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(08/08/96 9:00am)
Pfaendtner stars in Lightweight crew When Jeff Pfaendtner started rowing at the age of nine, he probably didn't think he would be standing on the medal stand at the Olympic Games 22 years later. But that is exactly where he was last week after taking third place in the 2000 meter lightweight straight quad race in Atlanta. The bronze was one of two medals won by the U.S. men's lightweight squad at the Centennial Games. Pfaendtner rowed for Penn as a SEAS undergraduate and, since his junior year of 1989, for the U.S. national team. Currently he is a materials science and engineering Ph.D candidate here at Penn. He has had to put his work on hold recently to train and compete in the Olympics. "To do rowing at the international level and graduate work at Penn is an extraordinary achievement," said Professor Charles McMahon who works with Pfaendtner on his research. McMahon was able to attend the Olympic Games and watch Pfaendtner in one of the qualifying heats. The U.S. boat finished second to Canada in the heat, which, although a disappointment, enabled the rowers to compete in an extra qualifying heat. As this was the first time the four U.S. rowers had competed together, the extra heat proved useful in preparing for the final. "It was an amazing spectacle," McMahon said of his trip to the Games. "To medal was all you could really ask for. They were within a boat length of the gold medal. It's really a tremendous achievement. On another day, they could have come out on top." Penn's rowing program under coach Stan Bergman played a major part in Pfaendtner's climb to the national team. He was not recruited, but established himself right away on the freshman squad. He made the varsity boat his sophomore year and continued rowing in the first boat until he graduated. The transition to the national team from Penn's rowing squad was not an easy one. As a Quaker, Pfaendtner was a heavyweight rower at his natural weight of 175-180 pounds. But on the national level, he was not big enough to row in the heavyweight division. That meant he had to lose around twenty pounds to weigh in under 160 and meet the boat average of 155. At 6-foot-1 this was no simple task for Pfaendtner. After dieting, he lost the weight and joined the team. He has won two World Championship silver medals since 1989, but has never competed in the Olympics until this year. 1996 is the first year in which lightweight crew has been an official Olympic sport. In previous Olympics only heavyweight races have been contested. As Pfaendtner returns with his medal, he must continue the research he put on hold in November. This has been his final race for a while as he hopes to finish his Ph.D thesis in the next year. "He's committed to finishing his thesis as fast as possible," McMahon said. "His training slows it [his research] down, but it doesn't hurt the quality."
(07/25/96 9:00am)
John Borozzi was forced to leave Penn early to try out for the 1976 Olympic team As John Borozzi hitchhiked his way from Philadelphia to Springfield, Mass., one Friday afternoon twenty years ago, he probably wondered why he was doing it. As a United States Olympic hopeful, he was on his way to trying out for the U.S. national team. Although he realized the team was a longshot to qualify for the Montreal Olympiad, he wanted to try. "We knew it was an uphill battle," Borozzi said. "The high was making the team." After an elaborate tryout process, Borozzi was one of several collegiate players selected to represent the United States. The U.S. played home and away series against several North American teams, all of whom were chasing a single berth in the Games for the region. However, as in past years, Mexico was too strong for the rest of the North American field. It was the Mexicans who emerged as the best team in the region and who traveled to Canada in 1976. Much of the American downfall can be attributed to serious disorganization within the team. Shortly before the qualifying tournament for the Olympics began, the American coach was fired and replaced by Detmer Kramer of Germany. Kramer overhauled the team, getting rid of most of the collegiate players and replacing them with players from the North American Soccer League. Borozzi was able to continue playing until he missed one game against Bermuda. After that he was not invited to continue playing on the U.S. squad. As a student at Penn, Borozzi was forced to miss many of his classes and pay his own way onto the Olympic team. He petitioned the University for financial assistance, but was denied and forced to support himself. He saved money by hitchhiking to tryouts until he made the team. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of traveling so frequently, Borozzi never finished his academic career at Penn. He dropped out in 1976, during his senior year, and did not complete his degree until 1988, when he graduated from Towson State. "I was no great student and it was difficult being away for a week here and a week there," Borozzi said. After Borozzi's stint with the Olympic team and his time at Penn, he went on to play professionally for 4 years in the NASL. That made him one of few American nationals to make an impact in the league during its heyday of the 1970s, when international superstars like Pele and Johan Cruyff were plying their trade in the United States. Borozzi's resume also includes one year playing indoor soccer, as well as managing a pro team in the NASL before the league folded in 1984. Currently he is the Marketing Director for the Columbus Crew, one of the ten teams in the newly formed Major League Soccer. He must be doing something right in Ohio, since the Crew have regularly been playing to crowds of 20,000 or more. As the United States has become more of a threat on the international soccer scene, Penn has declined as a national power. The Quakers were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in the early 1970s and drew more fans than any other college to playoff soccer matches at Franklin Field during Borozzi's freshman campaign of 1972. But by his senior year the Quakers had fallen out of the top 20 and have never regained the powerhouse status they once enjoyed. Although the Quakers are experiencing soccer difficulties at present, the U.S. national soccer scene is growing by leaps and bounds. And although Borozzi may not have fully realized his Olympic dream in 1976, he is still a large part of the soccer world today.
(07/25/96 9:00am)
John Borozzi was forced to leave Penn early to try out for the 1976 Olympic team As John Borozzi hitchhiked his way from Philadelphia to Springfield, Mass., one Friday afternoon twenty years ago, he probably wondered why he was doing it. As a United States Olympic hopeful, he was on his way to trying out for the U.S. national team. Although he realized the team was a longshot to qualify for the Montreal Olympiad, he wanted to try. "We knew it was an uphill battle," Borozzi said. "The high was making the team." After an elaborate tryout process, Borozzi was one of several collegiate players selected to represent the United States. The U.S. played home and away series against several North American teams, all of whom were chasing a single berth in the Games for the region. However, as in past years, Mexico was too strong for the rest of the North American field. It was the Mexicans who emerged as the best team in the region and who traveled to Canada in 1976. Much of the American downfall can be attributed to serious disorganization within the team. Shortly before the qualifying tournament for the Olympics began, the American coach was fired and replaced by Detmer Kramer of Germany. Kramer overhauled the team, getting rid of most of the collegiate players and replacing them with players from the North American Soccer League. Borozzi was able to continue playing until he missed one game against Bermuda. After that he was not invited to continue playing on the U.S. squad. As a student at Penn, Borozzi was forced to miss many of his classes and pay his own way onto the Olympic team. He petitioned the University for financial assistance, but was denied and forced to support himself. He saved money by hitchhiking to tryouts until he made the team. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of traveling so frequently, Borozzi never finished his academic career at Penn. He dropped out in 1976, during his senior year, and did not complete his degree until 1988, when he graduated from Towson State. "I was no great student and it was difficult being away for a week here and a week there," Borozzi said. After Borozzi's stint with the Olympic team and his time at Penn, he went on to play professionally for 4 years in the NASL. That made him one of few American nationals to make an impact in the league during its heyday of the 1970s, when international superstars like Pele and Johan Cruyff were plying their trade in the United States. Borozzi's resume also includes one year playing indoor soccer, as well as managing a pro team in the NASL before the league folded in 1984. Currently he is the Marketing Director for the Columbus Crew, one of the ten teams in the newly formed Major League Soccer. He must be doing something right in Ohio, since the Crew have regularly been playing to crowds of 20,000 or more. As the United States has become more of a threat on the international soccer scene, Penn has declined as a national power. The Quakers were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in the early 1970s and drew more fans than any other college to playoff soccer matches at Franklin Field during Borozzi's freshman campaign of 1972. But by his senior year the Quakers had fallen out of the top 20 and have never regained the powerhouse status they once enjoyed. Although the Quakers are experiencing soccer difficulties at present, the U.S. national soccer scene is growing by leaps and bounds. And although Borozzi may not have fully realized his Olympic dream in 1976, he is still a large part of the soccer world today.
