Wednesday, Jily 30, 1997 - The Michigan Daily - 5
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"Justice Brennan is going to be remembered as one of the
most fearlessly principled guardians of the American
Constitution that it has ever had and ever will have."
- US. Supreme Court Justice David Souter; remembering former
Justice William Brennan, who died last week at the age of91
L E T H E DT
Rude art fair
patrons are
like students
TO THE DAILY:
As a lifelong Ann Arbor
resident and a University
employee, I look forward to the
yearly bashing of the Ann
Arbor Art Fair by one of the
Daily's columnists who labor
er the misconception that
eir writing "style" comes
across as wry and that they are
offering a unique view of the
subject. I'm sure you could go
back to a Daily column from 20
years ago and find a criticism
similar to the one written by
Kristin Arola ("Ann Arbor Art
Scare '97: It ain't art and it
ain't fair," 7/23/97).
0 Her description of pompous,
rude people with backpacks
who jaywalk and cut people off
seemed familiar to me. Maybe
it reminded me of the students
who do the same things from
September to April as art fair
patrons do for one week in July.
At the art fair, I saw some
excellent bands for free, I sam-
pled some of what our finer
ing establishments have to
Wer, and I scored some incred-
ible bargains at the sidewalk
sales. Maybe Arola went to a
different art fair than the one I
+nO U& 21:1 U mt nv
in this town, please allow us our
moment in the sun.
EDWARD THOMAS
UNIVERSITY STAFF
'Common
sense'
suggests
cover-up
TO THE DAILY:
In "Skepticism lacking in
Roswell," (7/16/97) John
Woodford peers into a murky
crystal ball when he announces
that he's sure none of our sci-
entists who landed a probe on
Mars believes that aliens land-
ed at Roswell. So much for his
gullibility! If this is where his
ability to think "logically and
critically" leads him, I guess
John Q. Public is just as well
off operating with good old
common sense.
Woodford evidently
believes that Earth is the only
planet with life in the uni-
verse; or that if there could be
another one out there some-
where, our civilization is cer-
tainly the most highly devel-
oped. While we can put men
on the moon or send a space
ship to Jupiter, no other beings
--'- hrP ncchi-mil
While we can begin to tinker
with biological engineering,
no groupanywhere would pos-
sibly have the know-how to
breed small beings to pilot
space ships.
The true thinkers of the
past were not skeptics, but
those who dared to believe
what was then thought to be
unbelievable: Newton, Galileo,
Da Vinci, Franklin, Einstein
and Edison to name a few.
Looking into the future, they
led the way to scientific
progress.
In light of the hundreds of
reports coming in over the
years from all corners of the
world about the presence of
UFOs, common sense seems
to be telling me and a lot of
my fellow citizens here on
Earth that UFOs do exist,
regardless of whether that fact
boggles the scientific mind.
One more cover-up by the gov-
ernment is not that hard to
believe, especially after read-
ing "The Day After Roswell"
by Col. Philip J. Corso, a
retired Pentagon official who
was chief of the Army's
Foreign Technology Division
in 1961. He affirms what
"common sense" has been
telling us all along.
JACQUIN BRENDLE
SCHOOL OF ART SENIOR
The procrastinators adventure offinding a class
Okay, so I admit I'm a procrastinator. At the missing link.
end of winter term, amidst mountains of The problem is that there are so many great
classwork and other nuisances, I was forced to things to do when you want to put something off,
choose my class schedule for this fall. especially if you're using a computer. I'm sure
Granted, so did everyone else. And I'm sure you've endured the heartache of postponing a
most students managed to pull it off. I, on the term paper by an hour because you just got y-
other hand, did not succeed in my efforts to find talked by your best friend's girlfriend's roommate.
the perfect class schedule for the Or better yet, a few of your favorite CDs
beginning of my sophomore year. I . can give you more important things to
found three good classes and got a 2 - concentrate on than the task at hand.
dummy class for a fourth. What kind ' There is also a world of fun stuff to
of dummy, you ask? I don't know, I , explore on the World Wide Web. What
didn't read the course description. could possibly be more fun (or at least
That was a bit foolish, I know. But diverting) than an entire web page dedi-
my schedule was complete and I cated to the city of Goshen, NY.
wouldn't have any immediate prob- After playing around for an hour, lis-
lems until I walked into class for the tening to the dance remix of "Don't Cry
first time in September. That is, until for Me, Argentina" and going to
I talked to a receptionist-type in the JACK Wendy's for lunch, I decided to focus my
English Department at the end of SCHILLACI mental energies.
