E OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, February 28, 1984 The Michigan Daoiy; Living it up in A2 over spring break ' i.../ By Naomi Saferstein I can think of nothing worse than the Monday after vacation. For those who went to Florida, Colorado, or Mexico, Monday means rolling out of bed, get- ting caught in the alarm clock cord, tripping on the way to the sink, looking in the mirror to see you're peeling, then having no hot water left in the shower and finally arriving ten minutes late to class tofind out that next Friday's mid- term has been moved to this coming Thursday and you don't even have the book yet. For those of us who stayed in Ann Arbor, Monday means having to deal with the ones who went away to Florida, Colorado, or Mexico. There's no geting around it. And living in the dorms is the worst because it always figures that at least three- fourths of the people on your hall have spent the last week basking in the tropical sunlight while you've been stewing underneath the institutional lighting in the Law Quad reading Plato's Republic. But the epitome of misery is always to be found in the bathroom. If you're one of those people who is sub-human before your morning shower there is only one thing sadder than being cordial on a Monday, at 8:00 a.m., when you have no clothes on and all the showers are full. And that's being cordial at 8:00 a.m. when you're naked, feel like a clammy tuna, and the girl standing next to you, the one with the Gotex tan lines, says, "So how was your vacation?" It's death. The best thing to do is just tell the 6 ft. pair of legs with the Christy Brinkley tan "Oh, it was nice." Keep it nice and short. You never want to come out and ask how her vacation was because then you're forced to listen to stories about pina coladas, and how nice the natives were. So you end it there and hope that you won't have to wait too much longer for a shower. But heaven forbid the Bain de Soleil woman should leave the conver- sation at that, she just has to ask, "So, did you go anywhere?" "No." You answer and cross your fingers that that will nip her amiability in the bud. However, when she looks at you with those "'come on, ask me, ask me, please, I'm dying to tell you where half-hour, listening to tales of Acapulco, 93 degree weather, and all night dan- cing at Baby-O's or the Club UBQ. You'll hear tales of moonlight walks, windsurfing, and at least four 'Sunshine and 70 degrees on the Diag doesn't compare to Tom Collins' by the pool-the pool with the waterfall and the underwater bar. what seemed so wonderful a week ago seems baby pool material now. Sun- shine and 70 degrees on ,the Diag doesn't compare to Tom Collins' by the pool - the pool with the waterfall and the underwater bar. And boogie-ing to the disco beat at the Rubaiyat's two-for- one night appears meager in com- parison to doing "La Bamba" to a 12 piece Latin American orchestra. Even East quad's French cuisine, which was food service's creme de la cremeof the year, sounds obsolete when you're talking about freshly caught and grilled red snapper at "La Paradise." And alas, when you have to say something, all you end up saying is, "Oh, Ann Ar- bor was pretty nice," and you find yourself feeling like a gumbie doll for the rest of the day. But wait, my fellow loyal Ann Ar- borites. After numerous "Oh my vacation was productive, how about yours?", I have, come up with a solution: lie. I'm not talking about fib- bing or stretching the truth, not a weekend in Chicago or a four-day jaunt to Toronto; make it big. Tell anyone who asks that you went skiing in Swit- zerland or traveling in Istanbul. Buy a sunlamp, get some color, and tell the gang about your wonderful- vacation in Sagres, Portugal. Most people ar clueless as to where Sagres is; they'll feel too stupid to ask questions. Tell them you visited a dying aunt in Nairobi, or that you spent time with your second cousin once removed 4Qd is a game ranger in Kenya. When a loss for words, Lithuania or Yugosla%14 are always good for diversity. I*i sworn that to the next person I see wit savage tan who asks me where I spelt my vacation I'm going to see "India" go on to tell how nice Bombay is tai time of year. And as their mouth drop' when I show them my silk sari (whic i bought from Middle Earth) all I'll do is smile and say, "Acapulco, eat youII hear out." I went" eyes, you really have no choice but to ask. "So, did you go anywhere?" you mumble while gritting your teeth, bracing yourself for the flood. And without fail, there you'll sit, for the next amazingly sexy and rich men left broken hearted because Coppertone Sue had to go home. And finally, finally, she'll ask, "So, how was Ann Arbor?" But somehow, Saferstein is ter. a Daily staff repor 6 Sinclair Edited and managed by students nt The University of Michigan I 3N AThk HAR?, Twr. SM tZ CrANIDiAT r 1 Vol. XCIV-No. 116 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Admitting defeat T IS DIFFICULT to say just what Ronald Reagan's current policy in Lebanon is, but it is not difficult to see that the continued U.S. bombardment of Lebanese targets is unjustified in- tervention in a conflict that has not and will not be resolved through the ap- plication of American military force. Afraid of being accused of "cutting and running" from Lebanon, the shelling may represent nothing more than an attempt on Reagan's part to reaffirm strength and obscure what is effectively a failed policy. This would be a pitiful attempt to preserve the ad- ministration's image, but it would nevertheless offer the hope that the U.S. forces would once and for all fully withdraw from the area. But what is more likely, and disturbing, is that Reagan is pursuing a policy that will continue to involve American military force in support of the government of aAmin Gemayel. The administration would be moving. no closer to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in supporting Gemayel. His presidency and recent actions have been marked