(06/20/96 9:00am)
Provost Stanley Chodorow has announced that Gary Hack as the new dean of the Graduate School of Fine Arts. Hack will replace interim dean, Malcolm Campbell on July 1. Hack is currently a professor of urban design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also an active member of Carr, Lynch, Hack and Sandell, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Hack has the background in architecture and city planning necessary for the Penn Graduate School of Fine Arts, which specializes largely in these areas," Campbell said. Campbell also added that Hack's professional experience will play an integral role in the position. Hack completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture at the University of Manitoba and the University of Illinois. In addition, he has a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in the same area from MIT. Hack also boasts an impressive professional experience. He has worked on the West Side Highway and Development and Development Plan (Westway) in New York City, the Urban Design Plan for the North Central Expressway in Dallas, and numerous projects in the Boston area. He is currently working on design plans for projects in Tokyo, Taipei and Bangkok. "Gary Hack is well grounded in both the world of practice and academia," University President Judith Rodin said in a statement released by the department of News and Public Affairs. "He is a teacher and practitioner who continually thinks about how theory and practice inform each other." Hack's administrative experience includes working as Director General of the Ministry of Urban Affairs in Ottawa, Canada during the years 1975-78 and as head of the department of urban studies and planning at MIT, from 1982-86. Hack is currently working on a project in Bangkok and was not available for comment. Campbell said he is planning an early retirement in order to work in Rome. There, he will be involved in a 1997 exhibit of eighteenth century art. Campbell has been at Penn since 1961 as a part of the Art History Department at the School of Arts and Sciences, and has served as the interim dean of the Graduate School of Fine Arts since last October. He called on his time as interim dean of the school as "challenging and wonderful". Campbell said he is happy about the appointment. "Hack is the right person, at the right time, in the right place," he said. "He is just what the school needs to get ready for the twenty-first century". The Graduate School of Fine Arts is made up of four departments -- architecture, city and regional planning, fine arts, and landscape architecture and regional planning. 500 full-time and 300 part-time students attend the school.
(04/18/96 9:00am)
Cutting-edge Macintosh computers sat on tables normally covered with food at Chats yesterday, as students sipped free coffee, surfed the World Wide Web and played computer games at the Internet Cafe. Apple Computers, Chats and The Book Store's Computer Connection sponsored the Internet Cafe in order to educate students about Internet technology and advertise the latest Apple computers. Apple student representative Jason Pareti, an Engineering sophomore, roamed Chats throughout the afternoon, helping students use innovative new technology like video conferencing. Apple representative Richard Dennison explained that video conferencing was created for medical purposes, but has since been utilized for social and educational purposes. "It enables you to video conference over the Internet [in] real time, sound and video," Dennison said. "It also works over modems for Macs and PCs." Dennison added that this video chat room is worldwide and can easily link countries such as Israel, Canada, Japan and Brazil. Karl Kinscherf, Apple's higher education account executive for the University, said the Internet Cafe is a national promotion which is tailored for individual universities. The sponsors carried out the cafe theme with menus listing Web sites of interest under the categories of "Appetizers," "Desserts" and "Entrees." "We wanted some fun but also creative stuff," Kinscherf said. He added that the Computer Connection, Career Planning and Placement Service and the Philadelphia Museum of Art were among the links on the Internet Cafe's Web site geared for Penn. "At the University of Maine, we had different links on our menu and home page," Kinscherf said. "For example, instead of J. Crew, we had the home page for L.L. Bean." Engineering freshman Ron Hung happened to spot the event while walking by Chats yesterday. "[The] Internet is very important to our lives -- this kind of promotion is good and informative," Hung said. Hung added that while he has a PC and finds them more user-friendly than Macintosh computers, he thinks that "the technology is cool." "PCs really don't have this kind of campus promotion," Hung said. "I think Mac is getting bigger and bigger." College junior Jessica Toney noted that the University's campus seems to be "very computer-oriented." "A lot of people learn something like e-mail here and want to go out on the Web," Toney said. "We're trying to show them what's available." Toney and Pareti were responsible for modifying the Internet Cafe home page for the University. Kinscherf expressed his hope that the Internet Cafe would increase student traffic in the Computer Connection. "If you think about it, right now is a good time to buy," Kinscherf said. "Especially for seniors, it's the last time they can really save before they go off campus and lose the opportunity for special prices," he added. But College senior Justin Shreve disagreed. "It's a little late in the year for this," Shreve said. "No one will be looking to buy a computer now." Dining Services Marketing and Meal Contract Director Adam Sherr said his department was looking to increase student use of Chats by sponsoring the event. "I would define it as successful if people go and enjoy themselves and also if they get a larger awareness of Chats as a place to go for lunch and late-night dining," said Sherr.
(04/17/96 9:00am)
Over a dining hall lunch of cheesesteaks, caesar salad and chocolate cake, high school college counselors from across the U.S. and Canada met with students last Friday to discuss life at Penn. The lunch was part of an all-expenses-paid weekend sponsored by the Admissions Office to give 30 counselors a close look at the University in hopes that they will encourage high school students to apply here. "Penn is an unknown quantity where I'm from," said Dick Palmer, a counselor at Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the lunch at 1920 Commons, students and counselors talked about classes, social life and where to get the best cheesesteaks. "I like Billybob's instead of Abner's," Wharton freshman Paul Tang told counselors. The Admissions Office tried to match counselors with students that either attended the counselors' high schools or were from the general area. "We contacted those students to share their experiences with their counselors," said Wharton freshman Tom Gourley, who works in the Admissions Office. Last year, counselors from Europe participated in the weekend program. Stetson added that next year the Admissions Office plans to invite counselors from Asia. Admissions staffers planned a series of events to keep the counselors occupied during their time on campus. After arriving on Thursday evening, the visiting counselors were greeted by Admissions officers at the Sheraton Hotel and attended a Pennsylvania 6-5000 concert. "I was able to not only get acquainted with the campus but with the students," Phyllis Schrag, a counselor from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said following a tour of campus on Friday morning. After Friday's dining hall lunch, counselors sat in on different classes and attended a mock Admissions selection committee meeting. A student panel in the Quadrangle was also organized to give the counselors another opportunity to meet with students on Saturday morning. Admissions officers then escorted the counselors on a tour of Philadelphia's sights that ended with dinner and a movie at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. Many counselors indicated that they came away from the weekend with a very favorable impression of Penn. San Francisco University High School counselor Christiane Neuville said she enjoys seeing various East Coast college campuses because the first-hand experience allows her to describe a school to her students better. "I like to go to the book store to see what the students are reading in their free time," she said. "It reflects a lot about the intellectual level of the students." Gourley said this weekend allowed counselors to experience Penn instead of just reading about the University in a brochure. "I think overall, they had a good representation of what Penn was like," Tang said.
