4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 19, 1995
UJaj Stcttpn Dalgt
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students-at the
University of Michigan
I I
MICHAEL ROSENBERG
Editor in chief
JULIE BEt1tER'
JAMES M. NASH
Editorial Page EdItors
HUES magazkne add to a
urniulyA~erfran raibow
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board. A//
other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
Facing a killer
Group forms to promote AIDS awarenes
t is killing college-aged people
faster than anything else. Everyone hears
about it, but until this year no student group
had formed on the University campus to do
anything about it. The he new group, The
Names Project/AIDS Education is on Us, is
an overdue addition to student groups at the
University.
AIDS isa disease that has appeared only
within the lifetime of most students. It was
first identified in the United States in 1981,
but cases of it were reported in the country as
early as 1979. Since then, the disease has
traveled rapidly - it is now considered the
fastest-spreading epidemic. In 1994, one out
of 250 Americans was affected by the dis-
ease. One half of the new infections reported
in 1994 were in people 25 years and younger;
one fourth were reported in people 20 years
and younger.
About 1,000 people are seen each year by
University Health Service for AIDS testing
and counseling. Of those tested, 0.6 percent
are tested positive. UHS estimates that there
are roughly 80 HIV-positive students at the
University.
While UHS does include infomation about
the HIV virus in its "safer sex" programs,
before the formation of The Names Project/
AIDS Education is on Us there wasno group
on campus that dealt specifically with AIDS/
HIV. The organization originated when two
separate groups - TheNames Project and
AIDS Education is on Us - formed inde-
pendently this summer and, merged at
Festifall. The group is workingcn promoting
awareness, as well as reaching out to the
similar groups in the larger community. The
Names Project is a national brganization
with chapters at universities irid-communi-
ties that work to dispel myths about the
disease and promote measures to slow its
spread. Considering the wide array of mis-
conceptions about AIDS, education and
awareness are necessary.
There is still a lot of work to be done, as
Riki Mitzner, founder of the University chap-
ter of The Names Project/AIDS Education is
on Us, points out. She has encountered two
attitudes toward her group: One is support-
ive, while the other belongs to those who
would rather shield themselves from the re-
ality of AIDS than work to prevent it. The
group should help dispel the ltter attitude,
and bring further awareness about the dis-
ease to the University. It has been a longtime
coming, but the organization has a vital role
to play here.
In 1992, a first-year student and two sopho-
mores at the University published a small,
Reader's Digest-size magazine for a class
project. They had 700 black-and-white cop-
ies printed out a local Kinko's. Proud of
what they had accomplished and noting how
well it was received, they decided to con-
tinue publishing the magazine with funds
from the University and local advertisers.
Three years later the magazine - now
full-sized, glossy and in color - made its
national debut, with media coverage from
large city newspapers and nationally syndi-
cated television talk shows. By this fall, the
magazine's circulation had exceeded
120,000, and the latest issue was distributed
in all 50 states, Canada and the United King-
dom.
It's almost a classic case of the American
dream come true: Three innovative people
get together with a great idea, zero in on an
untapped market, find the capital, are will-
ing to work - and within a few years it's a
huge success.
What's more, these publishers weren't in
business school; they didn't even put the
magazine out for a journalism class. Actu-
ally, the whole thing can be traced back to a
Women's Studies project and late-nighttalks
over pizza.
The idea was to make a magazine pro-
moting the self-esteem of women of all
cultures, lifestyles, colors, shapes and sizes;
their creation is called HUES (Hear Us
Emerging Sisters), and is definitely worth
checking out.
HUES is a women's magazine with fla-
vor, dealing with everything from health to
politics to fashion, using a mixture of biting
humor and intelligent discourse to make its
point. What's refreshing about HUES, and
I'm sure what accounts for its success, is
right there in its title: It's A Woman's Guide
to Power and Attitude -two concepts sorely
missed in most women-oriented maga-
zines.
HUES is by women about women -
women who like who they are and how they
look and know that changing society, not
their waist size, is the key to improving the
quality of their lives.
There are no apologies, no confessions,
and no skin-tight white dresses on women
who have either dedicated their lives to
starvation or have tucked, plucked and pad-
ded beyond recognition in this magazine.
Rather, HUES offers realistic, positive
body-images, honest appraisals of the com-
plexities in women's issues and a great deal
of humor.
In the fall issue (HUES is currently pub-
lished twice a year: April and October) the
magazine offers some Barbie-doll alterna-
tives (Dinner Roll Barbie, Rebbe Barbie,
Bisexual Barbie) and a PMS fashion spread
(no need to let menstruation "cramp" your
style).
There's also a six-woman discussion on
the question "Can Black Women be Femi-
nists?" an essay titled "Welfare without
Apology" and an interesting look at how
black and white women differ in dealing
with their body image.
The magazine offers health tips, a six-
month Heroscope, interviews with nation-
ally prominent women and book and music
reviews.
