Wednesday, July 23, 1997 - The Michigan Daily - 5 NOTABLE QUOTABLE "The endowment deserved ... to receive a vote on its 0 merits and did not get one due to party politics." - National Endowment for the Arts chair Jane Alexander, commenting on the 217-216 vote in the US. House to discontinue the NEA 'sfederalfunding ETTERS TO TH EED!TOR Bible does not condemn 'ays and lesbians TO THE DAILY: I am greatly disturbed by the support of the Southern Baptists' boycott of Disney on the premise that the Bible con- demns homosexuality as sin- ful. It's just not true, and it's 1e someone stood up to this fidely agreed-upon lie (or is it merely idiotic misinterpreta- tion?). As important as the Bible is, and as widely quoted (and misquoted) as it is these days, shouldn't we know the truth about its passages? The Bible does not condemn homosexuality. The original jreek and Hebrew texts never 'n mention homosexuals, and they certainly never condemn monogamous gay relationships in any way. Yes, there is a pas- sage that says a man shouldn't lie with a man as he lies with a woman - it was considered culturally wrong for a man to take on a woman's passive role in any way because women were considered property, .nething less than human, and certainly not equal to men. But this passage says nothing about the state of being homosexual or about being in loving homo- sexual relationships, only about outdated cultural sexism. One can be homosexual without "lying" with anyone. Gays and lesbians who are not sexually active are still homosexuals. Aside from this passage, the Bible only condemns the same sexual acts for gays and lesbians as for heterosexuals - prostitu- tion, pagan rituals and rape. The original text of the Bible does not say that God destroyed Sodom because of homosexuality - it says the city was destroyed because of acts of rape and inhospitability. The people of Sodom raped the travelers/angels just as most conquering armies of that time raped the soldiers they defeat- ed. Unless the Bible-thumpers are going to assert that every soldier at that time in history was homosexual, they have to give up the ridiculous and igno- rant assertion that the crime of Sodom was homosexuality. So much of the original texts of the Bible never made into what we read today. What was included and excluded was based on political battles and who was in power at the time. The King James version in fact tries to sidestep the gay issue entirely because King James was homosexual. Today, we read mistranslations of mis- translations, none of them tak- ing into consideration the cul- tural and historical context of what was written, all of them distant bastard cousins of the original texts. But what I really can't understand is the so-called "religious folks"' obsession with homosexuality. They seem to talk about it more than gays and lesbians do. It all makes me wonder - who are the ones with the problem? SCOTT MILLER UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS Keating's portrayal was 'one-sided' TO THE DAILY: In Jeff Keating's letter about Diag trees ("Stop cutting down Diag trees' 6/18/97), he painted an all-too-rosy and one-sided viewpoint. Trees are not innocu- ous, inconspicuous nature filters. They are nefarious obelisks which mar an unob- structed view of campus, and cause serious accidents during the late night drag races on the Diag. The only good trees are the ones in my notebook. So chop away, construction crew! If Keating wants to build a nest in the forest, he should move to Canada or some other country. JED FRIEDMAN LSA SENIOR Ann ArborArt Scare '97: It ain't art and it ain'tfair I always had the deluded notion that I was a nice gotta go. Have some common courtesy, people Iperson - I smiled at people in the street, held (at this point, I'm not sure I'm one to talk). doors open for strangers, etc. - yet something Friday: People still need their paychecks has drastically changed me. Never have I flipped It's 3:55 p.m., as I scamper out of work to get off so many people or rudely shoved my way my paycheck by 4:00 from the LSA Building through crowds as I did during the four days of across the street. I walk into the street and realize pure hell known as the Ann Arbor Art Fair. I'm becoming claustrophobic as I elbow my way Tuesday, Art Fair's Eve: through the crowd. 3:58: Strollers are My Evil Side Shines Through rolling over my feet as I spot a break in Amidst the maze of blocked-off the masses. I make a run for it and reach streets, I attempt to drive across town to the sidewalk. 3:59 The door is in my visit a friend. A yuppie couple driving a t. , sight. I get poked in the face by a hum- monstrous RV swiftly decide to pull mingbird on a stick as I leap onto the into my lane - disregarding the fact lawn and run toward the door. Never has that I was in it. Slamming on my brakes getting my paycheck been such a daunt- and barely avoiding a nasty accident, ing task. my hand pounds on the horn, my mid- Saturday: dIe finger flies out the window and pro- If you can't beat 'em, join 'em fanities spew from my lips: "Welcome KRISTIN My boyfriend and I decide to venture to Ann Arbor, asshole!" It only got AROLA outside and look around. Wandering worse. °AN -G IN down Liberty Street I spot a booth with Wednesday: People still live here i'G FANS beautiful hand-crafted jewelry. Admiring Trying to get to my 9 o'clock class the craftsmanship put into the work, I was virtually impossible. Thousands of yuppies, notice the two women behind