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October 11, 2000 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 2000-10-11

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4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 11, 2000

i4ig&auailig

When th s ofyesteryear come a-calling

01

420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 MIKE SPAHN
daily.letters@umich.edu Editor in Chief
Edited and managed by EMILY ACHENBAJM
students at th EP
University of Michigan Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majoritv off
the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.

suppose if m 1y lie wer aCZ teL\sion series
then last coupic days wouid be titled
Blast From the Past Weekend 7 ve had so
many deja vu-iike experiences its almost
creepy. I read somewhere iha- according to the

ancient Greeks. mans
relationship with time
was one where we
tend to walk back-
aords into the future.
We can't see the
future, only the past
spread out behind ius.
From that past that we
can see, we try to
notice the patirn.s
there and, in so doin,
come up witha probi-
ble future.
Okay. that actually
seems pretty sound o
me but I m h a 7in
one helluva time fig-
uring out what this

/
'4i

_ ,,

Renters: Know your rights
D '~oes this sound familiar? "We are lords who think that we are too n
wondering whether you and your to retaliate against their mistr
iroommates have decided to stay in ment. Not all landlords are bad, e
your apartment next year because we cially when you rent from a comp
have already had offers for it and who has regulations to follow ar
would like to respond to them." It is reputation at stake. Beware of l
the beginning of October, thoughts of lords who are not affiliated with
next year are about as prevalent as unions or companies, there are s
worrying about what to do with an who will attempt to get away v
LSA degree after graduation, yet murder. For most students, this is
once again housing fever is in the air. first experience dealing with let
And it seems to be even earlier this and landlords.
year. Last year students tried to sign a What a lot of students don't r
lease before ize is that we
Thanksgiving, this RiHTS OF TENANTS tenants, have ri
year Halloween that we need
seems to be the hol- exercisehin orde
iday of choice. I)$Before Signing the Lease~ keep these la
Gr nt dr ee waidead the lease carefully before lr$o hi
Granted, renewal f h a~~~~~ orcs on their t+
dates for housigng ng it. The landlord ma try to That was
companies are not sp illegal ase, utey thought behind
ntenlforceable regardless touhtbein
going to change nr bAnn Arbor Ter
goy ein thane whether you have signed the Union,
anytime in the nearUno, w
future, but October l's-formed in 196
seems a bit early to 2Th order to ensure
be makingtdecisions 2he Law State law wveseten- ereceive
for nex year.ants the right to withho d rent if ihsw r
for next year. E ad rights we are e
School has been tied to. To find
in essonforjus aquate mantenance. Make sure Y about your rig:
insession fao jut a alert the landlord that you r oucan reer to
little over a month, yucnrfrt
and already students doing this and state y AATU Websit
are being forced to andlord can deduct fro h t t p : // w w
think about housing ~urmnic h. e
thin abut ousangsecuirity deposits for three things Zaal hh
for next year. I pSua orDo'tbeafaiuh
Although technical- D con't be afrai
ly there is no dead- 2' Unpaid Uent confront hr
line for lease lord if somethin
signing, most hous- 3. tual damages t the:wrong.
ing c ompanies rental unit (not normal wear and Wo kn
demand to know e whether the hou
whether students companies re
wish to remain in 4) When you first move into have received of
the same place your apartment, the landlord is already. It c
again next year by equpred to resent with an just be a scare
the middle of Octo- nventory k s s tic, but for man
ber. ~ ~ rotection against being chargedsestobw
ber. f seems to be we
That definitely Ior amages h x b ing. Perhaps we
puts pressure on adownp tg is st
students to find a wreaeveryd ame iypsees onourselves.I
new place to live if regardles ser howeminpo igttieg as a collective
they decide not to Itk c r sbe iy e epf i ingetting. dent body wo
stay in their current ebd ourese just .relax, t
residence. Making finding hou
that ultimate deci- could wait unt
sion not to stay in more op port
sion no tosta inthin submitted to the landlord asmre ptht
one's house or time. Yet, there
apartmentcan give always going t
a feeling of dis- those people
placement. Instead will take advan
of worrying about midterms students of everyone else's slacking andt
have to worry about finding a place laugh at their stupidity for follov
to live. The residence halls allow this advice. You are not oblige
people to wait until March to make respond to the pressure from
up their minds, but by then all the housing company and perhaps ou
houses and apartments off campus principle should not.
have already been gone for months. It may only buy you a week o
After finding a place to live the but at this point time is of
burden is temporarily lifted; however, essence.
we then have to deal with the land- Happy hunting.
Round number two
Students should watch second debate

