| Pop quiz Perhaps you're so caught up with studying for midterms that you haven't had a chance to keep up with the news. But more likely, your brains have taken off early for Mardi Gras or Spring Break. Whatever the reason, knowledge of current events is necessary to maintain intelligent conversations that go beyond, "Hey, what's up, dude?" and, "Dude, let's go get some beer." Here are some questions taken from recent news events to test your knowledge: The new dean of the M. J. Neeley School of Business is: A) Alan Keyes B) Robert Lusch C) Alan Shepard D) Mickey Mouse
Which talk show host recently decided to quit after 15 years of airtime? A) David Letterman B) Arsenio Hall C) Kathie Lee Gifford D) Oprah Winfrey
Dennis Rodman plays basketball for which local team? A) Dallas Mavericks B) TCU Horned Frogs C) Fort Worth Brahmas D) Southern Methodist University Mustangs
Don't worry: We'll curve the grades, and we won't keep you after the test for more lectures.
Safety of youth in jeopardy Just when you start to think that the current pattern of school shootings is finally beginning to fade away, another horrendous tragedy occurs that manages to put a new spin on this trend of murders. Flint, Mich., is the latest city to realize how close to home this problem can hit. This time around, the accused happens to be a 6-year-old first grader. The boy allegedly pulled a gun from his pocket and fired one shot, which hit classmate Kayla Rolland in the neck. She died about half an hour later. Police officials are currently investigating whether the shooting was intentional or accidental. For the sake of humanity, I can only hope and pray that the latter is the case. However, since it is being reported that the boy and girl had scuffled the day before the tragedy occurred, I am having trouble rationalizing this as simply a slip of the finger. Also, the boy fled to the bathroom immediately after the shooting and attempted to hide the gun in a wastebasket. To me, this at least hints that the boy was well aware of the consequences of his horrid actions. The thought of a 6-year-old being capable of such actions sickens me. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the potential of this being a premeditated crime ought to send a shock wave throughout the minds of all Americans. When school shootings first started spreading across the nation, we began to realize that it could happen anywhere. Could anyone actually conceive the possibilities of this occurring in a first-grade classroom? I know that people will disagree with me, but I feel 6-year-olds are capable of understanding death. When I was 6, I can recall comprehending this concept, and I was fully aware of what was right and wrong. Although my moral code had not yet been fully established, I can remember being able to reason between why I should or shouldn't do particular things. I'm not saying I understood any of the philosophy behind these things, but I was aware of their basic meanings. For this reason, I find it hard to believe that the boy did not at least vaguely grasp the magnitude of his actions. It is this possibility that truly horrifies me. Now that the event has transpired, we are forced to find a scapegoat in this matter. As usual, parental neglect is a distinct possibility. The boy had been living with his uncle and his frequently absent mother because his father was imprisoned. Or, we can do what's presently popular and just blame the media. That seems to be the easiest way to go these days. But really, all Americans need to accept their own share of the blame. Currently, the accidental death rate for children is nine times higher than that of the world's other 25 biggest countries combined. Can anyone honestly admit to having attempted to do something to solve this problem? I know I sure can't. The fact of the matter is that schools just aren't safe. We need to find a way to stop first graders from getting their hands on stolen guns. Personally, I feel all handguns should be banned. Unfortunately, I am fully aware that this is not going to happen any time in the near future. However, at the very least we can lobby for the installation of mandatory gun safety locks on all guns sold in the United States. We can't just let things go on the way they are and hope this existing trend just fades over time. And all schools, no matter public, private or parochial, should be forced to install metal detectors, no matter how safe the school may seem to be. All it takes is one person to create utter chaos and death. Americans must not put a price on the safety of our nation's youth. The sad thing is this tragedy will probably regress to the back of everyone's minds within the next week.
Jordan Blum is a freshman broadcast journalism
major from New Orleans. Gossip abounds at Fort Worth 76129 Has anyone ever thought that TCU is a little like high school? "Everyone" from your professors to your friends to people you have never even seen before know what you are up to. Has anyone ever noticed the speed that gossip travels through the halls of our respected institution? Whatever embarrassing, dumb, ridiculous or libidinous thing you happened to do on Friday night in an off-campus bar immediately becomes entertainment for everyone in your 8 a.m. Monday class. This is not just a personal problem. It seems that whatever happens in Campus Life on Thursday is common knowledge on Tuesday. This is not just brought about by the excellent reporting of the Skiff. It is one administrator telling a student and that gets the wheels a-churning. I often wonder if there is some sort of system that actually broadcasts your antics across the campus and somehow gives everyone else that attends school here some sort of permission to ask or make fun of you about it. No matter what the students at this school do in their own time, someone is bound to find out about it. Sure, it is nice that the school knows a lot about its students (that is what helps make TCU a home away from home), but don't you think that as a 20-year-old you must sometimes take responsibility for yourself? Did you know that if you get in trouble with the Fort Worth police, the report is on the Chancellor's desk first thing the next morning? We aren't even a state school, yet our activities are reported by the police to the school each time we have an encounter. That means that if you get a minor in possession (you minors shouldn't be drinking anyway but ...) it is reported to the school before you can even beg your parents for forgiveness? But it is not just the officials of the university that are wrapped up in this. It is the students as well that carry on this tradition of knowing everyone's business. We enter college after four years of high school, and we leave much the same way. It is like TCU 76129 around here. I urge you all to please remove yourself from homeroom. We're in "college," closer to the real world than we are to our childhood. Act like adults and encourage the administration to do the same. And if you must comment on something, I hear Brenda, Kelly, Brandon and Steve had a wild weekend. Talk about that.
