Wednesday, August 7, 1996 - The Michigan Daily - 5
m GONNA SAY IT Now
Jambling on casinos
Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting
Northern Michigan, what us instaters call "Up
North.".Sure, it's filled with tourist-trap Mystery
Spots and souvenir shops, but this simply ads to
the character of "Up North."
"Up North" also has a few casinos to add to the
resort-like atmosphere.
Native Americans own and
erate the casinos, as is pre-
crihed by state law
These casinos ar-n't like R
those in Las Vegas or Atlantic
City. Sigfried and Roy, along
with their entourage of circus
animals, don't grace the pres-
ence of the Leelanau Sands
casino, in Peshawbestown,
Michigan. Frank Sinatra, or GREG
any other member of the Rat PARKER
Pack, isn't likely to make an
Mpearance, either. In fact, there is no entertain-
ent at the casino. It's strictly business - the
business of gambling.
Why people gamble defies reason and logic. The
odds are fixed. It is nearly impossible to make any
money at gambling, unless you cheat, and it's hard
enough to simply break even. After all, if everyone
got rich gambling, there wouldn't be any casinos.
What brings all these people to these smoke-
filled buildings to wager their hard-earned money?
It might be the simple concept of "hope." I gambled
0 Leelanau Sands Casino - I admit it. I did it with
the hope of getting lucky, hitting big, and walking
away with spending money for all of next year.
Of course, I lost. Not much, but enough.
I hate to judge strictly by appearances, but it
appeared that many people that frequent the casino
were lower-middle-class, hard-working individuals.
There are the people that often struggle to make ends
meet - they might live from paycheck to paycheck.
But they still feed the casino a portion of their
limited income. It might not be much, or it might
e a lot, but the fact remains that people who
truggle for their money are risking it, with little
actual chance of winning, for the hope of striking
it rich.
The ultimate get-rich-quick scheme, the atmos-
phere of the casino makes you feel like you can
win. The odds at any of the games are tilted heav-
ily toward the house, but the amount of people
playing guarantees that there will almost always
be someone winning at any given time. Couple
this with the fact that whenever someone wins,
ells ring, whistles shout and every single quarter
hits the metal tray of the slot machine with a
"clang," and you have the atmosphere of utter
chaos. The feeling is electric - if everyone is
winning, why can't I do the same?
I used to look down upon those who gambled in
hope of hitting big, paying off the bills and sending
the kids to college. But now I don't blame them.
It's good to hope sometimes. It's good to think
that maybe, amidst the bells and whistles and
clanging, you might be able to come out ahead for
once. I admit that I felt that way concerning such
* frivolous, inconsequential item - spending
money. I'm sure I'd feel the same way if I had real
monetary issues, like overdue bills and children to
feed and house payments to make. I'd long for the
one time that I would hit it big, and never have to
worry about another bill in my life.
Certainly everyone shouldn't feed the casino all
of their income with the "hope" of getting rich
quick. But a little here and there, within reason,
might do more good than harm. It might give peo-
ple enough hope and excitement to make it
4hrough to the next week's paycheck. We all need
a little hope when making ends meet, some more
than others. And, within reason, if the casino gives
them an ounce of hope, so be it.
-Greg Parker can be reached via
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"I don't think think there's any question that a playoff
system Is going to happen and any extension of the season
is not in the best Interest of student athletes."
- Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr on the addition of the Rose Bowl to the
bowl alliance, which determines a national college football champion
CHRIS FARAH MASHED POTATOES
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Art Fair is an Ann
Arbor treasure
TO THE DAILY:
I get so tired of listening to U-M students
who are here for four years whining about An
Arbor and its "problems" ("Art Fair annoying
but short-lived", 7/31/96). The Art Fair provid
one of the greatest infusions of cash into our
local economy.
The only thing that rivals it is the home
football games, during which you see alum
and students running around with "junk"
they've purchased (similar to what Mr.
