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Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief.
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL
Protesters
undermined
the diversity
they sought
In a bizarre display that seethes with a distinctly Euge
nean brand of irony, self-styled "vagina warriors" converged
on Agate Hall on Friday, contending that the University's
recent production of "The Vagina Monologues" did not ad
equately represent "a variety of skin colors, body sizes, abil
ities and gender expressions."
Certainly, striving for fairness and diverse points of view
among actresses is an admirable and valuable goal in a play
that, among other things, celebrates diversity of identities,
perspectives and values.
But while the protesters' arguments may be well-in
tentioned and may present a rational facade, they are
riddled with fallacies that detract from their message of
fairness, tolerance and diversity, not to mention the in
tent of the play itself.
Protest organizer Nicole Barrett, who was offered a
part in the play, decided not to perform after a conversa
tion with the play's producers, who in her view weren't
open enough to talking about race's role in the play. This
deficit of dialogue, according to a statement that Barrett
released, prevented the cast from having the sort of di
versity she envisioned.
"A safe and welcoming environment was not created
for people that I consider to be 'underrepresented,'" she
said in a statement.
Whether that's true or not the protesters' arguments are
ultimately divisive, not diversifying.
One of the protesters' objections was that only two
women of color were in the play. While race plays a part
in the play, the producers decided to cast without nec
essarily aligning actresses' ethnicities with those of char
acters. In fact, that may have been difficult: Only about
85 people auditioned for the play, and there wasn't a
large pool of "visible" people of color, assistant director
Natalie Mays said. And, as of fall 2003, fewer than one
in seven matriculated students on this campus identi
fied themselves as ethnic minorities.
Some of those who complained that the play's cast did
not represent them didn't try out for the play, and some of
those who did dropped out.
Exacerbating the group's displeasure, according to the re
lease, "One of the two 'visible' people of color in the cast was
kicked out merely one week before the show opened, based
on unjustified accusations of'hostility^ Know that what you
are seeing tonight is not the result of an inclusive process."
The producers deny that they called senior Melissa Bal
lard, the ejected actress, hostile,' but that's beside the point:
The protesters' argument smacks of the very sort of dis
crimination and exclusion that they railed against. If a het
erosexual white actress were charged with 'hostility,' it
would be chalked up as a conflict of vision between herself
and the producers, and certainly wouldn't have earned
mention in the statement as an example of excluding what
ever that actress' unique qualities were from the realm of
the drama. Extending the protection against allegations of
hostility to minorities alone is too divisive to be reconciled
with the protesters' stated philosophy of inclusion.
Worse, protesters claimed that the producers did not se
lect a cast that represents a variety of "gender expressions."
Regardless of how true that claim is, the alternative is neces
sarily worse: It would be wholly inappropriate for the pro
ducers to ask each auditioner what her sexual orientation or
gender identity was, and worse yet, cast parts based on her
answer. If people are allowed to ask that kind of question, it
opens up a doorway for undue discrimination against any
sexual preference, which is exactly why asking such during
job interviews is illegal in many cities and states.
Whether the play's producers did a satisfactory job of as
signing parts and organizing the play in a way that was both
fair to the auditioners and accurately reflected diversity
among women (or even whether doing both in this pro
duction was possible) is beyond the scope of this editorial.
However, unfair expectations and demands for de facto
double standards certainly dilute the play's message of fe
male empowerment and violate the protesters' stated prem
ise of inclusion.
Atkins angst
Turn on the television these days, and this
is what I hear: "Atkins Atkins Atkins, carbs
carbs carbs, Atkins carbs Atkins. Bud Light."
Like many people, I'm a pushover when
it comes to new fads, trends and products.
So obviously, I had to try the more-popular
than-Ashton-Kutcher Atkins diet.
It lasted through lunch.
See; you think the Atkins diet is as easy as
a hamburger. I figured I would just start eat
ing more meat, cut out the bread and other
carbohydrates, and drop 20 pounds by
Thursday. I mean, with everybody from
Carl's Jr. toT.G.I. Friday's offering Atkins fare,
it had to be easy.
I was more wrong than Michael Jackson
at a slumber party.
This was the plan. I was starting the morn
ing after the Super Bowl. During "boobgate"
I carbo-loaded on pigs-in-a-blanket, chips
and dip and cookies. And plenty of beer. It
wasn't Michelob Ultra, either.
The morning after, I started the diet.
Armed with my 7-Eleven Atkins pamphlet,
I looked in my cupboard for something to
eat for breakfast. I only had Cheerios, which
have 22 grams of carbs per serving. Milk also
has too many carbs.
Under "Monday," my pamphlet recom
mended a smoked salmon omelet. Yeah.
I've never even seen a smoked salmon.
So breakfast was out.
For lunch, I was on campus and headed
straight for Subway. I love that Jared is now
■
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
out of a job. Under Atkins, bread is pretty
much outlawed. So Jared is like old fruit at
the supermarket. "One Jared, half off!"
Good times. By the way, fruit is another no
no when you go the Atkins route.
I ordered one of the Atkins wraps at
Subway, and it wasn't half bad. That's the
good thing about Atkins: If you do it right,
you don't have to kill your taste buds. But,
even though the Subway man switched
me out for a bigger wrap, I was hungry
again two hours later.
By dinner, I was done with Atkins. I could
n't find anything Atkins-friendly in my food
collection, and I realized I would have to
drop some money on steaks and chicken if 1
really wanted to be an Atkins man. That, or
spend $5 a night on burgers without buns.
And when it comes to that, my motto is
pretty similar to Sir Mix-a-Lot's: "Don't want
none unless you got buns, hon."
Ihe point of all this is that Atkins is hard.
Maybe I'm just not dedicated enough, but
seriously. I need my carbs. Everything I like
has carbs in it. Asking me to cut out carbs is
like asking Richard Hatch of "Survivor" to
put on clothes. It's like asking OutKast to be
normal. It's just not going to happen.
When I e-mailed my beautiful big sister,
Caroline, about possibly doing the Atkins
diet together, she had a sage response. She
said she doesn't cut out carbs, she just cuts
down on the carbs.
She's right. I believe carbs are bad for you,
but I don't believe it's healthy to completely
cut them out of your life It's kind of like tel
evision. You recognize it's bad to watch too
much television, but you can't completely
axe "Average Joe "and "The OC."
Then you'd miss the Atkins commercials.
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Women of Juarez need help
Just south of the border in Juarez,
Mexico, one of the greatest atrocities of
our time have been talcing place over the
past decade. Young women have been
murdered, raped, or "disappeared" by
the hundreds. And local officials and po
lice aren't doing anything about it!
They refuse to investigate these horri
ble crimes, and instead have the nerve to
blame the women for ,"dr^s$ijig
provocatively" or "staying out too late."
All these women are doing is walking
home from horrible factory conditions
to their homes that have no running wa
ter or electricity. It's about time that their
voices get heard!
If you care about this issue, I urge you
to sign online petitions and to especial
ly get involved in your local Amnesty In
ternational. This is one of AI's leading
cases, and you have the power as a mem
ber of the group to create real change to
ward this ^nd mapy other issues, regarding
women's rights and worldwide human
rights in general. In Eugene, there is both
a local group and a student group at the
University, and both will be working on
an event on March 9 in honor of the
Women of Juarez. The student group
meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the EMU.
I encourage you to get involved and
take action! You can make a difference in
lives of people all over the world.
Eric Bailey
senior
planning public policy and management