To the editor:
Now that Frontier Fiesta is over and the whining and moaning should be coming to an end, what is your next complaint going to be about? Will it be Mother's Day and how much moms such as Susan Smith (who killed her two sons) are so evil that they have tainted the meaning of Mother's Day and, therefore, we should not celebrate?
Look at it this way: Some good things and some bad things came out of Frontier Fiesta and what it stands for.
At the same time, some good mothers have been around, and bad mothers have also drifted through in years past. My question is: How can you complain about one thing due to its partial downsides, yet not protest something else that has had equally, if not more, negative parts?
So before you go off and protest something due to partial downfalls, remember that everything has a downside to it - even such things as Mother's Day.
Jud Simmons
freshman, RTV
To the editor:
I am sick and tired of the frivolous allegations made against me, that I am threatening, using slurs or being unprofessional.
I take every opportunity to state my fundamental belief that the First Amendment means what it says and that no one is ever immune, or will ever become immune, from ridicule in this country, including the African-American Studies Program. That is what intellectual and creative freedom is all about!
Yes, I thought those poor, ridiculed "research animals" take themselves and their agenda far too seriously, and I think they are far too self-important for their pants. I thought it was appropriate to prick those windbags a little bit with a healthy dose of ridicule, to bring them down to size. Exactly what is so un-American about that?
My ridicule, by the way, was not a destructive effort and was not targeting for destruction the African-American Studies Program. My ridicule, which may be a little hard to grasp at first but should begin to make perfect sense upon due reflection, had a constructive purpose: to restore some balance and sanity to our consideration of issues and to promote Russian medieval history that has been neglected here and around the country.
There never has been, and never will be, any problem with my actually working with all kinds of "animals" of every distinction, every possible ethnic or cultural background and of several languages. I have a very cosmopolitan background, and I am indeed very open in that sense.
Fabian Vaksman
doctoral candidate, history
To the editor:
I am writing to express my sympathy for Mr. Hector Chavana. It is very sad that a campus leader with obvious intelligence has turned his skills towards such negativity and destructiveness as his comments (in the April 21 Cougar) suggest.
Mr. Chavana is quoted as saying, "Some so-called Hispanics have obeyed the colonizer and are over there now."
This comment reflects first that Mr. Chavana has bought into society's mindless separation of the human family into races. In fact, he is perpetuating it. Thinking of ourselves as "Hispanic" or "Irish" or "Anglo/Germanic/Creole/ Indian" only serves to divide us from other people. It asks us to make generalizations that can only be harmful.
More importantly, having created an (arguably) arbitrary distinction, Mr. Chavana proceeds to exclude from the category of "Hispanic" those who are interested in building bridges or simply partying.
Basically, Mr. Chavana is a racist, but he stops being one when there is any danger that his ideas will unite people across ideological spectra.
Also, I fail to understand his notion of history. Does Mr. Chavana have black hair? Well, so did the bully who beat me up in grade school. Should I hate Hector before meeting him? Did Mr. Chavana's great-grandfather kill my great-grandmother in the middle of an attempted robbery? Should I waste my time blaming him?
Insofar as Mr. Chavana feels that there are actual injustices being perpetrated in the world, I encourage him to continue to act, as I have. However, a party is not one of these injustices. Neither is a woman's decision that a household would be better run if she stays at home and cares for the children. Neither is ...
Eric Boughton
senior, mathematics