4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 5, 2000 ct I ir1 41V gFUt f Cihit To the bride and groom: Kula's wedding roast 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by < # EN students at the5Ed University of Michigan Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinio the Dailv's editorial board. All other articles, letters and necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan 1 MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief ILY ACHENBAUM itorial Page Editor n of the majority of cartoons do noi Dail. - I I f y 7'HE DAILI Students should get meningitis vaccine Eve year around this time, college that students who live in residence students are bombarded with vari- halls consider the potential benefits of ous medical pamphlets encouraging the vaccine, as their close living quar- them to pay other people to poke them ters put them at a slightly higher risk with sharp objects. Roll up those of infection. The vaccine lasts three to sleeves, kiddies: It's vaccination season! fivehyears, so the one-time cost is This year, the bacterial meningitis worth it to protect yourself throughout vaccine seems to be dominating the your dormitory experience. disease-to-pamphlet ratio, and it is UHS has takenemany steps to leaving many students with three increase the availability and afford- important questions: 1) Just what is ability of the vaccine for students; bacterial meningitis, anyway?, 2) Am vaccines are administered Monday I at risk?, and 3) Do I through Friday at really have to pay $75 UHS and the Michi- for the vaccine? Ar gan Visiting Nurses There are two kinds 'bCteriaI yS will be holding spe- of meningitis: Viral and b ' cial vaccination cin- bacterial. Viral menin-%- ics on campus now gitis is more common, is serious and highly through Oct. 13. usuall runs its course n , Some students quickfy, and is rarely Ioc 6F&W have argued that $75 fatal. Bacterial menin- is a lot of money for gitis is a rare, but particularly nasty a shot. Why, they say, can such a infection of the brain and spinal cord giant, powerful university not offer which, at its worst, can also spread to this service for free? Or, at least for the blood. It is transmitted through the cost of a single pizza? Unfortu- fluids of the mouth and nose via kiss- nately, just one company (Aventis-Pas- ing, sharing of eating utensils or bev- teur) has a lock on the market for the erage containers and/or through meningitis vaccine, so the University droplets in the air from coughing, has to purchase it from them. Seventy- sneezing, etc. Symptoms closely five dollars is actually below the UHS resemble those of the flu: Sudden calculated cost (a formula that also fever, severe stiffness of the neck and considers equipment and personnel rash. It affects about one in every needed to administer it). A member of 100,000 people in the general popula- the general public has to pay around tion compared to 3.8 per 100,000 col- $89. lege students living in dormitories Although it is rare, bacterial annually. Left untreated, it can meningitis is a serious, highly conta- progress rapidly to death. gious condition. It does not strike The last case of the disease here often, but its effects are severe. At was in 1995. Both the Center for Dis- risk students may want to forgo the ease Control and the American Col- pizza for a few weeks and give this lege Health Association recommend vaccine a second thought. watched my cousin get married last weekend, but you don't have to worry. I'm not going to write about how it was a beautiful day or how it got me thinking about the future or any of the standard stuff that Daily columnists usually dwell upon.. At the reception, while waiting for a drink at the bar. I received a little bit of insight from the bar- tender. It wasn't some wizened. white-haired, Burgess Meredith look-alike who was giving out the goods --the bartender was a young woman. proba- Chris bly in her mid-'20s, kind of a Lili Taylor Kula type. Right before she fixed up my White 'Mi' 5'O Russian, this lady bar- tender was dealing with a joker who'd already toasted the bride and groom a few too many times. He was loud, obnoxious and flirting shamelessly. That's right, kids, he was your typical middle-aged man get- ting his drunk on. As this slop-faced gentleman finally stumbled away. I said to the bartender, "I bet there's always one guy like that, huh?" She just nodded and sighed. 'At these wedding parties," she said. "there's one of everything." That line sent my head a'swimming faster than the Absolut in my drink, and it stayed in my system just as Iong. You see, for the rest of the night, the bartender's remark just kept proving itself dead on. There's always one of everything. There's always one funnyman. He's the guy that makes the rounds to every table after dinner, cracking jokes straight out of a Leno monologue. The fun- nyman's got a big voice and an even bigger laugh. he's most likely a sports marketing executive by day. Everyone calls him "Uncle" something or other. but he's not actually related to anyone at the wedding. * There's always one troublemaker. Quite often, the troublemaker is a fun- nyman who's gone overboard on the dis- tilled spirits. As the night goes on and the drinks keep flowing, he gets rowdier than Roddy Piper. He repeatedly makes a fool of himself on the dance floor, flailing about until he sends the maid of honor reeling into the ice sculpture. The trouble- maker is always harassing the banquet servers and it really gets embarrassing when the cute, teen-aged waitress asks if he'd like any cocktails. U There's always