the counter look at with leather fanny packs and too much money, do us in disgust. One peers at me through her nose not watch where they're going. I huff and puff, and snootily says hello as my boyfriend whispers, whip out my evil glare, look repeatedly at my "Go back to Bloomfield Hills." We swiftly vacate watch, and mumble loudly to myself that I'll be the premises. late for class. Nobody budges. Needless to say, I Having had our fill of the Art Fair, we quickly was 10 minutes late for class. walk home. Sitting on our front porch at 5:30, 1 Thursday: Some people work here realize the fair is finally over. Flocks of subur- I'm having a busy day at my workplace in banites stroll past my house returning to their Angell Hall, when I decide to take a quick run to cars. Out of nowhere, a dog waltzes into the mid- the bathroom. As I make my way down the hall I dle of our yard and proceeds to take a gigantic notice, "no it can't be," but it is - a line for the dump while his owner praises "good dog!" I stare bathroom. I walk up to the line in disbelief, in disbelief as he smiles at me - I guess I've mumble a little too loudly "#%@#ing art fair'" received my little piece of heaven from the 1997 and shuffle off to the elevator to use the fourth- art fair. floor bathroom. I admit those porta-potties Next year I plan to be out of town. placed conveniently on every corner are a bit - Kristin Arola can be reached over nasty, but hey, when you've gotta go, you've e-mail at arolak@umich.edu. Our generation has different priorities, not apathy don't like anything. Seriously, bring up any- thought. "People should know you're not a jerk," thing right now and I'll find something wrong she told me. I guess she is right. I try to help peo- with it. Actually, that's not completely accurate ple out, and excuse me while I plagiarize the entire (see what I mean), what I really mean is I don't PBS morning lineup, but being a friend is the best like anything. It's not that I am that critical or job in the whole world. Seriously, it beats out sar- have really high standards - anybody who has castic columnist by a mile (it definitely pays more, read this column for the past couple of months or too). But, in thinking about why people are impor- seen the way I dress can vouch for that. tant, I had to think about why "things" And I don't think I am an angst rid- just aren't material to my life (sorry den member of the "children of the honey, I think the happy column is right boomers" generation (ha, you thought I around the corner). I think it's because was going to say "Gen X"; well wrong, believing in "things" didn't solve the I don't like "Gen X"), because angst problems of previous generations. implies that I don't care. I care about I think a lot of my peers agree with all sorts of things, I just don't like them me, at least that is what I read from our (ah, yes, you mentioned that). actions. Our generation is improperly It's amatter of faith, not in a religious categorized, our non-committal attitude sense, but in a very earthbound, tangi- toward key issues of previous genera- ble, everyday way. I have a hard time PAUL tions, and our general cynicism isn't believing in "things" - institutions SERILLA based on the mysterious yin-yang rela- like governments, universities, compa- ERtLA tionship of angst and flannel - we nies, interest groups or any products of AfARE care, we just have different priorities. these "things." I just don't believe that Our parents' generation thought they any institution has completely good intentions, I could change the big picture in drastic, sweeping trust people and ideas, not groups that claim to strokes, placing all their faith in one basket, only represent people or ideals. It's a subtle differ- to have it crumble away leaving jaded success- ence, like voting a straight Democratic ticket but happy yuppies. Our generation learned the les- not considering yourself a Democrat. son of our parents' mistakes. We cut out the mid- I came to this conclusion because my girlfriend dleman and went strait to cynicism and we did it suggested I write a column where I didn't put without demonstrations that descended into vio- something down, complain about something, or lence or killing even one Kennedy. cynically jab at a topic like a 10-year-old whack- Previous generations tried to swallow their ing a beehive with a stick. I think what she said problems whole, which only leads to the regurgi- was, "don't be mean." She wanted me to write tation of the problem (from global heartburn, if something with an approving tone, that covered a you will). Our generation takes smaller, slower subject more basic than some flash-in-the-pan bites, hence the volunteerism, locally driven sin- political agenda and with more substance than gle issue groups and methods that place interac- the top 10 reasons this year's Ann Arbor Art Fair tion with individuals over just plain action. Our trinket is better than last year's "metal-bug-on-a- methods are slower, but we don't spit the same stick" problem back in your face. So I gave the whole nice-guy concept a lot of - E-mail Paul Serilla atpserilla@umich.edu. UKI KUIYUKGROUND ZEROe OtN T Gb"' A tsvSA f y I6 -T-rE ROSSOELL friJCID ET, fto?LE.VIIT SW FLL T CEI-C-BR1-E BLAT wHErE :>oc 651E A EJJS &c? __ L2 . rxli W AS A GeA T I D cA t5 r- vr rt'dT ThB oyroT THffH AreN'7 Ary uNes AN Dfyt t's o WAtO 6 AA -t et N£ .,Y I Wanted: Editorial cartoonist. Interested? E-mail Erin at eenarsh@umich edu.