(04/10/96 9:00am)
Penn Singers will pay tribute to its founder and director Bruce Montgomery this weekend as they perform his light opera Sprindrift. "Monte started Penn Singers 25 years ago as a light opera company and this being the 25th anniversary, we want to honor him by doing a show that he wrote all the music and lyrics for," said student director Eric Schinfeld, a College freshman. Montgomery wrote Sprindrift during the summer of 1962 when he was living in Canada. He encountered a copy of Irish playwright John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea and fell in love with the work. It inspired him to write Spindrift, which is based loosely on Synge's play. Sprindrift has only been performed twice before, once in 1963 by Penn Players and once in 1981 by the Penn Singers. Nursing sophomore Bonnie Renner explained that the members of Penn Singers decided to do this show last year. "We wouldn't have done Sprindrift just to honor Monte if we didn't think his work was an amazing show," she said. Penn Singers President and College senior Alexis Bennett stressed the important role that Montgomery has played for the group. "What he means to Penn Singers is 25 years of dedication -- usually every spring we do a Gilbert and Sullivan light opera, but we chose to do his show," she said. Rehearsal conductor and College junior Daniel Gorelick-Feldman, who is playing the lead in the show, explained that "it is great to do an original show because the cast can perform new music that the audience has never heard before. "It's a great thrill to work with the writer of the music as the conductor and director," he added. College freshman Deborah Sager agreed, adding that Montgomery is "amazing and talented in all artistic areas." Montgomery said he was delighted that Penn Singers chose to perform his opera. "I couldn't possibly be more thrilled that they chose to celebrate their 25th anniversary with my work," he said. Schinfeld added that the show is obviously important to Montgomery. "The show is a part of him," he said. "And to have it done is great for him and the actors and singers in it because we got to experience the genius that this great man has to offer." Alumni from the past two years' casts will be attending the show, which will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Zellerbach Theatre, according to Bennett.
(04/09/96 9:00am)
From Jorie Green's "Sauce on the Side," Fall '96 From Jorie Green's "Sauce on the Side," Fall '96A drug test for a government job shouldn'tFrom Jorie Green's "Sauce on the Side," Fall '96A drug test for a government job shouldn'tbe a big deal-unless Big Sister's watching. From Jorie Green's "Sauce on the Side," Fall '96A drug test for a government job shouldn'tbe a big deal-unless Big Sister's watching.I don't get embarrassed easily, mainly because I am insensitive enough to be amused by things that would make the average person blush, squirm and hop on the next plane to Canada. So why should I be made to feel uncomfortable by the fact that an entire touring group of prospective Campus Apartments tenants overheard my most passionate rendition of Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" when I thought I was alone in my suite? In fact, this little oopsy-daisy brought me closer to my dream of emulating boob-tube extraordinaires such as Family Matters' Erkel and Saved By the Bell's Screech and that really dumb girl on... oh, what is the name of that show? Well, I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about. My immunity to humiliation has given me a sort of tough girl reputation on campus, if you can believe it -- and you probably can't. Well, OK, maybe not tough girl. Maybe rough girl? Okay, oblivious girl. I guess that works. People really started to get impressed after that infamous episode of the Summer of '95, which I think may have made the local news. On the morning of this memorable incident, I had decided to put on a pretty new sundress that seemed perfectly innocent in the shop, but turned out to be about as transparent as a contact lens. (I guess that's what you get for shopping at a store called The Pleasure Chest). As I walked to work, I had no idea why cars kept crashing into each other, or why this guy handing out free samples of cereal chased me six blocks just to give me a box of Oatmeal Raisin Crunch. (I'd told him several times that I was a jam-and-toast kind of gal, but he just didn't get it.) It was not until I came into the office and my boss offered me a raise that I began to get suspicious (considering that I was an unpaid intern), so I asked a friendly co-worker if anything was wrong. "Nice Wonderbra," she replied. When I tell friends about this little fabric faux pas, they are always amazed by my nonchalance. "You didn't blush? You didn't cringe? You didn't hop on the next plane to Canada?" No, I tell them, it takes a lot more than unintended nudity to drive me out of this wonderful land of spacious skies and amber waves of grain. It wasn't until a sweet-faced old lady in a lab coat asked if she could watch me pee into a cup that I began to crave such un-American things as free health care and Quebe_ois. "You want me to do what?" I asked, so loudly that all of the other prospective government employees in the waiting room looked up at me and stared. A kindly postal-worker-to-be explained that it was the woman's job to witness her patients engaging in the most "unmentionable acts." Unmentionable? I glanced around to make sure I hadn't gone to the wrong clinic. But there were no signs for "Sexual Deviants Anonymous." The postal worker-to-be said that was, as I'd suspected, located on the second floor above a South Street leather goods store. Oh, I was in the right place, all right, the Industrial Testing Center. I was waiting to take a drug test so that I could begin an I-need-cash-for-graduate-school stint in a federal agency. I knew that I would be expected to do my business on command, but I did not anticipate this grandmotherly type watching the transaction. "Government procedure," she snarled, as she followed me into the stall, adjusted her glasses and commanded me to "Drop 'em." After a few shots of a tranquilizing gun, the nurse was finally able to induce me to let go of my modesty -- and my drawers. (My goodness, this is starting to sound like someone's post-frat party confession!) But then I experienced what a certain population of the males in our species like to label "performance anxiety." And I was outraged. Me, Jorie "Grain-of-Sand-Sized-Bladder" Green, unable to pee. The very idea defied the laws of nature. Wasn't I the one who, in fourth grade, had to ask the school bus driver to pull over to the side of the road because I couldn't wait another five minutes until we got to my house? Do I not keep a computer data base of the exact location of the ladies' room at every fine restaurant and department store in town? Have I not from time to time gleefully resorted to port-a-potties, buckets in the trunk and the women's bathroom at the Market Street train station, rather than deal with that oh-so-painful wait for relief? I looked at the nurse, who much like the Oatmeal Raisin Crunch boy last summer, had her eyes transfixed on a most personal part of my body. "What are you waiting for?" she barked. "About 12 Diet Cokes." Well, it turned out that the last prospective government employee had used up the Newmann Medical Center's supply of Diet Coke, but I was able to make do with about a gallon of orange drink from the hospital cafeteria and a therapy session with the resident shrink, Dr. Leek, who was able to bring me back to my pre-potty-training days through some skillful hypnosis. And now, as I write this column from the lovely city of Toronto, I can only offer others who may want to work for Uncle Sam two words of advice: practice beforehand. Oh -- and make sure that before you leave the clinic, Dr. Leek brings you back to your post-potty-training days. If you want a real test for your threshold of embarrassment, trying standing in a long line at the campus CVS with a box of Depends in your hand.
(02/28/96 10:00am)
Could make area safer University officials met last week with Center City District leaders to discuss implementing a program of special community services for University City. The meeting, organized by Executive Vice President John Fry, focused on what the CCD is doing to make Center City cleaner, safer and more attractive. Paul Levy, head of the CCD, explained that the district was created by a Pennsylvania law that allows for the taxation of businesses within the region. In return, the district is provided with an extra level of service. "The University has demonstrated a strong interest in looking into tools that improve the area surrounding the University," Levy said. Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman said the program might be applicable to the University and its surrounding community. "The CCD is doing something very useful," she said. "We want to know which programs might apply to our area." More than 2,000 property owners, commercial tenants and employers in Center City created the district, which is a private sector organization, in 1990. The organization aims to maintain its district's competitive edge as a regional employment center and a primary tourist destination. Property owners agreed to fund the CCD through assessments, equal to five percent of a property's real estate tax bill, paid directly to the CCD. The district serves an 80-block area, extending from the Liberty Bell to 30th Street Station. Levy said the organization has helped to remove graffiti from the downtown area completely and reduce crime by 23 percent. Services offered by the CCD include a police sub-station, special trash pick ups, sidewalk cleanings, street paving and additional lighting. At first, some were reluctant to pay for services that many considered to be responsibilities of the city, Scheman said. "They have learned that the services improve street life, safety and night life," she said. "We're interested in how they have been successful. "Some graduate students might choose to live in Center City because of the services," Scheman added. "But the University is a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour community. I would like them to live here." In addition, distinctly uniformed Community Service Representatives patrol downtown on foot as additional watchdogs for the police and as ambassadors to welcome visitors, workers and residents to the city. The CSRs also are trained to deter panhandling and provide daytime outreach services to homeless persons. "When they began the district, they did not intend to deal with homelessness," Scheman said. "They quickly discovered that they needed to. Our people have talked with their people to see what has worked." The organization began a campaign discouraging hand-outs of money. Instead, they encouraged people to donate money to organizations that gives food to the homeless. The South Street District, created three years ago, also provides services between Front and 9th streets. Levy said that most other American cities have districts similar to those in Philadelphia. More than 1,000 business improvement districts exist in the United States and Canada, Levy said. "It is a growing international phenomenon," she said.
