Monday, May 11, 1998 - The Michigan Daily - 5
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
01 came as a peaceful person. I got my head cracked open
because I'm a white person, and I have a tattoo that says
'White Pride.' Can I not do that? You can't beat someone
because of an idea."
John Patton, after being hit over the head with a bottle. Patton had been
standing barechested, displaying his tattoo, at the Ku Klux Klan rally last Saturday.
ETTERS T T E 0OR'
Kinesiology
deserves
better
To THE DAILY:
I believe ny student within
the Division of Kinesiology
will concur with me that the
cct one gets for attending
the University is slim to none
for a Kinesiology student
among the student body of
Ann Arbor. This inferior status
is not singled out to only the
sports management and com-
munication majors, though. I
also have witnessed this sense
of arrogance with respect to
sical education majors, as
l as movement science
majors.
It is not that I do not under-
stand why we are treated as
inferiors when talking to the
likes of LS&A and
Engineering majors. Believe
me, the study of movement
and sports is not a high-priori-
ty position within society. Yet
that does not give the majority
he University's student
y the ight to criticize
Kinesiology students, We have
all chosen our specific majors
because we feel that this is
what we would like to do with
our futures.
I have put up with all the
grief and arrogance for the last
four years of my life. I have
had to take the blows as they
We. After a while I began to
believe that my area of study
chemical engneer, for exam-
p Yetytarou h ther
ha V is a: sud-nt at the
Usv rsity I now know hat Ih
given in to the arriganc of the
ther schools.
I went through four hard
years of high school to achieve
my ultimate goal of attending
the esteemed University. The
classes that I have taken were
chosen due to their focus on
helping me achieve my ulti-
mate goals for the future. Is
that different than an English
literature major? I have studied
in the UGLi, the Union and
Cava Java. Does that make me
inferior to any other student?
Hell no!
I am the same as, if not bet-
ter than, any other student at
this university. So, for anyone
to look at my major and insult
me is ridiculous. I have never
looked down upon anyone due
to their field of study, let
alone any of their interests.
I have chosen to work in the
field of athletics. I will agree
that some curriculums are much
tougher than that of Kinesiology,
yet that is not a viable reason Ior
someone to look down upon a
certain field of study.
So, after four glorious years
here at the University, major-
ing in sports management and
communications, I now believe
that I am one of the leaders
and best. I have conquered the
University just like any other
student within any other major.
We are all one giant family
moo, th Uiiersty.
RIcK KRAuSE
KINESIOLOGY SENiOr
Faculty
diversity a
tricky issue
TO THE DAILY:
Regarding your editorial on
faculty diversity ("Tenuous
connection", 4/17/98), one must
pose the question whether skin
color is important. Individuals
too often vascilate on their
answer, reversing effortlessly
when convenient to serve their
immediate political interest.
To respond to the editorial
- is diversity of academic
background and opinion
important? Yes! Is diversity of
social and cultural background
important? Often yes, though
minimally so in the hard sci-
ences and engineering (The
equations still looked the
same, no matter what professor
wrote them)- Can this impor-
tant diversity be achieved with-
out skin color as a special dis-
criminant? I say yes. It is sim-
ple to proclaim that skin color
is not important. It is appar-
ently far more difficult for
some to hold this conviction
consistently.
DOUG BRUDER
FNGINFFRING ALUMNUS
Shirt-tags provide life's greatest, subtle lessons
celebrated my father's birthday last week, of this one. I think a good tag would be: "Large
with the required cake, ice cream and pre- incongruities between the speed of my car and
sents. I wanted to get him a gift he could use, so the posted speed limit are a distinctive part of
I bought him a shirt made by famous designer my driving style and contribute to the overall
Tommy Hilfiger. enjoyment of the driving experience." I doubt
My father likes to dress well, as do I, and the that police officers have ever considered this
present is something he can wear to work or out when pulling someone over. But it's true.
to dinner. The shirt has a nie pattern Driving at or under the speed limit is
and a good cut, and I own a few shirts .what everyone is supposed to do.
of this type myself. But I must con Those people who surpass tshe limits
fes I got a good laugh "o1 otonk placed oo' society are the real innova-
tlc shirtt ags. It discuss -e yp. tom, and, while persecuted in their own
of material, and carries this dis 5 time, are often recognized as true
chimer: Subte variations in sdgeniuses in the annals of history. Never
and texture are inherent chracteris thouht you might be the Van Gogh of
tics of power-loomed fabric and M-14, did you?
