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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2004)
DISCOVER THE MOST COMFORTABLE WAY TO Call now and find prices starting as low as $499 on select units! • Free cable • Washer/Dryer • Exercise classes available • 1 & 2 bedrooms • Valley River location Rw&i e^/iace 344-3536 Managed by Willamette Mgml. Croup, BE PREPARED TO PROTECT YOURSELF! CASE: lit CONDOM BRIARS «' YOU FORGOT TO TAKE YOUR PILL • OR, YOU HAD SI XMN YOU DIDN'T WANT OR PLAN TO you h,ivB up to 5 Days to toko emergency contraception (EC). But the sooner the tenet Ask your health core (vrovitlor about an advance supply of f C. P Planned Parenthood pTannedparenthood.org/oe 344-9411 Excitement. Adventure. Surprise. Thrills. This ain't your parents travel agency. it's yours Paris.$537 London.$528 Cancun.$466 , Costa Rica.$366 Hostels & transfers: FIJI 5 nights, 3 islands From: $304 cnncun Fare is round trip from Eugene and prices are per person. Subject to change and availability. Tax not included. Restrictions and blackouts apply. Fares are valid for students, faculty and youth under 26. 5 night accomm. From: $275 One stop. No hassles. We've got everything you need for your next trip. STA TRAVEL 877 1/2 Ease 13dh Sd. (541) 344.2263 www.statravel.com STUDENT TRAVEL & BEYOND on enmpu/ on THE /TREET Media's reaction to Rwanda showed distorted priorities This April marks the 10-year an niversary of one of the most famous suicides in contemporary American history — the shot heard around the world, if you will. It also marks the 10 year anniversary of something far more tragic but virtually unknown to most Americans. Ten years ago today, Americans were at a loss for words as they mourned the death of rock star Kurt Cobain. The media had their eyes on Seat de. While the camera crews and smug reporters were migrating Northwest to the dreary Emerald City for the story of the year, one of the most horrific and violent crimes against humanity was taking place overseas in a small African country called Rwanda. Millions of people across the Unit ed States were in tears and blaring "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their stereos, while in Africa screams were blaring from the moudis of innocent men, women and children as they were rapidly decimated with machetes. It began on April 6, 1994, when Rwandan President Juvenal Habyari mana was killed after his plane was shot down near Kigali Airport. Hutu extremists were believed to be behind the attack. Later that night, the Hutus began one of the most efficient genocides the world has ever known; deciding that the Tutsi people, the minority in Rwanda, must be wiped out. While the official count of the dead reached 800,000, many Rwandans say it was far greater. Some say that it was in the millions. Two days later, back in the United States, Kurt Cobain's body was found in his Seattle home by an electrician. He had perished from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. In his suicide letter, Cobain writes, "The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pre tending to be having 100% fun." In Rwanda, thousands of people were being herded into churches and massacred. On April 10, Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, held hands with hor rified fans during a candlelight vigil in Seattle while reading excerpts from her husband's suicide note. Love choked back tears as she and the fans called Cobain an "asshole." Love responded to Cobain's words by saying, "No Kurt, the worst crime I can think of is for you to just continue being a rock star when you fucking hate it." Meanwhile, in Rwanda, more than 10,000 Tutsis were gathered at a town hall where police, soldiers, militia men and villagers surrounded them with guns, grenades and machetes. Only a few Tutsis escaped. The rest were slaughtered. Carl Sundberg Reasoning with madness For the next few months back in America, the media were in a Nirvana feeding frenzy. Cobain's face was placed on magazine covers nation wide, journalists everywhere were writing essays about him and MTV be came Cobain central, playing nothing but Nirvana videos on constant 24 hour loops. In Rwanda, maggots and buzzards fed on blood-drenched and headless corpses that were piled up in churches and streets. By July 1994, Cobain had become a household name, a cultural icon, a hero. Things had started getting back to normal for America. What was once a horrible tragedy is now our history, a frozen moment in time. Americans had grieved enough. We were ready to move on. One hundred days after April 6, Rwanda had also started to get back to relative normalcy — if you were not a Tutsi, that is. The Rwandan genocide had come to a halt. Journalist Philip Gourevitch writes the following in his book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda": "The dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of the Jew ish dead during the Holocaust. It was the most efficient mass killing since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." However, unlike Cobain, they did not choose to die. Unlike Cobain, none of the Rwandan dead became media-honored heroes. None of them are household names. None of them are icons. Their pictures never graced any magazine covers. They were sacri ficed for nothing. For nothing. Just like the Clinton administration did, the American media have all but ignored the Rwandan genocide. Nowadays, the few who even know about this event shake their heads in disbelief. What were we thinking? The most powerful empire on Earth sat idle as millions of people were slaughtered like cattle. At this point, though, it's stupid to play the blame game. What's done is done. But 10 years later, the buzz about Cobain is back. And Rwanda is still in the background, hidden away from American eyes. Let us not forget those 800,000 innocent victims. I dedicate this meager column to those families who perished in that genocide. Tonight, I will bum a can dle for you all. Contact the Pulse columnist at carlsundberg@dailyemerald.com. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. Gardens grow responsibility In an effort to move closer to adulthood, I took on the extra re sponsibility of a garden last week. I've kept my houseplant alive for al most two years now, and looking to take advantage of the spring weather I decided it was time to plant my first garden. Sort of. I'm still a long way from being dedicated enough to prune ihy flow ering hedges, aerate my lawn or di vide my perennials. 1 also lack a backyard. Instead, I have opted to grow fruits and vegetables in con tainers on my balcony. Although container gardening is less rigorous, there are still steps that need to be taken to make the plants survive and prosper. The first obvious step is to decide what to plant. I'm trying several herbs, tomatoes, strawberries and sweet pea flowers. Because this is my first try at gardening, I'm only growing a few items and waiting for a small success before I invest too much time and money. I picked my plants based on what I like, but others may want to be more technical about their plant se lection and base their decision on factors such as Eugene's hardiness zone. Also, if you're going to grow more than one type of plant in the same container, make sure the plants have similar sun and water needs and grow at similar rates. Helen Schumacher Notes from the underground Once you've decided on your plants, the proper containers and soil need to be selected. There should be room for the plant's roots, soil and bottom drainage. Without proper drainage (or with overwatering), roots will rot and salts will build up instead of being washed from the dirt. If you are planting seeds that will turn to vine plants, such as tomatoes or peas, you'll need to provide support, like bamboo rods, for the plants to lean on. Soil should be loose enough that roots are properly aerated, but should also hold water and nutrients. This brings up the next mainte nance issue — watering. Under or overwatering are common mistakes. Watering once a day, making sure soil is uniformly moist, is a safe routine for most plants. Another good rule of thumb is to keep your containers in a location that will get at least six hours of sunlight a day. And don't forget to time your planting to avoid frost. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture maps, the last spring frost in Eugene is generally between March 30 and April 30. You can plant before then, as long as containers are moved in side at night. It's still too early to tell if I'll be a good gardener or not since the seeds have yet to sprout. But I've done some research and followed the advice of more experienced growers, so hope fully, a couple of months from now, I'll be having tomato sandwiches and mojitos with fresh mint. Contact the Pulse columnist at helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. GOLF CLUB 822-3220
