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Show 'i V 'h r ? I. f 4 Editorials (U Editor's Column The real holiday story by Liz Peterson ForumEditor Your mothers so stupid she cordless on a phone! tripped by Trevor Mavin Forum staff writer So now there are Christmas garlands hanging over 1 1th East. Happy Holidays. And in two days we will stuff ourselves with food that we would not normally eat unless it were a crisis situation. No, I dont normally feast on giblets and yams, but for Thanksgiving we gorge ourselves and call it tradition. I prefer to call it national bulimia I dont think of binging awareness day and purging as holiday. What am I thankful for on Thanksgiving? That I only have to eat this stuff once a year. What exactly is all this that begins with Thanksgiving? We commemorate pilgrims and Indians feasting together. Sodo Indians celebrate Thanksgiving? After Thanksgiving we sing about sleigh rides and Jesus and reindeer. What are we being sentimental about? Hew many of us sleighs? haveeverreally ridden horse-draw- n Christians celHow many ebrate the holiday season? And reindeer live in Lapland. They do not fly. They are small and brown and are hardly worth singing about unless youre a herder. The carol that comes closest to describing the real holiday season is Silver Bells. This is what Christmas lime means to me ... City sidewalks ... yes, filled with Salvation Army santas. City street lights ... traffic backed up for blocks near every retail shop. I dont know where the bells fit in, unless its the ringing in your ears from all the Christmas commercials. This is Christmas time means to me. what The warm fuzzies abound. Youre supposed to be happy and cook gingerbread, and youre supposed to be smiling with Christmas joy the whole time youre fighting for a parking place at Crossroads. If all of this werent bad enough, it also has to snow, yet thats supposed to make us happy, too. The Winter Wonderland thing its like the lemon adage: If life deals you snow, make it into a snowman. People also have apparently begun to believe that bonding between family and friends is a seasonal thing. Its Christmas, so I love you. My brother writes to me once a year, on Christmas. I suppose I should be glad that he has at least one reason to remember me. This is our creation, and who do we blame for it? The media? Retailers? We cant blame them, because it requires us to keep them around. I think we have ourselves to blame. We thought we needed an excuse to feel festive, loving, sentimental and to do things for people we care about we shouldnt need an excuse. Weve created a monster to give us a good reason for how we should feel and act anyway. What began as a respectable, simple way for Christians to celebrate the birth of their god has turned into utter madness. And I never even got started about Santa Claus. pseudo-sentimentali- non-practici- ng Page 2 fforum ty Now that my headline has gotten your attention, can we talk for a minute? The more I talk to people on this campus the more Im becoming painfully aware of something: Nobody reads this damn newspaper! This past week Ive beeh in classes where people complained to me about parking, moaned about the stupidity of students, and wondered what on earth possessed Dr. Popich to get a haircut. My natural response to these questions was to ask people if theyd read any of the articles Id written for the Forum; They had not.; This brought a question to mind: Why dont students read the college newspaper? Come on, folks: it s new, improved and Lord knows you cant beat the price. After scanning over past copies of the Forum , I began to realize why some students are too apathetic to read the articles A lot of the articles are about things that: you really dont care about. Youre not really into jazz or punk; If you want social and political commentary you read Newsweek magazine. YouTl take movie Whoops! We goofed! Ooops. BoydidwegetTonyaGarreauds Tap Room story wrong. She went there on her 22nd birthday, not 2 1st. Also, her 21st birthday was one year ago, not two years ago. But hey, theres a reason why were communication majors. So its 22, right, Tonya? Right? reviews from S iskel and Ebert. You ve realized the social life at Westminster sucks and youre not nearly as interested in the soccers team as the players are. Thats fine; if you don t want to read those articles, flip through s until you find one you like. Ill only speak for myself butl know Ive written about at least one thing that affects your life. I crowned Bambi king. I complained about parking. I tried and hanged the politically correct I roasted the pro-- :: fessors, I even told annoying students to keep their traps shut If theres not a single thing on that list that affects you, then youre probably reading this paper because a discarded copy blew into your yard while you were raking leaves. Do you know what really irritates me about people not reading this paper? Every week I muster up a ton of cynicism and negativism trying to offend someone, and I never get a letter to the editor. At the beginning of this year I expected to have received at least one death threat from somebody Id offended. If nota death threat, atjeast slashed tires or better yet, a bomb scare. Nothing! Not even one single letter. What do I have to do to elicit a response? Ive suggested cruelty toward village idiots; Ive knocked blazing liberals; Ive : Whose family values do we use? created a monarchy; Ive even taken a cheap shot at a professor on sabbatical. Somebody out there had better write in a controversial letter or Im going to run for president in 96. 1 mean, if youre all behind me, what have I got to lose? mm. Or maybe you all dont think Im worth the time or the trouble of writing a letter. Let me remind you that nobody took Hitler seriously at first either. You never know, people; I could be the third Antichrist Havent you ever read Nostradamus? Youd better try to stop me while theres still a chance, because I think Id look pretty sharp in a blue turban. " In defense of my fellow staff members, let me assure you that a lot of work goes into turning out this paper once a week. Some writers even have to research their stories. Not everyone vents anger as eloquentlyasldo. All that aside, do you know whats really great about this paper? Unlike the poetry series, the soccer team or the student government, this paper doesnt cost you anything. In fact, were actually operating in the black! So do yourself a favor and read the Forum, The best things may not really be free, but this paper is. ymm&SL m Forum Editor: Elizabeth Peterson Copy Editor: Donald Nunn Production Manager: Katy Byrom Photo Editor: Temmie Fleming Business Manager: Donald Nunn : Staff Writers: William Athey, Katy Thanksgiving: holiday or holocaust? Byrom, Judy Connor, TinaMarie Corey, by KathrynS. Smith Forum staff writer To the editor: Every year on Thanksgiving it has become customary for authority figures to ask about and discuss the meaning of Thanksgiving. We usually describe it as the anniversary of peace between the colonists and the Indians. Our turkeys and our pies represent the great feast that supposedly took place in Plymouth. We thank our families and our forefathers for what we have. Perhaps we should thank the Indians forgiving us this small piece of land now known as the North American continent. We dont discuss the fact that our forefathers slaughtered these Indians and forced the remainder of them onto useless land. No one mentions that since that time we have all but destroyed their culture and heritage and forced them to accept our white God and our ways of living. James Baxter Sophomore, Art November 24, 1992 What are family values? We heard a great deal about them during the election campaigns. I have my family values, but they are not the same as everyone elses. Should they be? What about the family values of mankind to each other, mans humanity to man? The is that the time holiday season is coming to express our love, our care for each other? And what do we do the rest of the year? Are family values a tradition carried on throughout the generations - a program we ' have grown to accept? A value that has been placed upon us without thought? . An automatic response, the way our ancestors ingrained us to respond? Do some of our family values include certain prejudices? Prejudices against a certain race, religion, or size of a person? The list could go on forever you can always find a rationale for disliking a group or person. Continued on page 3 ; Tamera Evans, Christy Fender, Ann Gambrino, Calvin Harrington, Dawn Kennally, Jake Kilgrow, Trevor Mavin, Kimberly McKinnon, Douglas Murray, David Neisler, Donald Nunn, Blessing Ream, Kathryn Smith, Mike Weaver Photo Staff: Temmie Fleming, Robin Larsen, Mike Weaver, Heather Bush, Liz Peterson, Alex Ferguson 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 , 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. |