Melissa McGuire

Hey you!  I am afraid  I have some bad news for you.  Coffee is about five bucks a cup now.  Hmmm?  What’s that?  Refills? Are you kidding?

Well,  here is a look at our future, folks.  For those of you who patronize the “Evil Empire” (you know the place with the water nymph with antlers as its company logo), you are probably already paying a lot for your coffee.  Not that I have anything against robusta beans, I just prefer the arabica beans that certain other Seattle-based companies use, wink, wink nudge, nudge. 

If I am a little obscure in my references and you don’t follow, stop me on campus and ask, “What the hell?”

There is a striking similarity, and quite intentional, to real places and businesses referred to above.  And although I am not shuddering with fear over a libel suit, I still prefer to refer to certain establishments rather that to state outright my opinion.  I guess what I’m referring to is my preference to be somewhat obtuse in my references.  Anyway, opining obtusely in accordance with my opinion is perfectly protected under the Constitution.

Where was I?  Oh yeah!  The cost of a cup of coffee.  I came to this topic in a circuitous manner.  The suggestion by a classmate of mine that people, particularly women, with many children, who continue on welfare, are just plain lazy, sparked my interest a bit.

Given his age and his background, I can see where the quite logical, though irrational, statement came from.  He also suggested that anyone could make it in this world if they get off their butt and get a job.

This sparked a great deal of discussion, which is a very good thing, as discussion promotes understanding.

 As a class, we discussed the realities of the cost of living, the trap of welfare, and yes, even those few people who really are just plain lazy.

 We collectively determined that the average worker in a 40-hour-per-week, minimum wage job (possibly a lot of the women with lots of kids) would earn enough money in one year to be just under poverty level.   Here’s the math on how far a year’s worth of wages will go: Minimum wage at 40 hours per week for a year equals about $11,500.

Taxes take approximately $920. Childcare for one child will average $6,000. The average two-bedroom apartment will cost about $10,500.  We haven’t even covered food, health insurance, transportation costs, clothing, et cetera.  Hoo BOY!  The dollar don’t stretch too far for some.

Nowadays, a lot people can’t even afford basic coffee, let alone a low-fat grande mochacino latte.

So basically, what we came to understand as a class is for some people it’s tough.  During this “economic wrinkle,” in the words of our esteemed Gov. Owens, it is getting tough for a lot of people.  It’s already gotten tough for me.

So forgive me for the increase in the coffee prices.   A person has to make a living, if you know what I mean. 

And don’t forget to tip!
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José Rocha

Whether you are a college athlete, sports fan, or just a man or woman,  if you are not familiar with Title IX , you might want to be.    The 31-year-old gender equity law that greatly opened the door for women’s sports has also greatly closed the door on men’s.  Recent debates on the issue have turned it from a gender law, into an all-out war of the sexes.

The law was originally past in 1972 by President Nixon, and vastly changed the women’s sports world,.  resulting in such rewards as the WNBA, U.S. women’s gold medal soccer team, increased women’s scholarships and a whole new world of opportunity.  But at the same time, it has decreased the amount of opportunities in men’s sports.

The law was developed at a time when women were deprived of equal opportunity in the sports and education system.  Title IX  established guidelines that all education programs must comply with.  Among the guidelines, there is one area that causes a whole lot of fuss.  It says that all school's’ male-female athlete ratios should be “substantially proportionate” to the male-female enrollment.  Meaning that if 50 percent of the schools population were women, then 50 percent of all athletic spots (including available teams) needed to be available for women, regardless of whether 50 percent of women desired to participate.  This, in turn, narrows the margin of male opportunities. Whether men participate more than women or not; the rule is extremely unfair. 

I spoke with the Metro’s athletic director, Joan McDermott, on this issue and she said, “I look at that proportionality piece and are we? I mean, is it crazy to have to be exactly what the student population is? I don’t know if that’s exactly right.”  The law leaves many of us, including myself, asking similar questions.

