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Show Editor's Column The January Blues by Liz Peterson ForumEditor This winter has been harsh. It began with the November elections, This years elections were the there was no dirtiest lot I remember entire The involved. ordeal, the grace was mudslinging and completely ugly. Before we had time to recover from that, we had Christmas leering at us. For two months, the jolly season was just in finger-pointin- g, our face. Even my annual cold was more aggressive this year than usual. Normally I can carry out the routine with a cold. This year I was flat on my back for a week! And nearly everyone, it seems, has had some variance of the bout. Then we have this weather, the snow. This is truly bizarre. This year we haven t simply had a pleasant spray of winter wonderland. We have been dumped on. Wasted. We are being buried alive. Freaky things have been happening freakier than I remember them being before. Robberies and accidents and changes ... Something significant is happening, and Ive been trying to put my finger on exactly what that something is. Ive finally .decided that this change mostly comes to the absence of one missing quality: subtlety. Subtlety is the quality that, for example, makes us pleased just because of a certain smell, or the way something feels when it touches our face or when someone says some strange thing that makes us laugh. It is any thing that docsn t have a reason or a motive and isnt trying to make us buy anything. Subtlety is a whisper, a hint; not an answer or a command. It can be a feeling or a simple occurrence. Subtlety makes me think of a verse from a poem by Wallace Stevens: I do not know which to prefer, the beauty of inflections or the beauty of innuendoes, the blackbird whistling or day-to-d- ay just after. The ferocity of events this winter has made me wonder more than ever if anything will ever whisper to us again. Our society screams at us. We have traffic. Schedules. Day planners. Mobile telephones. Shopping lists. Resumes. Everything is either one extreme or the other. There seems to be no middle ground. Even if we want to relax, we have to plan to go on vacation. Is this the way it will always be? Will anything ever whisper to us again? I think the harshness of our society is and that it will get worse before it better. In another generation we gets will have to explain subtlety the way people from my mothers generation have to explain oleo. Page 2 forum Letter: Students concerns about A.S.W.C. Dear Editor, This past week I discussed the physical and philosophical directions of this college with a couple of friends. Throughout this discussion we came to many conclusions which revolve around A.S.W.C.. Probably the two most frustrating things we discovered were the lack of productivity from the highest officer and the lack of courtesy from the A.S.W.C. office itself. Lets start with the president, Tonya Garreaud. Please T onya, tell us what you are doing as President? Do you think that this college is running smoothly without any unpleased members? According to the Con- stitution, you are a liaison between the students and the administration. I fail to see that simple directive in action. These concerns are not just mine, but other students too. For example, the administration is riding hi gh on their proposed ten-yeplan. I think that it is a good idea, but maybe there arc things about it that can take away from the college experience itself. For example, in the plan the amphitheater is going to be replaced by the new multimillion dollar library. Students I have talked to say that the amphitheater is one of the schools major attributes. It would be a shame to demolish such a peaceful and relaxing place. Along with the amphitheater we might as well kiss the creek goodbye. It is going to be crossed by a car bridge. Hie construction of the bridge, the traffic and the resulting pollution will destroy the creek. When I came here to Westminster the first time as a preview student, I spent much of my free time down in the amphitheater justsittingon the cement block watching the water flow down the creek. Its a place to just get away, have some moments to yourself and let your mind wander. If nothing is done this place may be lost to us in the future. So, Tonya, as a paid A.S.W.C. officer why dont you do your job and find these concerns and bring them up to the adminisar tration?! think back to a previous Forum issue that had an article about A.S .W.C. Treasurer I Wayne Carey, I would personally like to thank him for making the system better. Isnt it a bit ironic that the treasurer has received more publicity than the president of A.S.W.C.? Keep up the good work. Sir Wayne. As for the second issue, the A.S.W.C. office is probably the best open and closed office on campus. Open in the sense that if youre looking for a place to shoot some hoops, listen to some music on their stereo system or just plain discuss the where and when of the next party, A.S.W.C. is the place to be. Its closed in the sense that you almost forget that it is even there. The curtain is always closed, as if there is something important continuously going on inside. An open door is the only entrance in to the office for students. Then , once youre inside, youll be lucky if someone is willing to help you. For example, a friend of mine walked in there looking for something. My friend didnt know exactly where to find what she needed, yet she looked through the office unquestioned. No one seemed to care enough to take a minute and help that student or find out what she was looking for. Now I know for a fact