ever had. A person that I could easily summa-
rize by the term "soul mate" although I hate
that phrase because it sounds so trite. Anyway,
due to a severe case of assaholia on my part,
we haven't spoken in 18 months. So on my way
back, I thought about the whole scenario and
when I got home I sat down for three hours and
wrote her a four-page apology. It felt pretty lib-
erating.
Things got even weirder on Thursday. I
checked my e-mail to find a letter from my
friend Dawne, who I haven't seen or talked to
since March of 1997. It was one of my old
friends from the year I spent stationed out at
the Defense Language Institute in Monterey,
California. In retrospect, I'm quite certain that
that was the best year of my entire life. Young
and free with money and the only responsibil-
ities I had were to keep myself in good physi-
cal shape (something I'm neurotically
obsessive about anyway) and become fluent in
Arabic in 63 weeks. I guess some people
might get bored studying one subject seven
hours a day, five days a week, but for me it
was heaven.
Language school was for me what I'm sure
the University has been to many of you - that
first bona fide adventure away from the
parental teat, with equally full measures of
freedom and responsibility. I learned more
about myself and other people in that year than
I did in all four years of high school combined.
But the best part was the friends I had. There
were 13 of us, all told - nine guys and four
girls - and we did everything together. Not
just class, but everything from ski trips to
beach trips, from weekends in San Francisco to
camping in the redwoods. To this day it amazes
me how so many people who were so different
could know each other so well and still all like
each other so much. But that's how it was. I still
get a little misty-eyed when I think about it.

Last time I saw Dawne, we were both living
in Georgia. However, turns out she is living up
here now and attending the University to boot.
Even crazier, her roommate is one of my other
Army friends from Monterey -- also attending
the University - and the two of them have
been here since last October. Life is truly an
amazing thing.
But that's not all. The fun didn't stop there,
as on Friday I was at work and ended up ran-
domly talking to some girl who, turns out,
grew up right next to an ex-girlfriend of mine
that I went out with for over a year but haven't
seen in almost three years. Wacky.
So what's the point of all this? Why am I
droning on about people that most of you will
never meet and don't care about? Well, it's
just this little fact that I've been able to glean:
The unexpected does happen. Perhaps not a
very profound statement at first glance, but
when you look deeper, maybe it is. It seems
we, as college students, feel the need for some
sort of road map. You know, like four years
undergrad + three years law school + two
years slaving away as the gopher in some firm
= lots of money = nice house, nice car, nice
wife = satisfaction.
It feels good for me to realize that some-
times the road map is just superfluous bullshit.
Something can randomly strike you and make
you reevaluate yourself and take a close look at
your priorities. Maybe today is the day I wake
up and something unexpectedly wonderful hap-
pens. Maybe it's unexpectedly terrible too, but,
that's life isn't it? The fun is not knowing and
just taking it as it comes. I guess the point is
that as I sit here, moving into the future and
looking back on the past, for the first time in a
while I'm just really glad to be alive.
(For Dawne and Nabil)
- Branden San: can be reached via e-mail
at hamrhead &umich.edu.

aive
eat-
spe-
any
nd a
and-
any
ome
with
our
ases
real-
as
ghts
1 to
er to
and-
oes.
the
the
nant
hich
8 in
that
the
nti-
out
hts,
the
e at
w.
du
tm .
d to
and-
g is
ows
sing
ally
ffers
uld
tac-
ny it
ork-
are
ress
f we
stu-
uld
hen
sing
til a
une
are
Sbe
who
tage
then
wing
d to
the
ut of
r so,
the

last week is supposed to mean or what it is sup-
posed to lead to.
The first thing that hapenned was that on
Wednesday I went up to Flint to turn in all my
Army gear to my fonm r me tn Guard unit.
This was significan enogh that i wlas one
chapter of my life, spciialv a ove-hate rela-
tionship spanning thebe er part of a decade,
coming to a close. On my way back it turns out
the 1-69 to 1-75 interichae was closed due to
construction - big surprisenSon as I wandered
around Flint trying to fnd my wa back to the
freeway, without e er reall knominA how I got
there, I sort of stumble d to a ittl park f had
forgotten about. Then he w e hit me.
You see it was ther at tht park, almost
exactly two years ao at I had a very serious
conversation with one of the best friends I have