one wedding band that really needs to be unplugged. When musicians can't hack it, they play weddings - that's just a fact of life, and I'm not talking Mindy Cohn. When they swallow their pride and play wedding gig after wedding gig, these guys develop the gift of true schlock. The Kenny G-influ- enced trio that performed at my cousin's reception left no sentimental, cheese-rock stone unturned and even pulled off a seam- less, parents-of-the-bride-pleasing segue of Bob Seger's "Old-Time Rock and Roll" into Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" into the timeless polka hit "Roll out the Barrel." There's always one young boy in attendance who makes like Kevin Bacon and does a wicked knee slide across the dance floor when said band kicks into "Footloose" (funny, that's how I spent much of my time at freshman-year frat parties). There's always one guy in the bath- rootn who can be overheard raving about the "Girls Gone Wild: Mardi Gras" video collection. * There's always one gay uncle - and if you don't believe this one, then you don't know your family well enough. There's always one bridesmaid who just wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tii-iiime. ® There's always one guy in attendance who's smirking all night long but doesn't speak his mind to anyone because he is, after all, looking pretty sharp is his tuxedo and those free White Russians are just so damn tasty. - Chris Kula can be reached via e-mail at ckula/umich.edu and will get married when he finds a girl with a nice, sweet dowrv. sof i n UPrson or sen t'ia theL;S, Pastal Serv More minal i jU'tice Which presidenti debate was the New drug laws target minorities, poor Daily watching? NTABL.E QU0TABLE:: A 'Here, if the people only hear Britney Spears, they'll be happy.' - Music student Brian Lipson on the American music scene. Adm inistration still same She is doing nothing "out of the ordi- . . . .nary. giving privileges to As long as systems that perpetuate oppres- sion continue to be maintained, funded, and M ichigar ua supported by this University's administration, all disenfranchised and historically oppressed groups remain at risk. We need leadership from TO THE DAILY: our Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, Thank you for printing the article "U' aids not the ordinary, and not the status quo. Tower Societies in move" (I0/2100). As the article underscores, membership in CAMERON SHULTZ the elitist tower societies still has its privileges. SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK While the University claims its treatment is the same to all student groups, what about its treatment to non-student groups? I ask this Lack of third because Michigamua is neither currently reg- La k t r party istered as a student group, nor has it ever been coverage saddening registered as a student group. Despite its non- group status, however. Michigamua continues its privileged status of being provided elite TO THE DAILY: carnpus space (how many other groups, I won- I'm concerned about the disturbing lack der, have received thousands of dollars to ren- of coverage devoted to candidates from par- ovate temporary transition space?). The Daily ties other than the two major ones. There are cites Interim Vice President for Student isstes confronting the country and world Affairs E. Royster Harper as saying that "she vastly more important than those "discussed" did nothing out of the ordinary for Michiga- by Republicans and Democrats. Were the mua." Sadly, I would have to agree. concerns and viewpoints of people from the She continues, as she always has, to grant Green, Libertarian, and other parties covered, this elitist organization special privileges and people might realize that they are not alone in access to administrative power. She continues, their concerns and become more active in as she always has, to maintain an environment participating in the political process. True that is hostile to our campus Native American democracy and the American set of ideals students, faculty and staff. And she continues, requires far more care and participation then as she always has, to avoid discussing the dis- the current saddening levels. criminatory and racist practices (whether intentional or not) of the secret society known CHRIS PETERSON as Michigamua. So yes, she is doing the LSA SENIOR THOMAS KULJURGLS TENTA1EL- PEAK'ING M'i'~j ~ ' )UT N N1, 1R e- Lth CAyE L TAY l fl 'l E OLE 'lt-VECU A.1AP D 4c-fsI~) .-f'fl~d2 if - VE < t( 1tw -D: 0 0 01 O ur criminal justice system is in dire Something is clearly wrong with this pic- need of reform. Nothing has con- ture, and it is not just at the national level. tributed more to this problem than the Not long ago, in a similar vein, Michi- "War on Drugs." The concern is specif- gan passed a law that defined the legal ically highlighted in laws that target amount of powder cocaine or crack minorities and deal out harsh sentences cocaine which could lead to mandatory based on mandatory minimums. Accord- minimum sentencing. The amount of ing to Mark Mauer, assistant director of crack necessary - a drug associated "The Sentencing Project," a national with lower class, urban populations - organization based in Washington, D.C., was disproportionately less than the these "get tough" policies have led to a amount needed to lock away the typically rise in black incarceration rates across the affluent cocaine user. board by attaching harsher penalties to What lawmakers at the state ad fed- those drugs used by minorities and the eral level have failed to realize is that lower socio-economic classes. these