(02/13/96 10:00am)
To the Editor: Let's face it: none of the arts at Penn enjoys unlimited access to modern, well-equipped facilities. The departments of Fine Arts and Music struggle daily with the challenges of maintaining degree-granting programs in buildings that -- as at many universities today -- are crumbling. Fortunately for Penn, the Annenberg School for Communication has space that makes it possible to accept an extraordinarily generous endowment for the purpose of enabling Ivy League graduates to aspire to the highest calling for which their privileged educations prepare them: the betterment of society through enlightened public policy. The first effort of the Annenberg Public Policy Center was a year-long (1994-95) series of conferences on "Women in the Public Sphere" -- not an irrelevant topic at a university where about half of the undergraduates are women. At the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Annenberg funding was used to assemble 34 of the most prominent women in architecture, a field where women's contributions, as elsewhere, have long been overlooked. The GSFA conference not only gave students -- men and women -- the rare opportunity to design and construct an exciting environment for an event reported by all major publications in the field, but also exposed students (many for the first time) to role models for their own careers. The conference, which was attended by more than 400 people -- mostly students from Penn, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and as far away as California, Canada and Australia -- also put this university in touch with peer institutions around the world. Moreover, it spawned a book on women's roles in shaping the built environment and a course open to qualifying students throughout the university. Multiply that experience by the number of Penn schools that participated in "Women in the Public Sphere" and you begin to see why the current trade-off, while not ideal, is far from unintelligent or "undeserving." Meanwhile, the Perelman Quad and Addams Fine Arts Hall will provide much improved space for everyone. Patricia Conway Architecture Professor Past Dean, Graduate School of Fine Arts ROTC far from simple To the Editor: I was sorry to read that Paul Lukasiak sees ROTC and its presence on campus as an "issue [that] is simple" ("End ROTC participation," DP, 2/7/96). Unfortunately the issue is not so simple, nor is any issue involving perceived discrimination. He should be intelligent enough to realize that grey areas do exist, otherwise life would be fairly simple, wouldn't it? The Reserve Officers' Training Corps provides far more benefits than any possible harms that may be a result of the federal government's policy regarding homosexuals. It does not in any way promote "the spread of prejudice and hatred." It unites young men and women who have a love of country and yearning to lead others who have that same love. In a day and age where patriotism is something to be snickered at and shunned, it is refreshing and encouraging to find those who are not afraid to serve their country, and do so proudly. Furthermore, since the issue of discrimination comes from government policy, should not the University stop accepting federal grants, Stafford loans and any other form of federal funding? Is this what Lukasiak proposes as well? His flawed logic would seem to lead to this conclusion. ROTC needs to stay on this campus and on other campuses throughout the country if we are to have well-educated and well-trained leaders in the future. Matt Beliveau Army ROTC Wharton '97 n To the Editor: In speaking out against ROTC, Darin Weeks ("ROTC discriminates," DP, 2/8/96) and Paul Lukasiak ("End ROTC participation," DP, 2/7/96) manage to restate the obvious while avoiding larger questions. Weeks and Lukasiak indignantly declare that ROTC, and the military in general, discriminate, but this obvious point is not disputed by Gregory Saybolt and Kevin Osborne ("ROTC students react," DP, 2/5/96), who really make no effort to defend the systemic bias. What is up for debate at Penn is therefore not the policy itself, but rather the most effective location for action against it. As Weeks notes, the military will follow orders: if ordered by the president or by legislation to cease legal discrimination against homosexuals, the military will do so. So far, this order has not been forthcoming from our elected officeholders. It is interesting that none of the anti-ROTC correspondence seems at all concerned with how to end our national policy of discrimination, but instead only with how we at Penn will resolve our local moral problem by pushing ROTC off campus -- out of sight and out of mind. The reason for this is, of course, that the expulsion of ROTC from Penn will do absolutely nothing for the larger agenda: the military and general public would hardly notice an action affecting only about 100 people. Even if all private universities barred ROTC, state schools could easily fill the gap, and at a cheaper price to the taxpayer. With ROTC off campus, all American citizens at Penn would still be complicit in the discrimination that the law of the land permits in our armed forces. The military is, after all, not some foreign group imported from an alternate reality but a reflection of both the good and bad traits of our society. Instead of focusing on the conveniently located ROTC units, which are unable in any case to alter the federal policy independently, we should use our vote and our voice with our representatives to push for a national change. George Podolin Political Science graduate student Nadel's perceptive analysis To the Editor: I just wanted to applaud the commentary Mike Nadel gave in the DP last week on Judith Rodin ("The greatest star of all," DP, 2/7/96). I always thought there was something wrong with her, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She always struck me as being rather insubstantial. Nadel's column elegantly articulated everything that's wrong with our current president. Penn students aren't so stupid to think that pretty smiles and waves are going to cut it for being a good president. Only recently has Rodin been trying to make contact with students, but in my opinion her attempts were dismally unsuccessful. You can't get any solid answers from her. Quite the politician. Thank you so much for pointing out all the things you did. Everything's not as bright and sunny as Rodin would lead us to believe from her appearance. Keep up the critical eye and the good work. Gilbert Pajela Engineering '96 Crime reports still available To the editor: The story about changes to the police log book ("U. Police will not log crimes out of territory," DP, 2/9/96) contains an error that may mislead the University community about the availability of crime reports for areas outside the jurisdiction of Penn Police. Contrary to what the article states, crimes that occur outside Penn Police's patrol boundaries have not been printed in Almanac since May 1994. Anyone can find this out through a quick search of Almanac archives on the Penn home page. These reports can be found elsewhere on the World Wide Web, however. Philadelphia Police issues its own crime report that details all major crimes against persons that occur between the Schuylkill River and 49th Street, between Market Street and Woodland Avenue. This report had not been available to the Penn community for a year and a half until Penn Watch began publishing it on our home page last semester. To see the most current Penn and Philadelphia crime reports (and an archive of them from the beginning of last semester), point your Web browser to "http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~pwatch/". Our page also has a robbery report that breaks down robberies on a weekly basis, showing where and when they happen. These services are intended not to scare the Penn community, but rather to help everyone become more informed of what happens in it. Stephen Sanford Penn Watch Vice Chair for Information Management College '96 Chant was light-hearted To the Editor: I am responding to the letter "Unsportsmanlike conduct" (DP, 2/8/96), written by one Jeffrey Greenhouse. In his brilliant composition, Greenhouse whines about the crowd's "cheesesteak" chants during the Penn-Lehigh basketball game last Tuesday night. Hey Greenhouse, don't be a tool! My friends and I sit in the front row, and I can assure you that despite our jocular appeals for free Abner's steaks during a laugher of a game, we (as well as the rest of the crowd) are some of the most loyal and devoted fans the Palestra has ever seen. I resent your naive comments. I know your courseload in the Wharton School has been wearing you down over the last several years, but I think you should lighten up a bit. You should complain about the lack of fan turnout at recent games rather than criticize the real fans for what you believe to be unsupportive behavior. Mike Weinberg Engineering '96 Bias shows in cult article To the Editor: I was very disappointed with the article that appeared in your paper concerning the Greater Philadelphia Church of Christ ("Cult or Personality?," DP, 2/7/96). I have been a member of the GPCC for over two years. I am also a member of the Drexel student newspaper, The Triangle, and have been there for five years. I have learned through working with The Triangle what it takes to write good objective articles. What most concerned me was not that you published negative comments about my church, because I've gotten used to hearing comments taken out of context or from people who really don't know what they are talking about. But for the DP to publish an article written like this one was a mistake. It was very poorly written and one-sided. The writer had enough time to talk to former members and administrators, but only one member of the GPCC was quoted once and referred to one other time. Two members were interviewed for the story, yet only one was mentioned and very little of what he said appeared. Are you trying to create a controversy? Articles written about a "touchy" subject like this should be very fair if the DP is going to print them as news articles. Would you write an article on race relations at Penn and quote only whites on campus? In the future, I hope you would be more fair and actually do research for the articles you print instead of printing opinions of a select few who happen to yell loudest. Francis Wisniewski Drexel University senior
