The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2000 Page: 3 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2000
Poster girl with no poster
Life's choices and learning to drive
Igrew upinacitywithrealpublic
transportation.
Thisfact is my single excuse for
not yet, at the age of 21, having a
driver's license. I do not
evenhavethefaintestidea
of how to drive. That I
have survived four years
in Houston without this
critical skill is a testament
to reliable pizza delivery
and kind, car-owning
friends.
It's not that I have
never thought about
learning to drive, I just
never quite finished the
process.
I have an expired learner's per-
mit lurking somewhere in the top
drawer of my dresser at home.
(ietting that permit involved a
six-hour wait at the Department of
Motor Vehicles and a little blue in-
dex card that changed my entire
outlook on life at the age of 16.
It's been a while since I've
thoughtaboutthatexperience.Iwas
reminded about it last week while
working the door at Willy's Pub on
Pub Night. I wascheckinga
customer's 11) when I saw a promi-
nently displayed red sticker on the
face of the license.
It read "DONOR."
That sticker sent me back five
years to that crowded room at the
DM V.The blue indexcard in ques-
tion had a space for my Social Secu-
rity number and two tick-boxes.
"Check one," it said. The options
were plain: "I)onor"or"Not Donor."
Lizzie
Taishoff
Until thatpointlhadnever
thought about the issue of organ
and tissue donation. Foralongtime
I simply dismissed it asgross.
I was barely ac-
quainted with a girl who
went to my high school
who had cystic fibrosis.
Shehadbeenonadonor
list for a complete heart
and lung transplant since
she wasatoddler, 1 had
been told. I saw her in
the hall sometimes, but
we weren't good friends.
Her thin frame and
gaunt eyes revealed the
ravages of her disease,
but she always had a reassuring
smile and a calm presence.
Istaredatthatcard.Itwaseerie.
I had just turned 16 the previous
week.Checkingoneofthoseboxes
meant acknowledging that I could
die. Itmeantconfrontingmyown
mortality. I was not ready to do that
then.
I'm still not even sure now.
Atthesametime, I knew then as
I know now that if something were
tohappen tome, I would wantsome-
thinggoodtocomeoutofit.Iwould
want life to be found in my death.
Death, mortality — those words
hung around me like a thick fog. I
could not see past them.
She deserves to get better, I
thought.
Atthesametime, I wasfully aware
that for her to get well again, some-
thing very, very bad had to happen
to someone else.
And I did not want that. I just
wanted her to be all right.
Growing up comes with accept-
ingresponsibility. Inthiscasethat
meant being responsible for ensur-
ing that what I felt was right would
be done if something terrible hap-
pened to me.
And Iknewthatifsomethingbad
happened to me, I wanted some-
thinggood tocome from it. I looked
overthecardonelasttime.and I
checked "donor."
At the Pub last week I thanked
thebearerofthelDforbeingan
organ and tissue donor. He looked
down at his license, surprised. "I'd
forgotten about that,"hesaid, re-
turning thecard to his wallet.
I then remembered thefineprint-
ingon the back oftheblueindex
card. Checkingthebox was insuffi-
cient, it said, if the decision to be-
comeadonor was notclearly stated
tothenextofkinorlegalguardianof
the donor.
That technicality is just one of
the many involved in organ dona-
tion. Choosingtobecomeadonor is
not an easy decision. Neither is fac-
ing your own mortality.
Bu t, what isimportantisto make
a well-informed decision and then
communicate that choice to your
family and those who must act in the
event something does happen.
So, I urge you to get the facts—
if not for you, then for the one you
will save.
Lizzi e Ta ish offisfeatu res ed itorand
a Wiess College senior.
Opinion editor
A handy user's guide for the opinion section
Recently, there has been some
confusion as to what everyone reads
on the first few pages of the Thresher.
We have been accused of being bi-
ased, opinionated and irresponsible.
'ITiere have been calls for
accountability, apologies
and retractions.
I swear, it's all just a
big misunderstanding.
What follows is a tour of
The Rice Thresher. Please
don't read this as a sar-
castic or condescending
piece — I'm just trying to
clear a few things up.
OK, so you're walking
out of your Friday 9 a.m.
class, and you pick up a
copy of the Thresher, The first thing
you see is the front page, and it's all
news. These stories are fact — the
writer does not include his opinion
in them. News writers strive for a
fair, balanced portrayal of all sides
of an issue.