laws, racist or not, are a waste of To add to this already discriminatory taxpayer money and fail in practice. system, Congress has Rather than snag drug recently passed a new kingins, they should law that will only exacer- congress has rehabilitate users, treat bate the problem of over- recently passed a addiction or reduce the crowded prisons and the . supply of drugs. Cur- racial disparity in the law that will only rent quick fix laws criminal justice system. exacerbate the wrongly punish minor, This new law incorpo- nonviolent users. Peo- rates methamphetamines probDiem of ple who need rehabili- (most notably, crystal overcrowded tation are stuck in meth) into mandatory prison for 20 years minimum drug laws. prisons and the despite the fact that Ecstasy, on the other racial disparitjy in treatment options are hand - which is in fact i cheaper and more meth-based - will be the criminal justice effective than lost excluded from the law. system. prison terms. And once According to again, prisons are salon.com, Ecstasy is a clogged with a dispro- drug used mostly by upper and middle portionate minority population. class white kids, while mostly minorities Perhaps most egregiously, these laws and lower classes use methampheta- allow Congress to usurp the power of our mines. Absurd congressional initiatives legal system by taking power out of the like this expose fundamental and perhaps hands of judges with mandatory mini- unintentional trend of race and class- mums. Judges are supposedly allowed based warfare, especially considering the discretion in the interpretation of laws, fact that those arrested by these unjust but mandatory minimums deny them this laws deny a large number of minonties power, almost universally at the expense therighttovote. of minority drug offenders. Judges Ilinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and should be allowed to weigh previous con- columnist Arianna Huffington are two victions and the severity of the crime prominent figures that have compared possibly allowing offenders a treatment drug laws to racially discriminatory "Jim option; instead, mandatory minimums Crow" laws in the late 19th century. Sta- place across-the-board the power in the tistics show a blatant trend of laws that hands of legislators. Not one aspect of support these claims. these laws can justify the results of this For instance, according to Huffington, flagrantly unfair system. 13 percent of African-American males Our drug laws are flawed on financial, cannot vote because they have been con- legal and moral grounds. New laws that victed of a felony. Considerin 4.6 mil- continue the bias against minorities and lion black males voted in 1996, this is a the poor only compound the program. staggering percentage of minorities Add to that mandatory minimum sen- barred from entering the voting booth. tencing and the lack of emphasis on reha- Even worse, while blacks are only 13 bilitation and it is no surprise that we percent of drug users, they compose 74 have unfair, ineffective legislation that percent of all drug offenders in prison. helps no one but the people in power. TO THE DAILY: I am not sure what debate the Daily staff was watching but it could not have been the same one I saw. How could news writers Yael Kohen and Jeremy W. Peters possibly think that "Bush came out poised as a serious can- didate capable of holding the executive office?" Every time Bush spoke. I felt as if I was listening to a five-year-old yell back a com- ment with no intelligence behind it. Instead of trying to explain his policies or saysanything remotely intelligent, Bush often resorted to saying things such as "I guess my answer to that is, the man's running on Mediscare..." and "That's just -- that's just - that's just totally false." You could tell by the look on his face that he was waiting to use that Mediscare line for a real long time. He had the same look on his face as when your five-year-old cousin says "Well you're a stupid head." I hope that the undecided voters out there who watched this debate and continue to fol- low this election can see that Bush is clearly only concerned with the wealthiest one per- cent of this country. He even confirms this when the moderator, Jim Lehrer, began to ask a question and Bush said "I hope it's about wealthy people" He was flustered when Gore mentioned this and had no response except to say he was lying. I personally would be scared to such an unintelligible, stubborn man as the leader of this country. REID WAINESS LSA JUNIOR Uh I's honest review scared the jazz status quo TO THE DAILY: I am writing this in response to Ellen Rowe's letter "Concert review was off the mark," in which she attacked John Uhl for daring to criticize the aging music of Keith Jarrett. While it is not uncommon for jazz musicians to un-selfconsciously stroke each other's egos, Rowe's defense of Jarrett's tire- some performance - which evoked "com- plete and utter silence" from bored concertgoers - was a travesty. Apparently, an honest review of a tepid performance scared the jazz status quo enough for Rowe to resort to personal threats against Uhl's "future literary endevours." It's sad because Jarrett's playing belongs in a museum. Perhaps Rowe hopes to use her appointment as Associate Professor of Jazz Studies to support her case, but because jazz is a music that was made on the streets, not in stuffy classrooms, that carries little weight. JOE WALTS ENGINEERING JUNIOR - VS Ill Y lliRTAY -D l lt" e ip 4 tem Ilk -z %w 1IfTFEkJWT T SSAM* SPEC FOR MORE INFORMATION A1U OP-ART SUBMISSIONS, CONTACT JOSH AT jwickerh@umich.edu.