(12/06/95 10:00am)
It has nothing to do with NAFTA, but the Penn women's squash team is benefitting from a new import: freshman Jessica DiMauro. The native Canadian is making a mark early in her collegiate career. In fact, she is one of the favorites to win the intercollegiate tournament, and thus the national championship, in March. If the early match record -- 4-0 without losing a single game -- is any indication, DiMauro has a legitimate chance to take that title. Penn's number one player started playing at age 13, when she accompanied her father to his Toronto squash club. Eventually she gave the game a try, and she has not looked back since. Her first big win was the 1992 Canadian under-16 championship in Calgary. That victory earned DiMauro a place on the 1992 Canadian under-19 national squad, meaning she was one of eight players eligible to be chosen for four spots at the next year's World Championships. Her trip to those 1993 World Championships in Malaysia is just one of many instances in which DiMauro has travelled abroad. Her list of foreign locales includes Australia, Great Britain and Singapore. The travel to various competitions cut into attendance at her Catholic high school in suburban Toronto. "My teacher once asked if I was still enrolled in school," DiMauro said sheepishly. She may have missed four full weeks of class this past spring, but her grades could not have suffered too much. When it came time to apply to schools, DiMauro had only Penn, Brown, and Toronto on her list. She chose to be a Quaker partially because of the Hunter Lott tournament, held annually at the Ringe Courts, in which DiMauro first played two years ago. That tourney is the U.S. Open of junior squash, and DiMauro won it twice. "When I came to the first Hunter Lott, I met Demer [Holleran, the Quakers' coach]. I started talking to her. We didn't talk that much that year, since I was a junior in high school," DiMauro said. Eventually, the promising international player was persuaded that Penn was the best place for her. She cites such factors as the cohesion between the men's and women's teams and the opportunity to work with the two Quakers coaches. Both Holleran and men's coach Ned Edwards are accomplished international players. American universities also take sports, squash included, much more seriously than their counterparts to the north. "On the recruit trip, I realized sports was so important here. During one of the team's matches I saw how exciting it was," she said. Now that DiMauro has entrenched herself in the Quakers squad, it is worth considering what makes her so good. She hardly projects the image of a championship athlete off of the court, but once on it she exudes class, frequently dominating the very best that the opposition has to offer. "I think I'm more aggressive than most girls. I change my game more -- play different short shots, be a little risky," DiMauro said. Her teammates think there may be more to it than just strategy. "It's not only being aggressive, it's being a smart player," senior Lissa Hunsicker said. "She anticipates perfectly." Once the team season ends, DiMauro will have the individual championships to concentrate on. Winning a 32-player event will require a superlative effort, even for a favored player. She will need to avoid injuries, which may be her one weakness. Past ailments include a torn quadricep muscle and missing teeth from being on the wrong end of a squash racquet. "She has a very good chance, skill-wise?It's certainly a good goal," Penn coach Holleran said. Before her time at Penn has passed, DiMauro is sure to make many contributions to the women's squash program on the court. But she could make an even bigger one off the court, in the role of unofficial recruiter for the province of Ontario. "There's a girl who applied early this year who's pretty good. I've got another girl coming to Hunter Lott for next year. She's really interested," DiMauro said. Having one of the top young Canadians on the team has put Penn on the map in Canada, to say nothing of the States. Although DiMauro is the best player on the team, she is by no means the only contributing newcomer. Those freshmen are forming the core of the 6-0 squad, and that's what is really exciting. "The team has a lot of spirit -- we do have a shot at finishing in the top five [in the country]. Penn is supposed to make the biggest jump, from ninth to sixth. Instead we could go ninth to third or possibly second," DiMauro said.
(11/29/95 10:00am)
and Peter Morrison The International Affairs Association overspent $305.61 in Student Activities Council money on long-distance telephone calls, including at least $33.79 in calls to the family and friends of IAA board members, a Daily Pennsylvanian investigation of IAA expenditures revealed. Last spring, the IAA requested $25 in SAC funding per month for 12 months of long-distance phone calls during 1994 and 1995. SAC refused to pay for calls made during the summer and allocated the group only eight months of calls at $25 per month, for a total of $200. The IAA actually spent $505.61 on long-distance phone calls, including calls during late May, June, July and August, according to public records and Penntrex phone bills obtained from the Office of Student Life. That amounts to $42.13 a month for 12 months, well above the $25 a month allocated for only eight months. The group spent $117.05 in September, $183.38 in October, and $88.59 in November 1994. SAC paid for all of these telephone calls under the broad budget category of "Office Expenses," according to OSL records. IAA President and College senior Brendan Cahill said when the IAA plans conferences for its model United Nations program it is difficult to predict how much long-distance calling will be necessary to coordinate the meetings. He added that calls were made during the summer by the group's secretary general in preparation for a conference at the University in November. Cahill denied that any IAA board members placed personal phone calls from the group's office. "The IAA office phone is only used for conference business," Cahill said. "Only IAA board members have keys to the office and those people are responsible. We regulate [the office] because we take it very seriously." But the phone statements show IAA board member Tony Huang, a Wharton junior, made at least 10 phone calls to his parents and girlfriend in San Jose, Calif. last year. Huang made five calls to his girlfriend in September and October 1994 which totaled 263 minutes and cost more than $28. This includes two calls that lasted 100 minutes and 80 minutes each. Huang also made at least $5 worth of phone calls to his parents on the IAA's bill. Cahill said Huang's girlfriend worked on a committee to organize Penn's model U.N. conference and that may be why Huang called her. Cahill himself also made at least two calls to his parents' house in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and IAA board member Josh Wolson, a College senior, called his parents' home in Allentown, Pa. on at least one occasion. Other questionable charges on the phone bills include a series of calls to Quebec, Canada, and at least one call to Paris, France. The call to Paris was placed on May 23 at 12:22 a.m. EST -- 6:22 a.m. Paris time -- and lasted 13 minutes. It cost SAC $6.43. Cahill said the IAA was calling to invite a university in Paris to a conference, but that the university's delegation was never able to attend. "My opinion is that I and my fellow board members take these operations, student money and our jobs very seriously," Cahill said. "I would give them the benefit of the doubt." SAC Steering Chairperson Graham Robinson, a College senior, said he was "surprised an organization of [the IAA's] size would do something like that because they could easily afford to be careful." "Everything about that is wrong," Robinson said. "I'm very skeptical they would be able to respond that in any way that would explain it." Editor's Note: Peter Morrison is editorial page editor of the DP and will not participate in any potential editorials on this topic.