If you open up to Pages 2 and 3
(actually, you're there now), you are
smack-dab in the middle of the opin-
ion section. Here, balanced cover-
age is not expected. Pieces in the
opinion section are authored by in-
dividuals, with the exception of the
staff editorials. Writers of opinion
pieces do not claim to be writing
fact, although good authors use facts
to back up their views on an issue.
'ITiere are four main components
of the opinion section.The first thing
that people usually see is the car-
toon. letters to the editor are below
the cartoon, and they can be written
by anyone. Usually, they comment
on current events or the previous
newspaper's coverage.
()pinion columns, which start on
Page 3, are longer. Hie Thresherhas
several regular opinion columnists,
but anyone is welcome to write a
column. Columns, like letters and
the cartoon, express the views of the
author. Columnists may be held
more accountable for their opinions
than letter-writers because their pic-
tures appearwith theircolumns (this
allows people to identify them by
sight for arguing purposes). As a
result, columnists are often the in-
spiration for letters to the editors.
Michael
Nalepa
The staff editorial section, which
is found on the left side of Page 2,
seems to be the most confusing part
of the opinion section. The editori-
als represent the majority opinions
of the entire Thresher ed\-
torial staff. Basically, once
a week we get together
for lunch and talk about
thingsgoingon in the Rice
community that we have
strong feelings about. We
then collectively decide
what we want to write the
editorials about.
Although overall staff
opinion is usually mutual,
sometimes not everyone
agrees on the stance we
should take on an issue. When this
happens, the majority opinion pre-
vails. If the staff splits down the
middle, we don't write the editorial.
Editorials are often accused of
being biased because they are. If
you look in any newspaper in the
country, the editorials take a posi-
tion or choose a side. The editorial
section is where newspapers en-
dorse candidates and raise issues
that they feel are important to the
community. It's really the only place
that a paper can say, "Hey reader,
take a look at this, we think it's
pretty important."
l^st Saturday, we printed an ex-
tra entitled "Senate must not act
Sunday." This piece was an edito-
rial, our opinion about what the Stu-
dent Association should have been
doing (or not doing) with the KTRU
situation. This was not news.
Thresher Editor in Chief Brian
Stoler polled the staff via e-mail be-
fore the decision to run the extra
was made. Of the responses he re-
ceived, all but one agreed that the
Thresher should run the piece.
Several members of the editorial
staff then worked to prepare the
piece. ()ver the following days, those
editorial board members who did
not initially respond were asked what
their position was regarding the
extra. The final staff vote was 24 to 1
in support of printing the issue.
In hindsight, I think we probably
should have made it a little more
clear that the eu.ra wa;, only an edi-
torial. This fact was mentioned twice
(once at the beginning of the article
and once in a box in the upper right-
hand corner entitled "What is this
publication?"), but a reader skim-
ming the piece could have over-
looked these components.
However, the bias presented in
this piece was not unusual because
it was an editorial and, by definition,
an opinion.
Hie opinion section should not
be something that makes people feel
threatened. The purpose of the sec-
tion is to allow the newspaper to
engage the readers in a dialogue
and to allow all members of the com-
munity to share their feelings and
views about issues facing us all.
Instead of complaining, why not
participate?
Michael Nalepa is opinion editor and
a Ijvett College senior.
Guest column
KTRU music director
responds to criticism
As one of KTRU's two student
music directors, I would like to
respond to the Thresher's Dec. 1
staff editorial ("Tuning in"). Fur-
ther, I would like to
shed some light on
how the unique blend
of musical program-
ming that is KTRU is
created.
As student music
directors, Hanszen
College junior Megan
Wilde and I create the
KTRU playlist, tally
what is played at
KTRU every week and
report the top 35 to
trade journals such as CMJ New
Music Report.
This process is done with
great care, which I would like to
explain here.
KTRU's mission is not to be
elitist or to cater to only a hand-
ful of extremely patient listen-
ers. KTRU stands by its mission
as an education station.
We receive between 25 to 50
new releases every week from
every conceivable source (from
Sony Music to self-released local
music from Waco).
Underexposure is not (and
should never be) the only crite-
rion music directors use when
determining what we feel KTRU
should play.
To guide our selection of mu-
sic appropriate to KTRU, 1 read
trade journals and diligently try
to remain informed of new mu-
sic.