But one thing is for sure: times have changed in the last 31 years.  The need for extreme gender equity laws has vanished along with an extreme sexist environment.  Not only is it outdated, but it has also shifted a negative effect in men’s direction.  The law has reversed roles so much, that it has resulted in numerous male programs being cut in order to reach Title IX’s proportional quotas.  McDermott commented that, “When colleges drop men’s sports ... we’re doing the same thing to men that was just done to women.”  The more these men’s programs are cut, the more possible men’s scholarships will be as well.  These scholarships are the hopes and dreams of young athletic students.  Is it fair to take that away?  Of course not; but unfortunately, that is what it takes to comply with Title IX .

However, without this law, women’s sports opportunities would be non-existent.  McDermott says, “What Title IX  has done for women has been incredible, I wouldn’t be here.”  McDermott said, “I wish there was a way we can measure that more.  Are we meeting the interest levels of our students?  You know, that to me is really where the focus should be. You have students that really feel like they’re missing out.  That is really what that law is there for,  not strictly by the numbers.”

With that said, I was convinced that even though Title IX  is a necessity, there is still room for improvement.

 Just because this law has come a long way and served its purpose, does not mean we should give up on it.  Like this nation in general: it has also came a long way, but that does not mean we give up on it, either.  In a nation that enforces equal opportunity,  Title IX  has become a contradiction of its sole purpose—equal opportunity.  Whether it is gender or race, we do our best in this nation by overcoming such boundaries.  So why does a law like Title IX  still exist?  That is for you to decide.

The question is, where do we draw the line at fairness; and most importantly…When?
Headlines

Joel Tagert

Can you feel the terror?

It comes from airplanes and letter openers.

It comes from television sets and newspaper headlines.

It rallies the troops in Baghdad.

   It seeps, like a poison gas, into every corner of our lives.

   It infects us like a virus sent in the mail.

   It shouts with brows pressed and eyes wide, erupting like vomit from the mouth of the President.

Most of all, it radiates from silos in Colorado Springs and from submarines around the world,  from the conical warheads that await their inevitable consummation.

   It whispers through our days and through our nights with the anxious and unconscious question: “How long?  How long before the war comes here? How long before the bombs fall on Denver?  How long before the sirens, and the explosions, and the shattering of glass, and the burning, and the crying?”

   This is the paramount question of our time: now that we possess the weapons to destroy all life on this planet, and possess also the fear of that annihilation, how can we rid ourselves of them?

   As Jonathan Schell astutely points out in a recent article in The Nation, this is the very question that George Bush has seized upon as the axis mundi of his presidency.  It is the right question at the right time, but his answer endangers us all, for it can only add to the same fear that generates terrorism and nuclear proliferation.  As I read on a sign somewhere: “Fighting terror with war is like fighting fire with gasoline.”

An apt analogy in a war about oil; an apt analogy in a war about profits.  Over and over, I hear people parrot Bush’s specious justifications for war: that it is necessary to maintain world peace; that we will free the Iraqi people; that it will bring stability and prosperity at home and abroad.  Is it necessary to threaten the world with nuclear destruction in order to save it?  Will we free the Iraqi people by murdering them?  Will giving more money and power to the rich help the world’s poor?

Freedom through domination, prosperity through greed, peace through war: these are flimsy and uncertain phantoms, spawned by the avarice of a multimillionaire president and his oil-executive cabinet.  A starving child, a maimed woman, a charred and broken corpse: these are the certainties of war.

   What will you do?  Will you huddle in your room, eyes fixed on the television, with denial in your mouth and fear in your belly?  Or will you rise up and join the struggle for truth with a profound courage rooted in compassion?

   Perhaps the proudest I have been of this city was Monday, Feb. 24, when our city council passed a resolution calling for further Congressional debate about the war in Iraq. Susan Barnes-Gelt, Dennis Gallagher, Happy Haynes, Kathleen MacKenzie, Debbie Ortega, Elbra Wedgeworth and Cathy Reynolds voted for the resolution.  History will remember that these men and women, and Denver with them, spoke out for peace in the face of fear and nationalistic fervor.  It is just such small acts of courage that a movement is built on.