(11/21/95 10:00am)
A 9-0 whitewashing of CornellA 9-0 whitewashing of Cornellwas expected, but the QuakersA 9-0 whitewashing of Cornellwas expected, but the Quakerswere pleased with their firstA 9-0 whitewashing of Cornellwas expected, but the Quakerswere pleased with their firstwin over Western Ontario inA 9-0 whitewashing of Cornellwas expected, but the Quakerswere pleased with their firstwin over Western Ontario in15 years.A 9-0 whitewashing of Cornellwas expected, but the Quakerswere pleased with their firstwin over Western Ontario in15 years.________________________________ The men's squash team opened its season on a high note by winning two contests against Cornell and Western Ontario. The Quakers' 6-3 win over Canada's Western Ontario was especially gratifying because Penn has been unable to defeat the team in the last 15 years. The Quakers finished two places behind Western Ontario, at fifth, at last year's season-ending North American championships. Both coach Ned Edwards and senior co-captain Andrew Braff expected tougher competition. "We played really well," Braff said. "They weren't as strong as last year, but it was a good, nice win?It was a great victory but the significance of it didn't really sink in until that night." In the past, players who had to win did not always come through. But Saturday, everyone who had to win did, including senior co-captain Craig Rappaport. The player who had the stand-out match of the day was Carl Sibben, who played fourth and won a crucial match that tied the Quakers at two games apiece and helped propel them to victory. "I'm really pleased with these guys, who played extremely well with clearness and clarity that they lacked at times last year," Edwards said. Cornell, as expected, did not pose a problem for the Quakers, who handily won 9-0 in the first match of the day. "These wins," Edwards said, "give us confidence that if we continue along this path then we will have a great season." Penn has an extremely talented team this year with four seniors returning. Senior co-captains Braff and Rappaport were all-Americans last year, and the Quakers have added a new number one player, freshman Shams Mistry from Pakistan. "He is an extremely strong player and he gives the people playing behind him more incentive," Edwards said. The Quakers hope to continue to play on the high level they exhibited Saturday. They will now turn their attention to upcoming matches against Trinity, Franklin & Marshall, Williams and Amherst, who are all extremely competitive teams, with Amherst likely to provide the toughest competition. The Quakers believe that if they can keep their intensity up and win these upcoming matches, they have a strong shot at finishing in the top three nationally this season.
(11/21/95 10:00am)
Four Cornell University freshmen wrote an e-mail entitled "75 reasons why women should not have freedom of speech" last month. They sent the list -- which they said was intended to be a joke -- to 20 of their friends, who then passed it on to many other people throughout the United States and Canada. Cornell officials debated citing the students under the school's Code of Conduct, but decided that the freshmen did not violate the code, especially given their rights to freedom of speech. Instead, the four students will have to do 50 hours of community service, attend a "Sex at 7:00" health education program and apologize personally to a group of senior Cornell administrators. But Penn Data Communications and Computing Services Executive Director Dan Updegrove said he was surprised the students received any punishment at all. "It's hard for me to imagine taking any action at all against the authors," he said yesterday. "We have seen some cases that are substantially more egregious that have been judged to be free speech." The e-mail included lines such as "If she can't speak, she can't cry rape" and "Of course, if she can't speak, she can't say 'no.' " According to a statement released by Cornell Judicial Administrator Barbara Krause, her office received "many complaints" about the e-mail message. She added, however, that since Cornell does not have "a hate speech code," the students could only be prosecuted under the Code of Conduct if they engaged in sexual harassment or misused computer resources. Neither situation was proven in this case, according to Krause. "Although I do not find a violation of the Campus Code of Conduct based upon the facts in this case, the students themselves recognize that they have caused great anger and hurt to many people," Krause said in the statement. "They deeply regret their actions and want to begin the process of restoring their reputations and the community's confidence in them." The four students wrote a letter of apology published in the Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell's student newspaper. In the letter, the students said they "had no idea that [they] were really being taken seriously and seriously offending people." "We are not trying to blame anything on society, we just wish to convey to you that we never meant any of the things we wrote," they wrote. "All we can do is take responsibility for our stupid actions, and hope that everyone who reads our list and this can have an open mind and accept our deepest apology." Updegrove said no policy is currently in place for dealing with controversial and offensive e-mail at the University. "I think that most university administrators agree that the solution to speech is more speech," Updegrove added."If no one ever said anything, e-mailed anything or posted anything that they thought might offend any part of the population, there wouldn't be a whole lot of discourse."
(11/07/95 10:00am)
Gisela Samudio, a Panamanian woman of 26, was diagnosed with a rare bone disease 12 years ago. Despite her condition, she runs her own business selling clothes. Samudio suffers from fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, an illness which has rendered her jaw, neck, spine, right elbow, right hip and right leg immobile. From a simple wisdom tooth surgery, her jaw muscle turned to bone. "You can move a part of your body easily one day and eventually it reaches a point where you can't move it anymore," Samudio said at a symposium on the disease sponsored by the Medical School last week. There are only 200 cases in the world like Samudio's -- 90 of which have been diagnosed in the United States. And University physicians care for nearly all of the patients in the U.S. who suffer from the crippling disease. The Department of Orthopedic Surgery is also the only department in the world searching for the cause and cure for the disease. "Penn became involved because two physicians working in very different areas wanted to use their separate experiences to help the children they had seen with this devastating disease that imprisons people in their own bodies," said Fredrick Kaplan, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "We decided to come together and commit our energy and expertise into an area which was void of basic and clinical research." Two 13-year-old girls at the symposium were diagnosed with the illness at age three. Neither of their cases is as serious as Samudio's, who is bound to a wheelchair. The girls are able to walk on their own and participate in most recreational activities -- excluding gymnastics and other physically demanding sports. One of the girls, Ashley Kurpiel from Georgia, did not, in contrast to Samudio, have to re-learn how to do ordinary tasks. But the everyday tasks she does partake in are often difficult. She has problems with everything from raising her hand in class to getting dressed and reaching for her breakfast dishes each morning. Because of the rareness of the bone disease, Kurpiel has encountered challenges in the hospital itself. As a baby, she was misdiagnosed as having cancer and consequently had her entire left shoulder and arm removed unnecessarily. "Sometimes when I look at someone with two arms I say to myself, 'I wish I had two arms,' " she said. Kurpiel and the other 13-year-old girl at the symposium, Marin Wallace from Southern Ontario, Canada, said they have managed to thrive in spite of their conditions because of the power of positive thinking. "When you think about it, you get sort of depressed," Wallace said. "You learn to live with it. You have to." Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is characterized by excessive and uncontrolled bone growth. It is called the "stone man's disease" muscles, tendons and connective tissues actually transform into bone which cannot move. The disease is caused by a genetic defect that is detectable during infancy, and eventually cripples the entire body. Patients from around the world, their families and scientists gathered at the conference to exchange information about the disease. "You have to adjust yourself to many things," Samudio said. "I had to change from being right-handed to left-handed." "You deal with what you got," she added. "If you receive lemons, make lemonade and always try your best."
