Opinion
The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, January 31,1996
Portrait of the American Housewife
Laney Fouse
Staff Writer
I’ll be the first to admit I en
joy watching afternoon soap op
eras. But what is it with all those
commercials? Are these the pas
sions of the American housewife
or why women do all the work?
Betty’s day starts at 5 a.m.
The FiberCon works just like the
ad promised. She makes a note
to buy Northern bathroom tissue
at K-Mart.
Stepping into the shower, she
reaches for the Lever 2000 bath
soap. The shower walls could use
some X-14 soap scum remover.
She showers quickly, surprised
her five-year old is still asleep. He
must be tired from playing with
the V-Tech Talking Table his
Grandma sent.
Betty dries off with a towel
stained by Clairol Loving Care
hair color. She notices her gray
roots, wishing it had been as last
ing on her hair. Sighing, she rolls
her hair around the Remington
heated rollers.
At 6 a.m., she reaches for the
Mentadent buried next to the
Crest and Aqua Fresh toothpaste
her husband and son prefer. Then
she splashes on some Ultima II
perfume. It promises to make her
too sexy for her shirt.
At 7 a.m. the baby cries.
Betty races down the hall tripping
over the Fisher Price bike. She
changes the baby’s diaper, thank
ful the Huggies hadn’t sprung a
leak. Betty drops the diaper in
the pail, then cleans her hands
with Lysol antibacterial soap.
At 7:15 a.m. she fills the
toilet bowl with Lysol cleaner and
sprays the bathroom fixtures with
Lysol disinfectant. She rakes the
upstairs carpet with the Dirt Devil
vacuum cleaner.
At 7:45 a.m. she starts the
laundry, remembering to pre-treat
her son’s shirt with Era detergent.
His sitter served him Hamburger
Helper without his bib. Laundry
started she scoops up her daugh
ter and heads back downstairs.
At 8 a.m. Betty’s back in the
kitchen. She squirts Dawn dish
detergent into the Corning Ware
baking dish. Sticky remnants of
last night’s Rice-a-Roni remains.
The family will be lucky to
get Jif peanut butter sandwiches
and Progresso pasta soup tonight.
The phone rings just as she
sits down to eat her bowl of To
tal. Between bites, she politely
explains to the caller how happy
she is with her AT&T long dis
tance service and doesn’t wish to
switch. She hangs up the phone
and returns to her breakfast.
She checks today’s schedule,
noting her appointment at Sears
Portrait Studio. Just then her five-
year old son races into the kitchen
with his Mattel See and Say
Storybook. His first request is for
a bowl of Kix cereal. She per
suades him to have Eggo waffles
with Aunt Jemina syrup.
After breakfast, she dresses
the kids and wonders how her
husband is doing. Hopefully he’ll
remember to take the Alka Selt
zer or the Thera Flu medicine she
packed in his lunchbox. His con
gestion was getting worse, per
haps she should consider buying
Sudafed Sinus.
At 10 a.m., Betty loads the
kids and a diaper bag into the
wagon. She climbs in, buckles up
and checks her Revlon long-wear
ing lipstick in the vanity mirror.
Her day, barely begun, al
ready had her temples throbbing.
Searching through her purse, she
locates the Motrin IB and takes
the recommended dosage. She
peruses her list of things to do and
draws a deep breath to calm her
nerves.
She starts the car, backs out
of the driveway and hopes her
husband understands why her
penchant for passion has paled.
Excuse me, Mr. TV execu
tive, but do you really believe
women are the only ones capable
of doing all the cooking and
cleaning? Are women more
qualified than men to do the
household chores?
Is it any wonder women
joined the work force? Perhaps
they wanted to get a little rest.
Perhaps they were tired of the
commercials telling them to clean
this or cook that. Perhaps they
just wanted “a little love in the
afternoon” without being re
minded that the housework still
needed to be done.
Letter to the Editor:
Making parents take responsibility Student
looks for answers
for their children’s criminal actions
Eric
Etherton,
Columnist
Some
people say the
next big prob
lem in our society, if it hasn’t be
come one already, is juvenile
crime.
The question that always
comes up about this issue is:
who’s responsible, the juveniles
or their parents/legal guardians?
One “quintessential Ameri
can small town” may have a clue
as to who and perhaps why—
Silverton. For those who may not
know, Silverton is located 14
miles east of Salem and is the
home of about 6000 people.
Two years ago, Silverton
made legal history by being the
first municipality in the United
States to pass an ordinance mak
ing parents/legal guardians le
gally responsible for their juve
niles’ crimes.