Kim Hinkle is a senior advertising and
public relations major from Overland Park, Kan. Bad karma is nothing but a bad invention The notions of karma and reincarnation are weird concepts to me. Don't get me wrong: They're both great ideas, and karmic law makes a lot of sense to me. For instance, on Tuesday, I was rude to my mom over the phone. On Wednesday, I locked my keys in the car. Now I know that people who don't believe in karma will say that I am an idiot, and that's why I locked my keys in the car, but I chalk it up to a karmic repercussion. The idea, however, that one gets infinite chances to find enlightenment is different from the mean-spirited one-chance-to-get-it-right philosophy of the Judeo-Christian traditions I'm used to. Nevertheless, for the sake of open-mindedness, I will explore the ins and outs of reincarnation and other New Age/Eastern philosophies. Obviously, I don't know much, but I guess it behooves me to think about them a bit. From what I've heard, karma and reincarnation are intertwined, in that the former determines the state of the latter. For the unenlightened, if you have bad karma, which means you vote Republican and don't ride a bike, then when you die, you are reincarnated as something lowly like a snail. Then, if you aren't a particularly evil snail, you get to move up the ladder. If you're an extra-good snail, you might even jump up a few notches to garbage truck or opinion columnist. It sounds pretty simple, but I've found a few logistical problems. First of all, how do we know what the top rung of the karmic ladder is, or what the starting point is? The way I understand it, when you reach enlightenment, you get to pull out of the endless cycle of reincarnation. In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, Siddhartha reaches enlightenment while he's still human. By my logic, I figure that the starting and ending points must be human form because it's conceivable that one could figure everything out in one shot. On the other hand, Hindus hold cattle in high regard. I'm not ruling out the possibility that cows might be spiritually higher than people, but how many cows think of themselves as ascetics? I've communed telepathically with cows before, and their thoughts more or less follow the same pattern: "Hmm I hope I don't get eaten today Sure could use a milking I wonder if I'll get eaten today." Not once did they think about how the self is nothing, nor were they concerned with the repercussions of eating too much grass. I think people fear or mock Eastern cosmologies because of Westerners who practice them. I find it easy to roll my eyes at some software engineer from Benicia, Calif., who goes to yoga classes and shies away from me because of my bad aura. However, I think I'd be much more respectful of a real ascetic, assuming he wasn't on Telegraph Avenue bumming for change. I figure that if my linear, Christian religion is wrong, who cares? Reincarnation seems to be a "what-me-worry" philosophy anyway. Unless one gets a scorecard for one's past lives, then why should one worry about what's going on with his or her karmic cycle? So what if you spend 85 years as an evil genius only to die and spend the next two days as brine shrimp? Next life, please! Whoever thought up reincarnation should have invented a means of keeping track of past lives. That way people could avoid being wiener dogs or drill team captains more than once. Not to judge anyone else's religious beliefs, but for me, I'll shoot for just one afterlife. I know cycling through the universe in a myriad of physical manifestations is a lot less stressful than worrying about absolutes such as heaven and hell, but I'll take my chances. I don't care. I've spent the last four years as a parasite. A few more won't hurt.
Steve Steward is a senior political science
major from Lodi, Calif., and hopes to be reincarnated as a dinosaur. Thanks & spanks Thanks: To the TCU administration for finally making a concerted effort at diversifying the campus by offering scholarships to students at predominantly minority Tarrant County high schools.
Spanks: To everyone who let Black History Month pass by without much notice.
Thanks: To the TCU men's basketball team for defeating the SMU Mustangs on Monday, 86-83. We wonder if SMU guard Jeryl Sasser, who said there was no way TCU could win in Moody Coliseum, has any more predictions. Anything about missing the postseason?
Spanks: To the Skiff for not writing an article on the CrossTalk exhibition that opened Feb. 14. This is a very important competition for all artists here at TCU, and some students even won cash prizes for their artwork. It is a shame that not only does the liberal arts department take a back seat here at TCU but so does the fine arts department. Dionne Melton senior studio arts major
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