(11/03/95 10:00am)
From Rob Faunce's "Quoi d'ever" Fall '1995 From Rob Faunce's "Quoi d'ever" Fall '1995I am giving up men. I've had it; men are boorish, loudmouthed, selfish irritants who wouldn't know how to treat me even if I was shaped like a Heineken (and don't get me started about beer cans)! I sympathize with the plight of my female sisters who have spent decades primping and plucking and perfecting themselves in order to look good for some testosterone-laden malcontent who feels "oppressed" because Monday Night Football is only on Monday nights. I am sick of men who want "space" but then want to inhibit you once more as soon as you move on. Two words: go away. I am sick of men who live only for the next night's plaything, never even stopping to ask your name or waist size on the way out the door. Three more words: that was it? I am sick of men who pretend that they don't understand Alanis Morrisette (and speaking of her, did you know that she used to be the Debbie Gibson of Canada? You must wonder if some scumbag put one hand in her pocket once too often. Shake your love!)? I am sick of men who want to dominate you simply to show their authoritative drive, but who are weak and unable to finish the job they started. I am sick of men. So what is a gay man to do? Maybe I will become a priest, and devote myself to the glorification and beautification of God's kingdom. The pay is good, the parish gives you a groovy car, and how can you argue with that wardrobe. Like Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, I was made to wear cardinal red. And unlike Richard Chamberlain, I can keep my hands off Rachel Ward. Alas, the problem is not Rachel Ward, but Scott Ward?so alas, it seems that the priesthood is not a place for me to hide from men. Perhaps I could marry a (gasp) woman! It's been done before. Many gay men have married perfectly lovely women (usually named Ellen) for less noble reasons than my own. I could be a good provider, considering that as a gay man, I make an average of 8 percent more than the average heteroman. And our home will benefit from my highly stylized sense of drama and fashion; Laura Ashley will wish she'd never heard of suburbia! Yes, I think I wish to marry. And this woman could use my wardrobe advice (not to mention some VO5 hot oil help, but one trouble area at a time). Her name is Courtney. Courtney Love. And I will love her, and cherish her, and ache like she's ached. What is it about Courtney that so sets ablaze my infernal fires of desire? Is it her moplike hair? Her wailing, screeching voice? Her moaning, groaning pants of hunger and vulgarity? God, yeah. She's everything I could ever hope for in a spouse: domesticity, passion, verve for life, open tolerance of sexuality (oh yeah, as if Kurt wasn't boinking Stipe!), and even a ready-made child with an adorable name? However, she lacks the one thing vital to me, the one thing that makes me tolerate men and their ridiculous thoughts. It's a penis. Say the word. Don't be shy. It's why we all come back to those Rolling Rock retards anyhow. No matter how hard we resist. No matter how hard we try to get away. We love men. And their earnings potential. That may seem really cold, but when push comes to shove?it comes down to that inextricable piece of anatomy. No matter how much complaining I may do about men, or how much I love every woman in my life, I'll always come back to the men who bring me comfort and pleasure, even if they bring me grief and agony along the way. No matter how you slice it, men can always be a great source of delight and amazement. I may have started this day irritated at all men for being men, but when you boil down all the issues, me and Alanis still end up with our man at day's end (though I get him before she does). We complain and fuss and get perturbed at the men in our lives, because that is how it is and how it will be. We will always be what we are by nature. So, stand by your man! Give him some rope to hang himself with, and go from there?he can't help but be a man, so be patient and stand firm.
(11/03/95 10:00am)
From Rob Faunce's "Quoi d'ever," Fall '95 From Rob Faunce's "Quoi d'ever," Fall '95I am giving up men. I've had it; men are boorish, loudmouthed, selfish irritants who wouldn't know how to treat me even if I was shaped like a Heineken (and don't get me started about beer cans)! I sympathize with the plight of my female sisters who have spent decades primping and plucking and perfecting themselves in order to look good for some testosterone-laden malcontent who feels "oppressed" because Monday Night Football is only on Monday nights. I am sick of men who want "space" but then want to inhibit you once more as soon as you move on. Two words: go away. I am sick of men who live only for the next night's plaything, never even stopping to ask your name or waist size on the way out the door. Three more words: that was it? I am sick of men who pretend that they don't understand Alanis Morrisette (and speaking of her, did you know that she used to be the Debbie Gibson of Canada? You must wonder if some scumbag put one hand in her pocket once too often. Shake your love!)? I am sick of men who want to dominate you simply to show their authoritative drive, but who are weak and unable to finish the job they started. I am sick of men. So what is a gay man to do? Maybe I will become a priest, and devote myself to the glorification and beautification of God's kingdom. The pay is good, the parish gives you a groovy car, and how can you argue with that wardrobe. Like Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, I was made to wear cardinal red. And unlike Richard Chamberlain, I can keep my hands off Rachel Ward. Alas, the problem is not Rachel Ward, but Scott Ward?so alas, it seems that the priesthood is not a place for me to hide from men. Perhaps I could marry a (gasp) woman! It's been done before. Many gay men have married perfectly lovely women (usually named Ellen) for less noble reasons than my own. I could be a good provider, considering that as a gay man, I make an average of 8 percent more than the average heteroman. And our home will benefit from my highly stylized sense of drama and fashion; Laura Ashley will wish she'd never heard of suburbia! Yes, I think I wish to marry. And this woman could use my wardrobe advice (not to mention some VO5 hot oil help, but one trouble area at a time). Her name is Courtney. Courtney Love. And I will love her, and cherish her, and ache like she's ached. What is it about Courtney that so sets ablaze my infernal fires of desire? Is it her moplike hair? Her wailing, screeching voice? Her moaning, groaning pants of hunger and vulgarity? God, yeah. She's everything I could ever hope for in a spouse: domesticity, passion, verve for life, open tolerance of sexuality (oh yeah, as if Kurt wasn't boinking Stipe!), and even a ready-made child with an adorable name? However, she lacks the one thing vital to me, the one thing that makes me tolerate men and their ridiculous thoughts. It's a penis. Say the word. Don't be shy. It's why we all come back to those Rolling Rock retards anyhow. No matter how hard we resist. No matter how hard we try to get away. We love men. And their earnings potential. That may seem really cold, but when push comes to shove?it comes down to that inextricable piece of anatomy. No matter how much complaining I may do about men, or how much I love every woman in my life, I'll always come back to the men who bring me comfort and pleasure, even if they bring me grief and agony along the way. No matter how you slice it, men can always be a great source of delight and amazement. I may have started this day irritated at all men for being men, but when you boil down all the issues, me and Alanis still end up with our man at day's end (though I get him before she does). We complain and fuss and get perturbed at the men in our lives, because that is how it is and how it will be. We will always be what we are by nature. So, stand by your man! Give him some rope to hang himself with, and go from there?he can't help but be a man, so be patient and stand firm.
