WEEKLY SPECIALS:
Tuesday-Hot Fudge Sundaes
Friday-Luphoria ultra
Chocolate (Sundaes
miner
rociam'i
Ice Cream and Coffee Parlour
19th (8 Agate St.
open daily
I 10 11 r\ ■/
1241P.M.
Semiannual
20%
SALE
Thursday - Sunday
20% OFF
" general books
■ UO sportswear
■ gifts
■ art supplies
■ school/office supplies
■ computer & photo
accessories
June 3-6
Some exclusions do apply.
Sale at main store only.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
BOOKSTORE
Feminism is solution
for humanity's pliqhts
There's this scene in the film "Star Trek: Insur
rection," where Captain Picard, held captive
aboard an enemy ship, attempts to reason with
his captor in a way that makes him realize the
repercussions of his actions. His captor, clearly
annoyed, eventually says, "Stop pleading for
your life!"
"I'm not pleading for my life," Picard answers,
looking him straight in the eye. "I'm pleading for
yours."
Here, he is able to make his enemy identify with
a larger situation. Picard is really asking, "What
can you live with?" In regard to my columns in the
Emerald, this is the question I've wanted to raise
all along. I guess I should have been more explicit.
I cannot tell anyone what to do, nor would I want
to. I can only ask: What can you live with?
Aaron Shakra
Out of range
Our relationship with life itself is rapidly and dra
matically changing, faster than any insular, human
centric cash economy or media will indicate. This
has not happened out of the blue. The historical ba
sis comes from European colonialism, and now
globalization, which leaves nothing untouched by
the hands of the patriarchal Western way.
"The land, the forests, the rivers, the oceans, and
the atmosphere have all been colonized, eroded
and polluted," ecofeminist Vandana Shiva writes.
"Capital now has to look for new colonies to invade
and exploit for its further accumulation —
the interior spaces of the bodies of women,
plants, and animals."
This control over life results in monoculture. We
are actively waging a war on diversity. One can see
parallels of this everywhere. Among the numerous
land-raping results of the Green Revolution is a di
minished crop biodiversity. Instead of numerous
varieties of food, we have one type of corn, one
type of potato, grown in large amounts at the ex
pense of any land of sustainable relationship with
the land. We denude our old growth forests and
replace the trees with vast plantations of the same
kind of species. Most pop music is in 4/4 time,
blasting the sound of homogeneity. And you won
der why people have stopped dancing. The
rhythm of white America is one of monotony.
An obsession with uniformity and norms of
cleanliness also has curious parallels. What we do
to our bodies, we do to nature. Notice most of the
lawns on campus, with uniform fluffy green blades
of grass. These lawns have been heavily treated with
chemicals for this desired result, which is what we
expect grass to look like. In fact, the healthiest lawn
is the one with flowers and crab grass strewn
throughout.
These aforementioned examples are not directly
correlated, but rather, symptoms of a larger disease.
Speaking of rhythm, the greatest peculiarity of life is
perhaps how we define time itself. Authors such as
Jose Argiielles have been spearheading the move
ment toward a more sensible system.
"The 12-month calendar is irrational and the
60-minute hour is mechanistic. So you have a
civilization that is totally irrational," Argiielles
explains. "Civilization based on the mechaniza
tion of everything."
In 1842, a study made by French positivist
philosopher Auguste Comte concluded the most
rational calendar for a measure of the solar year is
13 months and 28 days because the moon goes
around the earth 13 times a year, and it's also the
basis of the female biological cycle.
Our very system used to track our history
and lives is out of harmony. University student
Orion Trist, who studies the work of Argiielles,
concludes, "Following a time keeping system
that brings humanity fully into sync with
the natural world is a dream for changing peo
ple's basic values and consumption patterns.
This would be the fastest way to really change
our development patterns into one where the
natural world is seen as integral to the healthy
functioning of an urban settlement, not an inert
resource for our consumption."
In the essay "The All-Consuming Self," Allen D.
Kanner and Mary E. Gomes note, "First World
consumer habits are one of the two most serious
environmental issues the world faces," the other
issue being human population growth. And while
our consumer-driven lifestyles are supposed to
bring happiness, they are instead a "merciless dis
tortion of authentic human needs and desire."
"I laving ignored their genuine needs for so long,
they feel empty. But the emptiness is constantly de
nied," the authors write. The perception in this cul
ture is that such emptiness must be avoided like the
plague. In this way, perhaps "emptiness" is a mis
nomer, because what it really implies is an inter
connectedness that is not actually empty of any
thing but separation. We are not separate. We are
full of everything. Emptiness is truth, not despair.
The hardest thing to do is to let go what we
know; to let go of our privilege, power and control.
It's probably going to be harder for men, who have
played such a dominant role in civilization. I was
told in Sociology of Women class that 80 percent
of environmentalists are women. To me, this im
plies that they are the leaders of the future, if we are
to have one.
I began writing about feminism this term be
cause I could not settle for an activism that avoids
issues, and live standing silent and idle to the bu
gles of patriarchy. Perhaps because of this, I can be
come slightly more radical each day.
This is only the beginning.
Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
Helen Schumacher
Notes from the underground
Graduates
will acquire
their own
knowledge
Over the weekend I flew back home to attend my
little brother's high school graduation — four years af
ter my own departure from high school and two
weeks before I'd be wearing the robe and mortar
board to ceremoniously mark the completion of my
bachelor's degree.
Even though it was my brother's plans that relatives
and other commencement guests were most con
cerned about, I couldn't evade the questions about
what I was going to be doing next It's a question I hate -
to answer, and my response was similar to the vague
mumblings about "being a writer" that I had given
four years ago. When persuaded into a more specific
answer, I admitted that my current plans involve mov
ing to New York City in about nine months, and boy
did that get some eyeballs rolled in my direction.
It's difficult to share with others your plans for the
future, especially with those who are older because
their response is often condescending. They seem to
figure that the time they've spent living their lives
makes them qualified to know how you should live
yours.
I'm not denying that being older means having
more life experience and a wiser perspective. However,
I am saying that being wise can prevent you from tak
ing risks, and, furthermore, knowledge gained in one
lifetime doesn't necessarily apply to another's.
Going home is always a chance to re-examine the
choices I've been making, to see if I am progressing
into adulthood and developing my own identity, and
this visit's circumstances stressed the differences be
tween who I was at 18 and who I am at 22 even more.
As I watched my little brother sit and wait for his name
to be called, I realized that the decision I had made —
to take a risk and do something that made me un
comfortable — was the reason I have been able to ac
complish and grow as much as I have It's hard enough
to figure out what direction to move in your life with
out others trivializing what you want to do.
Moving across the United States to such an enor
mous city may seem a little foolish, but I know that it
will be a way for me to keep on learning, even after
leaving academia.
Contact the Pulse columnist
at helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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MCDONALD THEATRE ^
Tickets at all TfcketsW&st Outlets or call y All concerts will feature an opening band unless
(800) 992-TIXX Service charges may apply * otherwise noted Times subject to change
Interactive show information available at www.mcdonaldtheatre.com
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