June and discovered that my mystery JACK IN Strolling through the Course Guide's
class had been cancelled. A fact I THE 1PULPIT listings, I manage to find several classes
later discovered to be mistaken. that seem interesting enough.
It's one thing to not know what class you are Unfortunately, the scheduling gods have dictated
taking. It's quite another to not even have a class. that these classes will all occupy the same spot,
So I found myself in a bit of a jam. But rather of which I am presently indisposed for.
than dealing with the problem when I found out Every time I clicked "Check Course" on the
about it, I got in over my head with a mountain of CRISP Info page, the "T Th; 10:00 - 11:00" that
"important" things to do - such necessities as displayed on my screen felt like a an evil voice
watching the "Road Rules" marathon and e-mail- saying, "You'll never find a good class and
ing friends that I haven't seen since I graduated you'll get stuck with 12 credits and then you
from high school. won't graduate on time." Insert cackling laugh-
Last Saturday, however, I had a mission. I was ter.
going to spend the entire day, if necessary, find- Well, much to my relief, I discovered just yes-
ing a class to fill the vacancy that English 225 terday that the person who initially told me 225
left in my fall lineup. Fighting a mind-numbing was closed was indeed mistaken. The only prob-
headache, I made my way to a computer inside lem left: Making up for the time I wasted looking
the Student Publications Building with my trusty for a replacement class - I must have missed
Course Guide, opened Netscape Navigator to numerous episodes of "Melrose Place."
Wolverine Access and set out to search the annals - Reach Jack Schillaci over e-mail at
of the University's classes in order to find the jschilla@umich.edu; he'll respond eventually.
Sensationalism detracts from positive aspects of life
T ife is good these days. Or did youalready reporters had something to say and knew that a
know that? Chances are, if you follow the newspaper was the best way to say it. News
news, you didn't. today, by contrast, is aimed at the public's
Though it's a little early to start writing histo- unquenchable thirst for sensationalism.
ry, President Clinton's eight years in office might But in journalism, as in every other field, prof-
well be remembered as another Era of Good it is only one thing to consider - the quality of
Feelings. The economy is booming and crime is the finished product is infinitely more important.
down; there have been major advances A reporters' mission is to describe what
in science, such as the recent Mars goes on in the world, and by focusing
landing. Congress has finally proposed on freak tragedies and celebrities (or
a balanced-budget plan, and the long- better yet, celebrity-related tragedies),
needed campaign finance hearings they produce a distorted world-view.
have finally begun. The average person watching the news
It's a great time to live in the United would see a steady stream of crime and
States. It's a strange time to be a disaster, although this is far from an
reporter. accurate portrayal.
Yesterday, a friend and I spent a full So, as I wondered why there was no
hour thinking up topics for my column. news, I realized that no news could
I eventually realized that we weren't Liz LUCAS indeed be good news for the media.
getting anywhere because there was no COUNTRY This unexpectedly tranquil era we're
news to discuss. FEEDACK experiencing is an unlooked-for oppor-
But this wasn't quite accurate. tunity. When there are no disasters to
There's always news - something unexpected focus on, reporters have the chance to write real
and different happens every day. The problem is news - stories about the everyday events that
that lately, the things that happen aren't things affect ordinary people's lives.
that are usually classified as news. Or, for a really radical idea, the media could
It seems like the rest of the media is having just start paying attention to international news,
as difficult a time finding things to write about. which is usually sensational enough to suit any-
The good-news stories, like the economy, haven't one. To paraphrase Channel 4's slogan, local
gotten widespread media coverage. When they news comes first in nearly every media venue--
are written about, these stories tend to be but this, too, gives a narrow and distorted picture
described as weird trends that may disappear as of the world.
inexplicably as they arrived. Will the media take this opportunity? We'll
So what does get covered? Bad news. The two have to wait and see. After the celebrity-tragedy-
biggest stories of the summer, so far, have been death-fest on Aug. 16, the 20th anniversary of
the Hong Kong handover and the Timothy Elvis' death, reporters might just get desperate
McVeigh trial, along with assorted O.J. Simpson, for something to cover. Campaign-finance
JonBenet Ramsey and Gianni Versace updates. reform, immigration, Cambodia and NATO -
This news coverage reflects the profit-driven the possibilities are endless.
nature of today's media. It's a far cry from the - Liz Lucas can be reached over
early days of American journalism, when e-mail at erelucas@umich edu.
PUBL4~IC EDUCATION GUAuJ2AR1
LASS NoRE