(11/01/95 10:00am)
Representing the diversity of the global community, international students from Philadelphia-area colleges gathered in the Chinese Rotunda at the University Museum Friday to share their perspectives on student life in the United States. Mary Day Kent is the coordinator of International Classroom, a University-based program that supports promoting "cross-cultural understanding" -- such as Friday's reception. According to Kent, this annual reception is the only event that welcomes international students to the Philadelphia region as a collective community. "The city acknowledges the significant presence of international students, and expresses a welcome that they are here," Kent said. Kent stood on a receiving line next to international professors and consuls, greeting the nearly 500 students in attendance. "We are here because we want to meet new people and learn about different cultures," said Mary Shields, Philadelphia High School for Girls senior and reception volunteer. "It's a good all-around experience." The stark atmosphere of the Chinese Rotunda and the quiet hush of nervous visitors dissipated as the evening progressed. Because the event was informal and unstructured, individuals were encouraged to socialize. Each student was identified by a name tag that indicated his or her country of origin. Students representing nations as near as Canada and as far as Iran and Vietnam attended the event, and were surrounded by the sounds of nearly a dozen languages. Parshan Parekeh, a junior at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, said he believed the purpose of the reception was to interact with different cultures. "On our campus, there is a lot of segregation," Parekeh said. "It is good to introduce people to other cultures." But he said he felt alienated and upset by the cultural "cliques" which seemed to form throughout the room. He added that like the museum's artifacts, which are grouped together in distinct rooms, the students gathered within the museum seemed to separate themselves along the same lines -- namely a shared cultural heritage.
(10/31/95 10:00am)
High Rise East's Rooftop Lounge erupted into cheers and a stirring rendition of "O Canada" as the final results of Quebec's sovereignty referendum handed the province's separatist movement defeat by the slimmest of margins. More than 30 students gathered last night to watch Canadian television as the votes rolled in, as part of an event sponsored by the Canadians at Penn group. The students were decidedly opposed to an independent state of Quebec. As predicted throughout the previous weeks, the results were very close. The federalists, who opposed the Quebec referendum, led the separatists 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent with 99 percent of the 22,400 polling stations reporting. Over the past decade, the sovereignty movement in Quebec has grown markedly in Canada's second-most populous province, which has a French-speaking majority, about 60 percent of whom voted to separate. "I couldn't be happier," beamed College junior Derek Smith, prime minister of Canadians at Penn, after the outcome grew clearer. "I couldn't imagine a Canada without Quebec. It wouldn't be Canada." In HRE, the group of Canadians waited anxiously as the lead gradually swung from the separatists to the federalists. As the evening wore on, the hum of casual conversation eventually gave way to more serious discussions of the referendum's possible consequences. Engineering and Wharton senior Tim Rauenbusch of Toronto was most worried about the economic implications of an independent Quebec, since he plans to work for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which has operations in New York and Toronto. "I'm calling a guy tomorrow to tell him where I want to work next year and it's all based on this," he said as he pointed at the red and blue bar graphs on the television screen. Others were more optimistic about the impact of separatist victory. Princeton University freshman Homayoun Saleh, who hails from Montreal, attended the gathering in support of the federalists but doubted that his family would leave an independent Quebec. "We figure we'll stay awhile to see what happens," he postulated about a separatist victory. "But if all hell breaks loose, then we'll leave." Despite their elation at the federalists' win, many of those huddled around the lounge's small television believed the victory would not be permanent. "Separatism will always exist," Smith admitted. "But at the end of the day, I hope they'll realize that they're a part of the best country in the world. Quebec is interlinked with Canada, and Canada is interlinked with Quebec." Leora Aster, a College senior from Montreal, said she believed that change was imminent in Canada. "I think that there will be changes agreed [to] between the federation and Quebec, in terms of political status," she said.
(10/30/95 10:00am)
Today may be the final day of Canada's existence. For the second time in fifteen years, the future of the United States' biggest trading partner is being decided by the people of Quebec. As you read this, voters in the second most populous province of Canada are heading to the polls to answer the following question: "Do you agree Quebec should become sovereign, after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership?" Until recently, separatists in Quebec have formed little more than a significant minority, however a poll conducted just over a week ago suggest that most Quebeckers will today answer "Yes" to sovereignty. The Quebec drive for sovereignty has a history as long as that of Europeans on this continent. It is an emotionally charged issue that has at times inspired deadly passion. In October 1970 civil rights were suspended in Quebec after the separatist terrorist organization Le Front Liberation du Quebec kidnapped a British diplomat and killed a Quebec cabinet minister. The basis for this feeling of nationalism in Quebec are varied, but are concentrated around two central issues. The major complaint that Quebeckers have is that the French in North America have a distinct nationality, separate from that of the rest of the country, and that this nationality is not being allowed to mature within the context of Canada. The fact of the matter is, since the Quebec Act of 1774, Quebeckers have had their right to language (French), religion (Catholic) and law (Civil code, similar to that of France) guaranteed by law. Canada is now a fully bilingual state, with government service available in French even in areas in which there is not a francophone to be found. The powers of the Quebec government (or L'Assemblee Nationale as it is called) even extend so far as to allow it to overturn the Canadian constitution, a power which it exercised last in 1988. The Quebec citizens enjoy more protection than virtually any other minority people in the world. The second complaint deals with political and economic power. Separatists in Quebec are under the impression that the Quebec citizens are being exploited at the hands of a clique of anglophones in Quebec. It cannot be denied that until the second half of this century, the French in Quebec were treated as second class citizens, but the situation changed radically in the sixties (during the so-called Quiet Revolution). Today, the government and virtually all the means of production in Quebec are controlled by native Quebeckers. Status as a Canadian province has also given Quebec access to the advantages provided by the alphabet soup of world organizations to which Canada belongs, including NAFTA, NATO, GATT, the G7, the OECD, the Commonwealth of Nations, La Francophonie, and numerous other multi and bilateral agreements. There have been numerous attempts to pacify the nationalist element in Quebec. One of the most recent was a 1987 accord which would have recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" within Canada and would have given Quebec veto power over any changes in the major institutions of Canadian government. This was defeated by a marked lack of flexibility on the part of the premier of Quebec and a single renegade native politician from Manitoba. Another agreement was reached in 1992, which included massive decentralization of government, a "distinct society" clause as well as permanent guarantees for Quebec's representation in parliament and on the Supreme court. This was rejected in a national plebiscite. Following these two failures and a federal election in which a separatist party won the second highest number of seats in the federal legislature, the rest of the country is left only to ask "What do Quebeckers want?" The answer to that question is still a mystery, but it is clear that sovereignty under this plan is not in the best interests of anyone. The leaders of the yes campaign have stressed the emotional. One has gone so far as to say that a yes vote would act as a "magic wand" to make all of Quebec's troubles disappear. They maintain that in the "new economic and political partnership" a sovereign Quebec would enjoy continued use of the Canadian dollar, automatic membership in all of Canada's current treaties and agreements (including NAFTA and, shockingly, The Commonwealth) and dual Quebecois-Canadian citizenship for all residents of Quebec. The no forces assert that any type of sovereignty would spell financial ruin for all of Canada, including Quebec. The facts unequivocally support these claims. A sovereign Quebec will have to assume its disproportionate share of Canada's massive public debt. The separation of Quebec would physically cut the country in half, and would automatically void the interprovincial reciprocity agreements currently in place. If a sovereign Quebec were to continue using the Canadian dollar, it would have no control over its own monetary policy. No member of any international organization has even hinted that an independent Quebec would automatically be admitted, quite the contrary. The Cree natives (who lay claim to well over a third of Quebec's territory) have stated that "If Canada is divisible, so is Quebec" and have promised that they will take up arms if necessary to remain part of confederation. Studies have shown that living standards in all of Canada will fall by almost 25 percent in the event of separation. The results for U.S. exporters and Canadian financial markets will be catastrophic. In 1899 La Presse, a prominent newspaper in Quebec, wrote that "We French Canadians belong to one country, Canada." Let's hope that's the way Quebeckers feel today.