W

'We have swimming pools ... outstanding weather for
two or three months and then there's social entertain-
ment - sometimes I think the University is basically a
dating service with an educational component.'
- University President Lee Bollinger on attracting out-of-state students to the 'U'.

'New Urbanism' was
not founded by
Architecture dean
TO THE DAILY:
The Land Use Summit. organized and
led by our college facult\last week. was
nicely covered by the Dil. The article
mentioned me as the founder of New
Urbanism, a design and planing move-
ment that has become poptlar in America
during the last decad_ While I have been
involved from the start. I am not the
founder. And while I hae great respect for
its principles and practices. there are some
of which I am critical, n fat "laubman
College is planning a conference Feb. 9 and
10 to evaluate New Urbanism in terms of
regional, environmental, architectural and
social justice. Further detail will be avail-
able on our Website later this year.
Douo KELBAUGH
DEAN, TiBMAN COLLEGE OF
ARCHITECTURE & UPrBAN PLANNING
McQuinn's column
displaed snobbery
TO THE DAILY:
After reading Erin McQuinn's Oct. 10,
column ("A week end in East Lansing
makes me appreciate A'." 10 10 00) 1 have
to question the integrity of people at the
University. I thought that we werspecial
because we are accepting of {11pol-
people of all races, religions and back-
grounds. It is great to b proud of your
school, but it is not acceptable to ridicule
people because they are not as financially
secure as you are.
Many of the people at the University,
including myself, would not even know
where to go to get a Prada ba and a lot of
people struggle to come up with the money
to pay tuition or have a plceto live. People
think that we are snobs not only because we
think that we are academically better than
everyone else and have a great football
team, but because we are "rich snobs,.
I hope that more people don't support
this stereotype by ridiculing the less fortu-
nate crowd --- clothes do not make the
woman or man. I thought that we were bet-
ter than Michigan State because we saw
past the makeup and the desiners and
because we realize that personality is not
expressed by the costhforcltig
Many of u o exn kn or care
what's "in this season. If you are wealthy,
you are fortunate and vo are not required
to be a snob; I know many people xho have
money but would rather support their local
arts group than own ten pairs of capri pants
from bebe. If we are plain, so be it. We care
about more important things.
MAY KowALsKi
LSA JUNIOR

soul on campus. It is important to realize that
the occupation of the Union tower was not a
spontaneous decision on anyone's part. If you
talk to any alumnus who was part of the
many civil rights movements that took place
on this campus, they will tell you that the
University administration and students of
color on this campus have been conversing
about the Michigamua issue for years and
years.
Since my time here, I have witnessed
countless conversations around the bas-
tardization of Native American culture that
Michigamua chooses to take part in and how
it severely affects not only Native American
students that attend this University but all
minority students and the greater campus
community.
Retention is, a huge issue for Latino,
Black and Native American students on this
campus and knowing that one's racial identity
is being abused by a society that is supported
in privilege by the University contributes to
the poor retention rate. You can only have so
many 'conversations' with the administration
about these issues until you have to take mat-
ters into your own hands.
That is exactly what the Students of Color
Coalition did and in doing so, educated the
University community about the racism that
exists on this campus (and yes, bastardizing
one's culture is a form of racism). I am a stu-
dent of color on this campus, an Asian/Pacif-
ic Islander student and an Indian American
student. I will stand with my community and
other communities of color against institu-
tionalized structures like Michigamua.
I will speak for those that are continuous-
ly oppressed. If Raiji continues to be so criti-
cal of mass human rights movements, when it
comes your time, who will speak for you?
RUPAL PATEL
LSA SENIOR
'Assassins' game is
no testament to Ann
Arbor's coolness
TO THE DAILY:
In response to Erin McQuinn's column:
Although no one is denying that Michigan State
is a haven for losers ("A weekend in East Lans-
ing makes me appreciate A'," 10/10/00), I don't
think we should be applauding our own arro-
gance when one of the front page headlines
speaks of this "hip" new assassins game
("Campus trains new assassins,"10/10/00).
Talk about the kids who got picked last for