I’ll call it the “Silverton law”
after the Oregon city that’s now
the leader in this new area of
criminal law, justice and personal
responsibility.
(Seeing the effectiveness of
that ordinance, other municipali
ties have since that time adopted
“Silverton laws” of their own.)
The question about the
“Silverton law,” therefore, is: do
I support it or do I oppose it?
The answer is I support the
“Silverton law” without question.
The reason I do so goes as fol
lows: parents need to supervise
their children’s behavior. And
parents influence their children’s
behavior more than most other in-
fluences—especially when it
comes to the values of right and
wrong. ,
More often than not, law gen
erally represents such values as
they establish parameters of ac
ceptable behavior—and it rem
edies behavior that falls outside
them.
Another reason I support this
law is that there are two things
some parents may do that I can
see generating a problem with
their children: neglecting to su
pervise their children’s behavior
and setting a bad example for
them. Not that juvenile offenders
aren’t responsible for their
crimes—in fact, they are, and need
to be held, very responsible—but
the parents need to live up to their
responsibilities as well.
Therefore, in answering the
question of responsibility for ju
venile crimes, I’m saying that
both parties are responsible.
For me to say that the
“Silverton law” is a panacea for
juvenile crime would be menda
cious on my part. However, what
I will say is that this law is a fresh
and forward-thinking step to
wards the solution, one that would
take another factor into account.
The great people of the city
of Silverton—which I’m not too
far from, as Molalla is 11 miles
to the north and east—have taken
bold new steps with this law, and
I for one am glad they decided to
do so.
I’d doubt such a law would
be effective in cities like Port
land, Los Angeles or New York,
large cities with splinter commu
nities in them, inhibiting them
from developing communal bonds
as a truly united municipality.
But in Silverton, in my mind
a close-knit small town (but aren’t
most small towns like that?)
where most of the people know
most everyone else, such a law
would not only work, but perhaps
have healthful side effects—like
the enhancement of the family
unit.
I think the people of Silverton
are to be commended—no, ap
plauded—for their effort. I also
would like for cities, towns and
municipalities of every size across
our state—ahh, make that our na
tion—adopt their own “Silverton
laws.” (A few states adopting
“Silverton laws” would be nice,
too.)
In short, in the problem of
juvenile crime, responsibility falls
on both the juvenile for commit
ting the crime, and the parent/le-
gal guardian for either setting a
bad example for the juvenile or
neglecting to supervise the
juvenile’s behavior.
With already existing laws
against the offender, the
“Silverton law” places res
ponsibility on the parent/legal
guardian. Though it will not solve
the problem entirely, it will make
inroads toward the solution.
The recent article regarding
John Garvison should provoke
outrage in us all. Not necessar
ily for what was in the article,
but rather for the questions not
asked of administration and fac
ulty.
Surely any real guardian
press seeking to serve student
body and community needs
would ask the questions that
scream to be asked: Did a fac
ulty member propose and/or dis
cuss the possibility of grading
down Garvison for exercising
free speech? If so, who was it?
What is being done about it to
protect students from this kind
of academic harassment in the
future?
The ignoble title of "lapdog
journalism" is truly befitting a
mealy mouthed press that fails to
ask the pertinent and obvious
questions of institutional author
ity. A truly guardian press would
have had the guts to ask the dif
ficult questions. Instead, the
Clackamas Print cowered to the
deafening roar of institutional
arrogance despite the power it
has to defy institutional intimi-
dation.
Linda Vogt spoke of respon
sibilities. What about her respon
sibility?
She and others at the faculty
meeting in question have a
DUTY to be forthcoming with
the truth about what was said in
that meeting. What about the re
sponsibility of the person who ut
tered the offense? That person
has a DUTY to admit to the
wrong and guarantee to us ALL
that the practice of grading stu
dents down for things that occur
outside of the classroom remain
in the domain of absurdity, never
to be tolerated.
This offense, even if re
maining a mere suggestion, is far
worse than Garvison's innocuous
e-mail that sparked the rebuke
from faculty.
As a student of Clackamas
Community College and mem
ber of this community I demand
accountability.
Steven Moore
20975 S. Gould Ct.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-655-1791
f QUESTION AND ANSWER 1
Writer’s
Contest Update
session
W ith
Each cover page
also needs a
phone number
and mailing ad
dress
SENA TORIAL CANDIDA TE
Three copies of
each work are to
be submitted
Fudrnj, Fet. 2*td, K mh U I p.Ht. U CCI27
CoHee
cookie* wiK le oemd
»
Harrjt
Lonsdale