Wilson said was purchased by all of the
"middle-aged males and females") and larg
amounts of trash are left behind by these
alumni and students, apparently a superior
type of trash.
V E C or ti! AW AS A MIPPU
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LITTLE EARTHQUAKES
Movin 'on up
Almost everyone I know is moving, just
moved, or will be moving soon. They're moving
back to school, away from school, or to a new
school. Moving is a common thing in our stu-
dent lives - we usually pick-up-and-go once a
year, and the place we spent our childhoods
becomes just a "permanent
address."
It's easy to identify mov-
ing sasons in Ann Arbor. .
The streets are jammed
with Jeep Cherokees and
Explorers (though I realize
that's not saying much)
loaded with random stuff,
mattresses tied on top and
pulling U-Hauls. People are
literally throwing stuff ERIN
everywhere, especially in MARSH
the dorms, where the vari-
ous loading docks resemble carpet store and
lumberyard junk sales. My freshman year, mov-
ing out of Couzens Hall, I saw people throwing
lofts, carpets, crates, bookshelves, even a
microwave, out the window. In our temporary
lifestyle, it's easy come, easy go.
The whole packing and preparation segment
of the move is incredibly interesting. You dis-
cover stuff you never knew you had, or thought
you lost long ago - the svorn copy of your
favorite book as a child, notebooks from a fresh-
man-year bio class (filled with doodles), a photo
of your ex looking goofy (as usual). These dis-
coveries are not exactly conducive to the pack-
ing process, because you want to take time to
examine all of these "new" treasures.
As the packing goes on, the later it gets and
the more tired you get, a funny thing happens -
everything you own suddenly becomes more
disposable. Frustration and exhaustion breed
apathy, as clothing, furniture, books, etc. are
haphazardly tossed into a car or chucked on the
curb and left there. People take care with only
the things that have great financial worth, and
sometimes not even then. Going throw-away
crazy has its repercussions, though - people
tend to pitch the things that may seem like junk,
but actually hold the most memories. A friend of
mine, who moves quite frequently, said, "You
know, I have my stereo, my computer, and my
baseball card collection - all of which are
worth a lot of money - but I trashed the
Michigan sweatshirt my dad bought me the day
I got my acceptance letter. I got rid of my foot-
ball ticket stubs. I threw out the letters from my
old high school girlfriend. I know none of those
things are even close to the worth of my stereo
or computer, but, man, I wish I had them back."
Then there's the actual moving part of mov-
ing. New residences, new accounts with the
electric company, sometimes new roommates.
It's sort of neat that we, as students, have flexi-
ble enough lives that we can live someplace new
every year. It will be difficult to maintain this
flexibility as we move into adulthood, with
mortgages and kids and steady jobs. (Wow, does
that sound depressing.)
On the up side, we have lots of ways of find-
ing new perspectives and changing our sur-
roundings. We evaluate what goes in the "keep"
and the "throw away" piles all the time.
Sometimes it's in little ways, sometimes it's
more significant - painting a room, trying a
new recipe, switching to a new job, falling in
love. I read somewhere that Americans, on aver-
age, move every five years.
And, in some way or another, we do.
- Erin Marsh is not moving this year;
because she is too lazy to drag her couch
dorn the fire escape. She can be reached
via e-mail at eemarsh@umich.edu.
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I also noted James wasn't too shaken up by the
whole experience of gauging some poor people
$10 to park their cars, I only charge $5 for foot-
ball games.
And if crowds bother you James, now you
know how we feel when you and all of your little
friends jaywalk in front of us every two seconds.
I also haven't seen the Art Fair crowds demol-
ish private property, which numerous U-M stu-
dents did in '89, '92 and '93 after the NCAA
Basketball finals.
The Art Fair had good music, good food and
good times to be had, maybe if you were "mid-
dle-aged," like me, you could learn to stop and
smell the flowers and appreciate what's around
you.
MATT PHILLIPS
ANN ARBOR RESIDENT
1 I By Wiley
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