that every other office would not let a visitor stand unattended. They would hop right to it and assist that person in any way. Why is it that the people in A.S.W.C. cant seem to show a little courtesy to their fellow students? I am going to direct one final question to the top A.S.W.C. officer. Do you respect the position you are in? I have a tendency to think not. Tonya, nothing in this world is perfect and I know that this college is far from it. So what are you doing about it? You are presently doing little or nothing and that tellsf me you really dont care. has lost . I feel that the administration interest in A.S.W.C. and its real function because a few top A.S.W.C. people dont take it seriously. A.S.W.C. needs to be revitalized with people who respect their job and the people they are involved with. Until that time occurs, no one will listen to A.S.W.C. with any interest or admiration. Phil Takis Senior, BusinessMathematics Is marriage the only alternative to dating in Zion? by Trevor Mavin Forum staff writer asking for their daughter, or the girl starts trying to make a conversion. If I want any chance of a successful social life, Ive got to You know what the great thing is about get out of Bountiful. the holidays? Its that youve suddenly gota So like every other poor, unfortunate, lot of free time and nothing much to do with single soul, I brave 1 5 minutes of traffic to it. So in addition to the usual turkey dinners come into Salt Lake City. Unfortunately and family gatherings, I had the opportunity things arent much better here. If youre to shift my social life into high gear. After a under age and youre reasonably sane, you dozen or so tries at the dating game, I discovgo to The Bay. Before turning 21, 1 hit The ered one thing, dating in the land of Zion is Bay on a couple of occasions, only to leave a pretty grim scene. in a state of homicidal depression. The place I think the reason that most of my dates is packed with fashion victims and 90210 are such bombs is that I constantly date the wannabes. Girls at The Bay are generally wrong people. Theyre either too old or too there to dance, not meet guys. Even if they young. They love mind games, theyre all are there to meet guys, theyre more contalk, and overall theyre usually just this side cerned with the clothes hes got on than of a straight jacket. what hes got under them. The only thing I Understand that Im a very staunch liked about The Bay was knowing that it living in the heavenly oasis of may one day be destroyed in a nuclear war. Before becoming legal, I thought that Bountiful, which is about99.9 percentLDS. This greatly narrows my prospects. I outand turning 21 was my ticket to a g out refuse to date Mormon girls, not because parade of babes. After a year of the club Im prejudiced (although I am), but because scene, Im definitely disappointed. There situation for are no good clubs in town which cater to a dating LDS girls is a me. Either their mothers go into cardiac younger crowd. Even a college crowd would arrest when they see me on the doorstep Continued on page 3 January 19, 1993 non-Mormo- n, never-endin- no-w- in No notice, no maintenance Letter to the Forum Dec. 31, 1992 . I would like to respond to the comment made by Tamera Evans in the recent issue of Forum (Dec. 15, 1992). Ms. Evans stated the door on the handicapped bathroom stall in Converse has been broken since 1990. This was the first and only notification my department has had of this longstanding problem. The door was repaired within hours of her article being brought to my attention. It would be interesting to learn where the system failed in this instance. Did Ms. Evans report the problem to an appropriate individual so action could follow? If so, that information was never relayed to my department in the form of a work order. Hopefully, Ms. Evans did not ignore the problem. Y our maintenance department works hard to meet the needs of the college. We do so with a great deal of pride. It is inconsistent with our policy to ignore repair requests. I would hope that if any of the students, faculty or other employees , of Westminster College become aware of a problem, they report it expeditiously to Richard Brockmyer, Room 105, Bamberger Hall. ' , Respectfully,' Barker Larry MaintenanceGrounds Foreman r tit Forum Editor: Elizabeth Peterson Copy Editor: Jennifer Thompson Production Manager: Katy Byrom Photo Editor: Temmie Fleming Business Manager: Donald Nunn Staff Writers: ElysBank,StevenBeckstead, Stephanie Carlton, Judy Connor, Tamera Evans, Christy Fender, Alex Ferguson, Amy Friberg, Ann Gambrino, Calvin Harrington, Dawn Kennally, Jane Luger, Trevor Mavin, Kimberly McKinnon, Douglas Murray, David Neisler, Kimberly Pfaff, Blessing Ream, Jason Russell, Kathryn Smith, Cheri Stringham. Photo Staff: Alex Ferguson, emm ie Fleming, Amy Friberg, Amanda Johnsen, Doug Murray, Mike Weaver. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Fred Fogo The Forum is published every Tuesday. The address is 1840 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84105. The Forum editorial staff encourages letters from students (include major), faculty and all other readers. Submissions must be sent to Converse Hall, room 205, no later than 3 p.m., the week prior to publication. Due to limited space availability, the Forum editors reserve the right to edit all copy submitted. Opinions expressed on. the editorial or commentary pages are those of the writers and are not to be construed as those of the Forum, Associated Students of Westminster College, the College administration, faculty or staff. Mail subscriptions are $20 per year. |