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Show November 11, 1997 PRIDE Accepted in Community Continued from page 2 positive thing," she said. Despite the perception of Westminster's acceptance of sexual minorities, many students still remain silent about their sexual identity. Jake Rowe was one such student. During his first two years at Campus News Westminster, Rowe remained quiet about his homosexuality. After three and a half years of counseling and therapy to cure him of his homosexuality, he finally came out of the closet to himself. "I felt I was evil and wrong so I wasn't accepting of myself," Rowe said. "I had to come out and gain acceptance of myself before I could come out to others." Rowe began school this fall with the intentions of coming out of the The Forum -3 closet. "It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I thought all my friends would leave me and I was so scared," he said. "To my delight I found out who my true friends were and even made more friends. The Westminster community has been very accepting." Weaver agrees with Rowe that the Westminster community has been accepting. "Before you can take pride in your community," said Weaver, 'you must take pride in yourself." Westminster Searches For Appropriate Graduation Site "As long as we have a place to get together and party I don't care. I mean wherever you go there you are, right?" said social science Graduating from college is an senior Jeff Lucero. important milestone in anyone's "This really is important to me. life. Traditionally commencement ceremonies are held on the newly I've never graduated from anything before, but it's the event paved soccer field at the west itself that's important, not where edge of the campus. Last year it's at," said Lucero. 6,000 people gathapproximately ered to celebrate one of the monAlong with keeping commencement on campus. Sugar House umental moments of their loved ones lives park has been confirmed as one graduation. on 6,000 Seating asphalt possibility. The administration people refused to comment on other sumthe would be intolerable in mer heat and forcing graduates potential sights. to share their special day with a "Sugar House said they would accommodate us if that is the limited number of supporters choice that is made, that's all. seems unfair so the search is on for a workable plan. Nothing has been decided yet. We've just begun taking a good "It is very important that everyone who supports our grad- look at all the options," said Perkins. uates are welcomed to commencement ceremonies," said Cindy de Roda, administrative assistant to President Peggy Stock Dean of Students Carolyn heads up the committee planning Perkins. for this year's ceremony. The com"We are considering about ten mittee met for the first time in a to it options including ways keep closed-doo- r on campus'said ASWC meeting on President Helen Langan. "I want Wednesday Nov, 5. "I can't tell you anything yet. students to know I am pushing We've just had our first meeting. I for keeping it here. My ideas are don't want to give you a bunch of to either face the audience south instead of west as in years past preliminary options and then have it turn out being none of and cover the parking lot with Astro-Tuor cover everybody them," said de Roda. "I'm sorry, I can't say anything with some sort of tents. Both now. I've probably said to much would be expensive though," added Langan. already. President Stock told us not to say anything because we What do the students think? by Kelly Purdie Forum staff writer don't want to feed the rumors," Langan said immediately following the closed-doo- r meeting which she attended as part of her duties as student representative. c A1--! VX r . Y&iLSi J y V. 4 stXK V 4 - to'' A i, ,' ... MStMM mrnZSS&mSZ'- - SW9-- y A , i , , w !& V1 4 4 , M if M V4 S , s- r i f V & 'LL'? t "Z- - A" V & y 4 ,u " 'y ; y ,,iV ' If "' mtr f y v " , 7 '' I . , , 'v M6 y ys "" V ' z it '' 4 rf Photo by Amy Young Graduation in the park: Sugar House Park has been suggested as a possible site for commencement exercises while the soccer field in Dane Hansen Memorial Stadium is turned into a parking lot. Students have mixed views over whether or not the park is an acceptable substitute to graduating on Westminsters campus. Nobel Laureates Campus Appearance Postponed Peter Van Duser by Forum staff writer In what is probably his best known single work, "The Captive Mind," Czeslaw Milosz said, "Like many of my generation, I could have wished that my life had been a more simple affair." Last week Milosz' scheduled appearance at Westminster for a reading of his poetry became a bit more complicated. A minor illness caused him to postpone his trip to Utah from Berkeley, where he is a professor of Slavic languages and literature. Tne reading has been rescheduled for 8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, at the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts. An informal discussion will take place the following day, Dec. 5, at noon in Nunemaker Place. Milosz enjoys an unusual popularity for a poet bom in a smalt East European country who still writes in Polish and has never had a "best seller," even by the standards of poetry or scholarly works. He regularly draws standing-roocrowds in his m-only at appearances places such as the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Perhaps the attraction has something to do with what he has seen the Nazi occupation of Warsaw, half of Europe under a crushing exile Communist regime, a and the fact that from Poland he is still able to express a sense of 30-ye- ar hope, if not optimism, in his work. 'Facing the River," published in 1995, continues Milosz' insistence on facing our human shortcomings head-o- n ("What did you do with your life?" he asks himself). He nonetheless has an ability to find nuggets of hope in the stream bed of useless gravel of modem society. Milosz concludes "A Poem for the End of the Century" with: "Blessed be jubilation. Vintages and harvests. Even if not everyone Is granted serenity." This man, who risked everything writing for the underground during the Warsaw occupation, is still asking, "What is a poetry which does not save Nations or people?" It is clearly an honor for Westminster to have a figure of Czeslaw Milosz' stature make an appearance on campus, let alone participate in several events during his visit. Ray Ownbey, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, said in a campus notice, "Milosz is looking forward to the rescheduled reading." Ownbey said he hoped everyone would be able to adjust their schedules to accommodate the new date and time. The Anne Newman Sutton Weeks Poetry series which brings to Westminster, poets the caliber of Milosz, Ken Brewer, and Robert Hass (who has been instrumental in making Milosz' work available to the general public), is an ongoing event that any educational e-m-ail institution can take pride in. Exposure to figures of this stature is invaluable for students aspiring to careers in literature. |