   And as for those who voted against the resolution: may their names be quickly forgotten.
Headlines

Dear Editor;

United we stand.  What does that mean today?  September 11, 2001, our nation was attacked and that statement actually meant something.  It did for a few months, but since then our country has fallen apart.  I would have thought that because 9/11, people would realize that the United States is vulnerable and can be attacked by other countries.

Saddam Hussein is our enemy; he is his own people’s enemy.  He tests his biological and chemical agents on his fellow Iraqis.  He killed his own son for living in America for a short period of time and owning American cars.  Do you people not realize that Saddam Hussein is not a man that can be left in command of a country that will have nuclear capability in less than two years?  War is necessary right now.  Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction, but because the U.N. gave Iraq a nice two-month notice of when the inspections would start, the weapons were moved.

War is Scary, but sometimes necessary to protect this country and other countries.  If have served in the Air Force Security Forces (military police) for six years now, and have been deployed many times in the last year and a half.  It worries me now to think that I might have to drop my classes this semester, leave my family and girlfriend to go to war for a country that looks down on me and resents me for wearing a uniform that says U.S. Air Force on it.  People against the war have called me “baby killer,” “war monger,” and other profanities.  I smile, laugh and simply say, “You’re Welcome.”  You’re welcome for your freedoms and your ability to say whatever you want.  Because our great military, our veterans who served before me and defended this country and constitution you can call me whatever you want.  but please remember where those freedoms came from.

We have thousands of men and women overseas waiting and ready to go to war for you, to die for you and defend your rights and freedoms as an American, and all you can do for them is protest against them and call them baby killers.  Of none of this ever happened; President Bush let Saddam and Iraq get away with building weapons of mass destruction, one day, maybe years from now a missile filled with chemical agents would hit a major city in the U.S. and kill thousands upon thousands of innocent people, and all you people protesting against the president and the military today, would say, “Why did this happen, why didn’t we do anything to prevent this?”  this is why war is necessary, to prevent the worst type of war imaginable.

You have the right to protest against the war,  have the right to call me baby killer, but it would be nice to hear a simple thank you for once in a while.

Staff Sgt. Hettinger, Trevor R.
Junior, Metro State College
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Letters to the Editor:
Freedom comes at a savage cost

Dear Editor:

I really enjoyed my time in the army.  It has, of course, taken me an enormous amount of psychological reform to realize this.  There are many reasons that I joined, some could even be considered good.  Let’s just say that all of the reasons brought me to the army.  I served for six years with tours in North Carolina and the Land of the Morning Calm, South Korea.  I spent most of my time angry with the army for exposing me to this torturous lifestyle.  Through this anger I developed a sense of humor and I also realized that I was having a great time.  I was doing things that, until then, I had only seen Rambo and G.I Joe doing. 

Throughout my entire time in the military, I read constantly.  Didn’t matter what it was, I read everything.  Steinbeck, Tolkien, Maxim, comic books, military manuals, cereal boxes…everything.  Field time was the best because we had lots of free time at night while at work.  I would always pack a wide variety of literature…and so would everyone else. When I ran out of books to read, I traded.  Soldiers aren’t the mindless killing machines or comic relief we see in the news or in movies.  They are all regular American people who have chosen to sacrifice their civilian life and accept the burden of protecting and promoting Freedom…and they read all kinds of books. 

Through reading such a wide variety, I began to notice differing views about the military and I see the same thing happening now.  With America’s current situation involving Iraq, everyone has something to say…and they should.  The protest on campus recently was the first rally I have seen since getting out of the Army last August.  At first I thought I would be upset.  Then, I reflected on that statement and realized that I had grown to appreciate what I had done in the army, and that’s why the protest didn’t bother me.  I had been protecting these students and their right to speak their mind.  I am proud of that. 

Which brings me to the point of all this rhetoric.  I have done everything that I can possibly imagine to keep me from having to go back to that lifestyle.  I chose to serve in the military and was honorably discharged, I voted in federal and state elections, I’ve written people, and I’ve read a newspaper or two.  Despite all of that, I can be recalled into active service for the impending war.  All of the dreams I lived for six years, all of the dreams I dreamt for six years, and those very dreams that I am living out now would be destroyed because I would give it all up if I was called back.  It terrifies and saddens me to say that, but then I think about the reasons for going back:  those students, you students, you…and me, and this life that we all have been blessed to live.  