HUES stresses that it's a pro-woman, not
anti-male, magazine; and, although the fo-
cus is on women of color, who perhaps most
lack positive representation in the media,
more than anything HUES is an inclusive
magazine. "We are willing to embrace ev-
eryone," Dyann Logwood, one ofthe found-
ing publishers, told me in a recent phone
interview. "That's the only way women are
going to get anywhere - together."
In the context of today's emphasis on
exclusion, the success of HUES is signifi-
cant in two ways. First, as a woman-owned,
woman-run, woman-oriented publication,
HUES is evidence that these kind of projects
can exist without compromising goals or
ideals for the "realities" of mainstream soci-
ety. Secondly, the attention and readership it
has garnered after only two national issues
testifies to the fact that people are interested
in what positively empowered women have
to say.
For those of you who haven't yet seen
October's HUES, and there are a number of
free copies floating around the University.
Try Borders, Tower Records or some of the
independent bookstores. If you really want
to get in on the action, The Nectarine is
sponsoring a fund-raiser Sunday night, with
the proceeds going to HUES and two do-
mestic-violence shelters.
As Logwood told me, the problems
women face "won't go away - they just
keep getting bigger, or they seem to as we're
more aware.
HUES is a step toward amelioratingsome
of those problems, and could use the support
of people of both genders who want its
success story, and the message it spreads, to
continue.
-Judith Kafka can be reached over
email at jkajka@umich.edu.
MATT WIMSATT
MooiuE's DILEMMA
-U-.;
This isn't the Cleavers
Government should recognize all families
NOTABLE QuOTABLE
'They're not
friendly animals,
and people who
live here know
that.'
- Mel Kalkowski, a
University of Alaska
spokesman, talking about
moose in the wake of a
fatal moose attack
With the gay-rights movement gaining
momentum, conservatives - cham-
pions ofso-called family values -find them-
selves frantically patching loopholes in mar-
riage and adoption laws that recognize the
right of gays, lesbians and bisexuals to create
stable and healthy family units.
The model ofthe family need not exclude
gays and lesbians. Not one viable argument
exists, save an irrational fear of homosexual-
ity, to further deprive gays and lesbians of
their right to marry and to
adopt children.
Although the language of P
most marriage laws is not
gender specific, no state al- gay1
M
~1
ri
lows same-sex marriages.
Yet of the estimated 25 mil-
lion homosexual or bisexual
Americans, about half are
second2
in committed,
monogamous relationships. As an alterna-
tive for same-sex couples, some cities -
including Ann Arbor-have created domes-
tic-partner ordinances. While allowing ho-
mosexual couples to register as "domestic
partners" represents a positive effort, it does
not extend the full rights and benefits of a
marriage to the couple.
Unlike married heterosexuals, same-sex
couples cannot recover damages based on
injury to a partner or have joint custody over
a partner's children. They do not receive
survivor's benefits, or collect unemployment
benefits after leaving a job to relocate be-
cause of a partner's job move. Denying gays
and lesbians these rights, and more than 150
other rights that come with marriage, creates
a legal nightmare. Lacking a marriage to
recognize a life partner, same-sex couples
are forced to navigate a turbulent legal sys-
tem to protect their loved ones. The harsh
reality is that no agreement, however legal,
will ever be commensurate with the safety
How To CONTACT THEM
State Rep. Mary Schroer
(D-52nd district, North Campus)
99 Olds Plaza Building
Lansing, Ml 48909
(517) 373-1792
and stability of a marriage.
Particularly important are cases in which
homosexuals - either through a previous
marriage or through artificial insemination
- have children. In both instances, only one
of the partners can be legally recognized as
the parent. This oversight wreaks havoc by
restricting one partner's parental-authority.
The unrecognized partner cannot extend a
health care benefit plan to include the child,
cannot authorize emergency medical care or,
in the case of divorce or
death, cannot receive cus-
tody of a child. These are
pertinent issues to the esti-
g is mated 2 million gay and les-
bian parents in America --
nseries responsible for raising as
many as 6 million children
- that must be addressed. -
One emerging solution would allow a
nonbiological parent to co-adopt the biologi-
cal child of the other partner. This raises the
question: Why not allow gays andesbians to
adopt non-biological children? An Illinois
appeals court in July ruled in favor of lesbian
and gay adoptions, but conservatives have
already instituted laws in other states de-
signed to thwart adoption by same-sex
couples. The legality of suchlaws has been
tested with victories and defeats on both
sides - at best a shaky record of protection.
What really hinders gays, lesbians and bi-
sexuals, however, is the myth that they would
be unfit parents.
On the contrary, a study released at the
Widener University symposium in May of
1994 showed that children raited by lesbian
couples proved psychologica ly healthy -
evidence that in spite of the a~idand hostile
environment createdby homophobes, healthy
relationships continue to thrive in same-sex
couple families.