kickball. I think the studs featured in the assas-
sins picture may have a bit of trouble tipping
over a car if they were so inclined. In closing, if
I get hit by a nerf bullet as I am walking to
class or whatever, the opposing team will lose
more than a silly little game. Oh yeah, I'll be
the one with a bull's eye on my chest.
MATTHEW WILLIAMS
LSA SENIOR
'Disturbing' does
not imply 'immoral'
To THE DAILY:
I was shocked by the argument Andrew
Shirvell presented to the Daily in his letter
("Horn exemplifies what is wrong with pro-
choice mentality," 10/9/00). In reference to
the pro-life movement and the Genocide
Awareness Project display in particular,
Shirvell comments that Horn's inability to get
the photographs of aborted babies out of his
head speaks as to what GAP has accom-
plished on this campus. Furthermore, Shirvell
claims that the fact these images don't
change Horn's stance on abortion illustrates
just how much society is plagued by rampant
immorality.
I would suggest to Andrew Shirvell that
the GAP as done neither: I would suggest that
what GAP did was attempt to use "shock
value" to draw a correlation between two
completely unrelated things, the visual
impact of a medical procedure and its morali-
ty.
Had GAP plastered the Diag with photo-
spreads of cancerous tumors being removed
or a kidney being transplanted, I'm sure Horn
and many other students, would have been
repulsed and sickened; and they would have
had trouble trying to keep those images out
of their heads.
Tissue, bone and blood are not pleasant
things to look at under any circumstances.
What Shirvell is trying to say is that because
photographs of aborted babies are disturbing,
it follows that aborting babies is wrong. This
is a laughable claim. Ask anyone who has
been saved by having a malignant tumor
removed if they would want to look at still
photos of the operation; and yet I'm sure
even Shirvell will admit that there is nothing
immoral about this procedure. A medical
operation's visual impact carries no moral
imperative. All GAP tried to do was pander
faulty logic.
KYLE BANAS
LSA JUNIOR

0

0

T he second of the three scheduled
presidential debates will be held
today at Wake Forest University and
again will be televised by all the major
networks. At tonight's debate, Al Gore
and George W. Bush will be seated at a
table and for the final debate on Oct.
17, both will respond to questions in a
"town hall" format. Because of the
national importance of this election and
Michigan's status as a swing state, all
students should watch the debate and
hear what these two candidates have to
say. While the first debate may have
been revealing, there are still plenty of
relevant issues for the
Gore and Bush to dis- There ma,
cuss, such as affirma-
tive action, drug policy two cand
and the death penalty. debating,
While watching the
debate, remember that does not,
~.there are many other debates L
candidates for the pres-
idency and that the The first4
Commission on Presi- har
dential Debates (the dly Co
organizer of these of the rel
debates) has excluded s-.
Ralph Nader, Pat issues
Buchanan and others
from participating.
The "Bipartisan Commission on
Presidential Debates" is exactly that

di
IV+
le

three debate criteria, the candidates
must: 1) Meet the constitutional
requirements to be president 2) Be on
the ballot in enough states so that
they could win and 3) Show more
than 15 percent public support in five
nationwide polls. While the first two
criteria are entirely realistic, the last
virtually prohibits any participation
by third party candidates.
Since many voters hear the candidates
for the first time at the debate, it is unfair
to restrict participation to only the well-
known candidates. In 1992, Ross Perot's
support rose dramatically after his
appearance in that year's
debate - proving that
Yb many voters have not
fates made up their minds
but that until seeing the debates.
An open presidential
lake the debate ensures equality
relevant. between all candidates,
regardless of their eco-
ebate nomic resources.
ered all Although Nader
and Buchanan - the
vant most popular third-
party candidates -
have consistently
polled below 10 per-
cent, many nationwide surveys show
that over 30 percent of Americans
would like to see a four-way debate.

0

CHIP CULLEN GRINDING THE NIB
aen -
Camites lis -
tastes 6et~pr
made 6 ' lt

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