enhance the natural beauty of the gar- I should market the idea. Sports fran-
ment "ehises would line up for such tags. The
Nothing against I-lilfiger I like DAVID Detroit Tigers would love to have some-
the clothes - but this is just too WALLACE thing along the lines of, "Variations
'r't a s'"m .IBasica lly if you find a"", ?ItN between our record and that of .500 ball
'1a.w consider it vital to the integrity 1I1 . / are iherent, historical characteristics
of thaclothing. I ish; I -ou dapply of thus tm, a and enhance the natural
little tags like this to my everyday life. beauty of our futility." In one short sentence, the
For example, when taking final exams a few team is catapulted from the status of early sea-
weeks ago, how wonderful it would have been to son disappointment to that of lovable loser like
put a little note at the top of each one. I can see the 1962 New York Mets, Say goodbye to
it now: "Subtle variations in the correctness of intense scrutiny, and hello to campy adoration
my answers are inherent characteristics of my for those Clumsy Cats at the corner of Michigan
test-taking ability and enhance the natural beauty and Trumbull.
of the exam." The truth is, life is so full of such little imper-
Of course, upon reading this disclaimer my fections that virtually everything needs to carry
professors would award me an A. He or she a little tag on it. But it's these little blemishes
would recognize that the presence of a few that make life interesting. I salute you, Tommy
botched questions contribute to the rugged good Hilfiger, and your inability to kdep your stripes
looks of a true college final exam. Had the test straight or whatever it is you're worried about.
been perfect, it would have had an artificial qual- It's what makes you you. So in closing, I'd like
ity that betrayed the contrast in the instructor-stu- to state that variations in the hilarity of my col-
dent relationship.,umn are, inherent characteristics of my prose
I'd like to put another such disclaimer on the and enhance the natural beauty of my writing.
back of my car. A lot of people could make use -e-mail David Wllace at david wss/umich edu
Motivation: elusivefor a student even in its definition
W ebster's defines the word motivate as "to typically umotivated actions, or inactions for
provide with a motive; actuate." the average student/writer
Wellt this really tells me nothing. Would it be 1) Failing to find a definition for the word in your
too much for Webster's to actually give the small paperback dictionary, you decide against
unmotivated slacker writers of the world some walking the twenty-five feet over to your room-
juicy, big-word-filled descriptions of terms they mate's room, where a fat leather-bound, Oxford
wish to write about in describing their sorry con dictionary lies unused.
ditions? Better yet, when trying to find 2)You admire your Pearl Jam concert
out what it means to have no "motiva- tickets and fantasize about the show for a
Lion" (after hearing it from every good five minutes, while the flashing cur-
human you're close to - including sor on the computer screen begs you to
your sweet. old grandparents - you write something.
may begin to wonder), it would help if 3) In relation to No. 1, you rant about
this great Webster fellow would actual- the incompetence of the poor Webster's
ly list the word amongst the "over author,
60,00" he gives us. Really now. on the ...4) You consider it an accomplishment
same page as the mysterious "motiva- ', when you finish a term paper a whole
tion," we get words such as "motel" hour and a half before it's due.
and "mother-in-law." Um, Im sorry, CHRIS 5) Convincing yourself, while the
but if you don't know what either of LANGRILL sun's soothing rays force your eyes
these words means (or, for some scary II0 f'closed, that you will get studying done'
reason, can't spell them), you should WIN- by lying on your apartment's deck
probably be lookig at a third grade 6) During your three years as a col-
phonis book, not a dictionary. - lege student, when people ask you what you want
That said, instead of listing "motivation" as an to "do," you give some variation on the following
alerthought to "'notivate," maybe this Webster statement: "Oh, well, I want to be a journalist,
jerk ("fellow" is too kind) can give the word its like, um, MitelAlbum."
own definition vhen he releases his umpteenth, 7) Related to no. 6, you wait three years to con-
inadequate revision. le could even boast on the tact someone at that newspaper place on Maynard
front cover, along with detailing how many new you've told friends you ptan on visiting "soon:"
words he's discovered that finally. for all desper- If you recognize any of these behaviors, or
aiely searc hing scrubs o t there, a definitionsfor things similar to them, in yourself, then you too,
motivation exists! by my estinates, are unmotivated. Then -'gaip,
I'm sorry. this whole ranting thing is out of since I never actually found a definition for
line. Just because I have no intelligent, polysyl- "motivation," who am I to tell people what being
labic way of describing my major failing as a 21- unmotivated means? Maybe I'm; confusing
year-old, I have no right to darken the otherwise unmotivatedness (don't look it up, it won't be
respected name of the Webster dictionary man. there) with laziness anyway. I would check on
While I may not know what it means to be the difference for you, but I'm too ... well, you
motivated, I sure have an idea of what being get the picture.
unmotivated entails. Here's a brief laundry list of -- e-mail Chris Langrill at sircml@umich.edu
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