
interdependent, he explained. We
rely on each other for resources, for
products and for culture. Our re
liance demands that we “take care of
others’ interests. That’s the reality,”
he said. “So actually, taking care of
others is taking care of oneself.”
The Dalai Lama specifically crit
icized Western material culture.
“Your lifestyle should be more con
tented,” he said. “There is too
much consumed. Moralistically, I
think this is not right. ”
I was amazed all evening by the
sincerity and simplicity of his mes
sage. It seems that the greatest hu
mans ever—the ones who under
stand peace, enlightenment, joy
and compassion—have always
had a very simple message. Love
each other. Eliminate hate and fear
from yourself. Be compassionate.
Be happy with what you have and
Giovanni Salimena Emerald
who you are.
As I rode home from Portland at 2
a.m., I realized that being active and
engaged in public policy and leader
ship may be important. It may be re
warding. But it won’t make me con
tent with who I am. Only by
continuing to develop my spirit
will I achieve peace. After that, I
can worry about careers and shift
ing gears from one moment to the
next. Although once I’m content,
material accomplishment might
not seem that important.
Michael J. Kleckner is the editorial editor
for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do
not necessarily represent those of the
Emerald. He can be reached at opededi
tor@journalist.com.
Letters to the editor
Let’s stop date rape, not insult the victims
Charles G. Haller II, shame on you for sarcasti
cally equating your drunken stupors with the pos
sibility of a drug-induced date rape situation (“Is
every unwise choice a drugging and raping?”,
ODE, May 14). Since you and I are not the judge
nor jury in the matter and are only partially in
formed, we need to be careful at drawing conclu
sions of “what actually happened” and how that
relates to our personal experiences. Instead we
need to focus on the intent of the article:
• Date rape happens.
• Sometimes drugs are used to facilitate date
rape.
• What can a survivor do if she or he thinks this
might have happened to her/him?
• Inform readers that you need to act expedi
tiously given the life span of the drug in the body.
• Inform readers about House Bill 2353, regard
ing penalties for drug-induced sex assaults.
I am disappointed also by your competitive and
dualistic/debate-oriented approach. Although our
culture values competition and debate skills, I be
lieve it perpetuates systems of oppression.
For example, you choose to find (or create) a
hole in the narrative of the article, thus drawing at
tention away from the main issues of the article. In
a collaborative approach, instead of sarcastically
cutting someone down, you might have shown
some interest in fixing the social problems at the
core of these issues.
Lisa Foisy
director
ASUO Women's Center
‘Coon’ is still derogatory
I’ve been trying to think of some way to respond
to Mark R. Baker’s letter (“‘Coon’ is short for ‘rac
coon,’” ODE, April 20). He criticized Professor Ed
win Coleman’s disdain for the expression “a
coon’s age.”
If Baker had taken one of Coleman’s classes, he
would understand how grossly inappropriate it is
to use this term. Baker implies that Coleman over
reacted about a point of political correctness.
There’s a lot more to it.
The term “coon” has a long and wretched histo
ry. It was and is used to dehumanize every mem
ber of an entire race. Over the years, the instances
when “coon” was used for “raccoon” don’t com
pare to the term’s pervasiveness as applied to
blacks.
I checked with one of the reference librarians at
the Knight Library. The Random House Dictionary
of American Slang traces the term back to the
1830s (from Zip Coon, one of the first of hundreds
of “coon songs” used in the minstrel shows). “A
coon’s age” shows up in the 1840s.
For more than two hundred years, blacks have
been characterized as less than human. In minstrel
shows, sheet music, cartoons, films and jokes,
black features have been exaggerated and
ridiculed, their intellects and contributions
scorned. The images of the happy servant, the
mammy, the buffoon and the brute persist deep in
the psyche of white America.
The reference librarian cautioned: “I’d be very
wary of using ‘coon’s age.’ It carries a lot of deroga
tory baggage.” Baker doesn’t get it.
Julie Delperdang
graduatestudent
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Leftfield
Frank Silva