by political favoritism and shifting loyalties, not by desperately needed moves toward unifying Lebanon's vying factions. In the past Gemayel's lack of willingness to compromise created an antagonism between himself and the Moslem population - an antagonism that has recently resulted in the resignation of Moslem leaders from the government and mass defections from the Lebanese army. But now as a result of his government's weakened position, Gemayel is attempting to pacify those Moslems he once alienated. As a signal to Syrians and Moslems within his own country, he has expressed an interest in cancelling the May 17 peace accord with Israel which was formulated by U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz. Should the Reagan administration con tinue to support Gemayel, these shif- ting policies within the GeiAyel government would lead to a confused American policy. Reagan would have to think twice about committing support to a government that is turning away from Israel in favor of Syria. Whether it be an attempt by Reagan to show that his policies are still stan- ding tall and that America isn't run- ning away, or an effort to support the ill-defined, ineffectual Gemayel government, there is nothing to recommend any further U.S. in- volvement. Reagan has said that, "We will stand firm to deter those who seek to influen- ce Lebanon's future by intimidation." But no one in Lebanon has a monopoly on intimidation. Syria and Israel, the many conflicting religious factions, and in a subtler sense, the United States, are all attempting to influence Lebanon's future. It will take a long time, however, before the problem of Lebanon's future is resolved, and the presence of U.S. forces has not and will not contribute constructively to a peaceful settlement in the region. The time is, long past for Reagan to realize that nothing more can be done. it AF '1l '.G" . iry . ' few / ' , I /I - t r, ' a fF ct Qey rttc I k i °' .,y . ° a LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Sexism is written on the wall 'I *1 -'i K IA4" III i To the Daily: I have just finished reading the editorial and column about the protest of the Marilyn Monroe look-a-like contest in Wed- nesday's paper (Daily, February 8). Considering the Daily's reputation as a socially conscious newspaper, I was surprised by the insensitivity and ignorance demonstrated by' the authors. Both of these pieces consciously trashed and trivialized not just the protest itself, but the women's movement as well. The event was seen in Gary Ef- fman's column as "all in good fun" and therefore it was inap- propriate for any group or in- dividuals to tarnish that good Saturday night fun by trying to make participants and spectators aware of the destruction their ac- tions were causing to others. I remember the Daily trashing several other campus related events that were also "all in good fun". These included the recent south sea party by a fraternity where some of its members came dressed in grass skirts and black- face. The Daily's social con- sciousness was at that event, why wasn't it at the Michigan Theatre last Saturday? Would the Michigan Daily also have said an Amos and Andy look-a-like con- test was "all in good fun"? Maybe if whites could try out for it also that would make it OK. In the eyes of the Daily and ap- parently many of the spectators ticipants is something largely irrelevent. The child that calls a black person a nigger because his parents do it demeans the person as much or more than if a mem- ber of the Ku Klux Klan did it. You are just as dead from a drunken driver running a red light as you are from a mugger's gun. In fact, more than six times as many people are uninten- tionally killed on our highways as are intentionally murdered. One of the purposes of the protest was to bring these arguments to the attention of the spectators and the general public. Whether in- tentional or not, whether men can do it too or not, the Marilyn Monroe look-a-like contest and accompanying movies glorified the sexual exploitation and op- pression of women and it failed to take seriously Marilyn's or any other women's attempts at being BLOOM COUNTY a human being as valuable and real as any man. Another major criticism unleashed by the Daily on the protesters as individuals andon the women's movement was the trivial concerns latched onto by the activists to protest. Con- sidering how trivial they thought the protest was, it is beyond my understandingtwhy the Daily felt it necessary to have a lengthy column and editorial condemning the protest. Moreover, the defen- siveness of the pieces was in- credible. If the problem being protested that Saturday night was so trivial, why defend it as if the 30 or so protesters were attacking some major edifice of American society, a keystone to the social structure of inequality? Seemingly men in Ann Arbor can handle attempts to take rape off the streets by women, but they apparantly cannot handle an at- tack on the basic institutions and activities that reproduce and support the more insidious rape mentalities they hold so dear. C Marilyn Monroe died because of exploitation by men. Een though her goal in life was to be taken seriously as a professional actress, she was used solely aq a sex object both in her movies and by her fellow professionals who sought her only after sharing lier bed. She and many people like her will undoubtedly have to die, by their own hands or at the han- ds of others, before the Daily and most of the rest of the society will look up and see the writing on the wall. John Boles Jason Lee Lynn Jacqupt Paula Rust February 10 by Berke Breathed - -I 1 - I I TO 5A& A 'CON, ANIYTIIIN&. LUKgE. OR PO5WA. I W4ANT MAYC A W01- IANYTH!N& CHUCK. HOW/ 'BOUT / YOU, LUKE ?' o. NOPe ! IT'5 A 5AY LUJKE..., "R6p-%U.1 15 THAT A 5Af'5UCKER<'7/ YELLCOWTAWW ANP W6HM'5 PHCA5ANT" GOOL? EATIN'r OVCR'HR t~fC~ ~ 2W l D' k WHAT WS lT r I U/NO! A"FAT-BECU 6000 WA? ANP 7Ih"A1 5 more r & CCU TN"r V4) 14 i ..AA AI1 J