This might be surprising, but
KTRU's playlist is very much in
line with college stations across
the country, as evidenced by
other station's top 35s as pub-
lished in CMJ. (CMJ publishes
more than 200 college stations'
reports every week.)
The ways in which we differ
from other college stations are
strengths rather than weak-
nesses.
We place more emphasis on
diverse genres such as world mu-
sic and blues than other stations,
which favor more rock-oriented
playlists.
C1 )s must be reviewed before
they are played on KTRU to en-
sure that they do not contain
explicit lyrics. 'Die CDs that we
feel show the potential to be aired
we allow DJs to check out and
review.
Holly
Hinson
In fact, each DJ must review
five CDs per semester to retain
good standing in KTRU.
This way, CDs are reviewed
by a host of different
people and reflect the
station's diversity. On
any given week, our
playlist includes about
100 CDs.
Approximately one-
third of every general
shift is made up of
playlist requirements.
During the remain-
ing two-thirds, the DJ
is encouraged to ex-
plore the KTRU music
stacks to fill the remainder of
his or her shift.
However, the exploration
does not end there — DJs may
also bring music from home pro-
vided that they clear it with a
music director.
The ways in which
we differ from
other college
stations are
strengths rather
than weaknesses.
'ITiis semester 1 have only de-
nied two out of about 30 requests
made by DJs to bring in their
own music.
While some may find KTRU
unpalatable upon first listen, I
ask them to remember that ev-
ery single show is different be-
cause each and every DJ brings
in his or her own experience to
create a unique show.
KTRU is not about dictating
one narrow music perspective to
the exclusion of all others, or
t.'litely decreeing what is cool.
KTRU is about freedom of indi-
vidual expression as well as free-
dom to educate oneself and one's
listeners.
I urge anyone who has an in-
terest in exploring music to give
KTRU a try.
Holly Hinson is a KTRU music
director and a Will Rice College
senior.
the Rice Thresher
Brian Stoler
Editor in Chief
Jose I-uis Cubria, Mariel Tam
Managing Editors
NEWS
Elizabeth Jardina, Editor
Olivia Allison, Asst. Editor
I.iora Danan, Foreign Correspondent
Erin Mann, Page Designer
OPINION
Michael Nalepa, Editor
SPORTS
Chris 1 arson, Editor
Jason (iershman, /tss(. Editor
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Robert Reichle, Editor
1'im Crippen. Asst Editor
Mantli Montgomery, Page Designer
FtATURES
Lizzie Taishoff, Editor
LIFESTYLES
Corey E. Devine, Editor
Ajeet Pai
Business Manager
CALENDAR
Josh Taylor, Editor
BACKPAGE
Mark Ix-wis, Editor
Sarah Pitre, Editor
PHOTOGRAPHY
Rob (iaddi, Editor
Megan Smith, Assignments Editor
Katie Streit, <4ss/. Editor
COPY
Ix'slie I -ill. Editor
Mary Messick, Ass/. Editor
Pavid Chien, Illustrator
Lynlee Tanner, Ads Manager
Shannon Scott, <4ss< Business Manager
Robert U't\ Classified Ads Manager
Carly Halvorson, Office Manager
Sol Villarreal, Distribution Manager
Adam htzowska. Online Editor
The Rice Thresher, the official student
newspaper at Rice University since 1916, is
published each Friday during the school year,
except during examination periods and
holidays, by the students of Rice University.
P.ditorial and business offices are located
on the second floor of the Ley Student Center,
6100 Main St., MS-524, Houston, TX 77005-
1892. Phone (713) 348-4801. Fax (713) 348-
5238. E-mail: thresher@rice.edu Web page:
http://www.ricethresher.org.
Annual subscription rate: $50 domestic,
$105 international. Nonsubscription rate: first
copy free, second copy $4.11.
The Thresher reserves the right to refuse
any advertising for any reason. Additionally,
the Thresher does not take responsibility for
the factual content of any ad. Printing an
advertisement does not constitute an
endorsement by the Thresher.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority
opinion of the 'Thresher editorial staff. All other
pieces represent solely the opinion of the
author.
l"he 77tr«>ifrisamemberofthe Associated
Collegiate Press and the Society of
Professional Journalists. The Thresher is an
ACP Ail-American newspaper This newspaper
is dedicated to Dr. Edward Cox.
i COPYRIGHT 2000.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2000, newspaper, December 8, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443216/m1/3/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.