By Zach Gelber
While the "Million Man
March" must be praised as a posi-
tive step for the African Ameri-
can community and America as a
whole, the march's leader, Louis
Farrakhan, casts an ominous
shadow over the rally and its oth-
erwise radiant glow.
Although many claim that you
can separate the leader from the
march,actual consequences show
otherwise. Regardless of intent,
whether tacit consent or direct
approval, the participants serve
as a buttress for a vitriolic hate-
monger.
While the theme of the "Mil-
lion Man March" was peace,
atonement and racial unity,
Farrakhan's past is that of a man
who strives for the opposite -
hatred and divisiveness. The
Gelber is an LSA junior and
a member of the Daily editorial
page stafff
framework of Farrakhan's ideol-
ogy is a false construction of his-
tory supported by lies and mis-
conceptions. This psuedo-history
is presented in the Nation of Is-
lam's "The Secret Relationship
Between Blacks and Jews." This
farce of scholarship scapegoats
Jews, placing them at the root of
all the problems of the African
American community. Through-
out its 334 pages, this book con-
structs a worldwide Jewish con-
spiracy unmatched since the Pro-
tocols of the Elders of Zion. Like
the "Protocols," "The Secret Re-
lationship" is dangerous because
it creates a false history.
The most disturbing part of
Farrakhan's ideology is that he
lends it the cloak of scholarly
discourse. "The Secret Relation-
ship Between Blacks and Jews"
actually contains 1,275 footnotes.
Like a crooked support beam,
these footnotes lend false cred-
ibility to the ludicrous assertion
that Jews masterminded and con-
trolled the slave trade. The
legitmacy offered by the label
"history" has and will continue to
attract believers to ridiculously
contrived theories.
The danger presented by this
facade of legitimacy can best be
seen in the light of a statement
madeiby a 25-year-old African
American male at Monday's
events. Derrick Williams stated,
"Minister Farrakhan is like E.F.
Hutton: When he speaks black
people listen." As arguably the
prominent leader of the African
American community, Farrakhan
projects his beliefs from a large
and sturdy platform. Launched
from such a strong framework,
his venomous fabrications ring
true in the ears of many.
Farrakhan's hatred of women,
Jews, Catholics and Koreans is
reprehensible - when this ha-
tred is supported by the steel gird-
ers of history and then presented
......-
VIEWPOINT
Building a house of cards, man by man
Look, LrLE CARL LEVIN KfASN'r LEPr WITH 'Tye OTHERS.
to a captive audience, it is down-
right dangerous.
As information is hurled at us
through all forms of media, we
are presented with the challenge
ofdisseminating that information,
picking and choosing which
seems valid and useful. The great
danger of Minister Louis
Farrakhan is that his speeches
seem to make sense: He appeals
to audiences with his version of
historical and religious truth. The
only problem is that he does not
speak the truth and his audience
is often hoodwinked by a sleight
of hand.
Presented as bricks and mor-
tar it only takes a little probing to
see that Farrakhan's construction
is no stronger than a house of
cards; the real danger that must
be seen in Monday's events is
that the positive nature of the
march will serve as the mortar for
the construction of Farrakhan's
house.
LETTER
Dial-in fees help boost 'U' modem service
To the Daily:
An Oct. 18 Daily editorial
("Syntax error") stated that the
University's "dial-in services are
being downgraded, with new fees
and time constraints." In fact, the
Information Technology Division
is significantly upgrading dial-in
services.
The University's dial-in mo-
dem pools are the busiest in the
state - dial-in activity to the
University's Ann Arbor and Flint
campuses accounts for almost 60
percent ofthe state'snetwork traf-
especially during the evening
hours. This fall, busy signals have
been all too frequent for users of
services ranging from America
Online to San Francisco's com-
munity system, "The Well."
Demand for dial-in access at
the University is showing similar
dramatic increases. Many dial-in
users have complained aboutbusy
signals during peak evening hours
this fall. ITD is responding by
purchasing more high-speed mo-
dems - 200 additional modems
will be installed by late Novem-
continuing upgrades and expan-
sion - possible.
The idea of charging for dial-
in access is not new. MTS users
have always paid for dial-in ac-
cess. The cost is built into the
hourly MTS connect charges.
Implementation of the new
dial-in fees is allowing ITD to
track dial-in use for the first time.
This year's fees were based on
estimates of projected use. Next
year's fees will be based on hard
data. We know that more than
11,000 individuals subscribed to
amount covered by the minimum
fee is a fairly close match to the
amount people actually use. But
ITD will make adjustments based
on the data that is becoming avail-
able to us for the first time ever.
ITD will continue to support
modems along with Ethernet con-
nections from campus offices,
Campus Computing Sites and
residence hall rooms. There is no
reduction in support for dial-in
users as a result of Ethernet being
available in residence halls. Both
dial-in and Ethernet resources are
being expanded.
ITD's goal is to provide the
State Rep. Uz Brater
(D-53rd district, Central Campus)
412 Roosevelt Building
Lansing, Ml 48909'
(517) 373-2577