Unfortunately freedom comes at a savage cost; the courageous lives of our nation’s young men and women in combat.  The President and our elected representatives decide whether or not we fight and we our bound to that decision because we live in a country that respects and protects freedom.  The sacrifice of these regular Americans, soldiers, and heroes has paved the way for us to live the lives that we want.  Whatever the President may decide concerning this war we must ask ourselves what price we are willing to pay for our freedom.  If we must fight to protect that freedom, isn’t it worth the cost?

Kurt Krueger
Metro Student
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Letters to the Editor:
Met’s cartoon angers Christians

Dear Editor:

How is it that Terry Everton can get away with printing a comic strip titled “Christian Angst” every week, without causing chaos on campus?  I know for a fact that I am not the only Christian attending Metro.  Am I the only Christian that is applauded by the way people of my faith are portrayed?  Terry characterizes Christians as mindless, unsuspecting, ignorant fools and frankly, I believe you have exhausted the subject.

Every time I open the newspaper I have to read about George W. Bush and his affiliation with Christians.  Yes, he claims to be a christian but that doesn’t mean that all of us agree with him or that all of us are pro-war fascists.  I for one, am open-minded and educated enough to make wise decisions, despite what my president thinks.

I know that if your little composition of “humor” depicted the Jewish or Islamic faith (or any other faith) in this manner, there would be numerous objections.  why is it okay to pick on Christians?

Do you, Terry Everton, know any real Christians?  Have you taken the time to talk to any of us individually?  If you mock anyone, it should be the people that find amusement in your piece.  They are in fact the ignorant, close-minded individuals whom you portray on a weekly basis.

Michealle Hobler
Metro student
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The Gadfly
Brian P. Reed
Opinion Editor

If all else fails,

We can rip the horse’s eyes.

—Jim Morrison

Pissed, am I.  I do not want war, but it makes for good stuff regarding the devolution of humanity (a paper on which I’m working).

Trip:  (and a fun one).

Have you ever considered that most “liberals” are “pro-choice” and “anti-war?”

Or, rather, that most “conservatives” are “pro-life” and “for-war?”

What a conundrum. . . . They say:

(Segue) I’ll support the “right to choose” in killing a baby; but (by, golly), we “ought not be killing people.” 

By way of comparison, the “other’s” say:  I’ll support the “right to life” by saving a baby, but (surreptitiously), let’s inadvertently “kill innocent people.”

I guess it depends on the trimester.

 The “heart and brain” of our belief’s have given us nirvana through the logic of a “brain-child” that has yet to evolve.  We are hollow men (easy).

You are an idiot:  If you think the presence of conflict [and what seems to be immanent (and I use “a” instead of “i,” precisely) war] is anything due, but to our inability to interpret history and use it to our advantage, you’re wrong.

My point:  No one is in control and this fact is tasty.

Segue: ( I am tired of “bolding” and “italicizing.”)

Point:  Nothing, people get killed.

Return:  (Angst.)

I, truly guess, am a court jester.  I hear liberals (bless them) be stupid.  I hear conservatives (bless them) be stupid. 

No one is on the same page.

Liberals use “imperialism” and oil arguments supporting their “peace” platform.  Don’t be stupid, my friend.  Canada supplies us with 30 percent of our petro products,  their police don’t carry guns, and they are partly French.  Think!  If oil and imperialism are the main reasons, while not take Canada?

Conservatives preach about 9/11 (justifiably) and the potential for this happening, once again, in our “backyard.”

Who cares?

In the end, I am left with some thing.

I shit you not, however, regarding one thing.  Succinctly:

If we go to war, I will be next to everyone chanting for peace, lying in wait for your mistake.  If you insult our soldiers in this conflict with contempt, I will act upon you with great vengeance.  I am an American.
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The Metropolitan welcomes letters of 500 words or fewer on topics of general interest.

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