1992_05 The Daily Collegian May 1992

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Off* Lavy/The Dafty Coiaglan
Fresno: El Basin de Polucion
f- mAMv rfin embarrassed to say (w
Adam Breen
In the wake of the jury's
verdict in the Rodney King case
and the subsequent violence in
LA there are a few things stuck
in my craw.
First of all, where is my
craw and how do 1 dislodge
something from it?
I know that I could use this
column to vent my frustration
with all of the injustice that has
occurred in the pas» week or so,
but I've decided to tackle some
other weighty issues.
For instance, money dips.
There are a lot of men in
Fresno that insist on keeping
their cash folded in gold-plated,
10 pound paper dips.
I can understand the use of
this device because sitting on a
wallet all day can put half of
one's butt to sleep. What I don't
understand, however, is why
some men stash a five inch wad
of dead presidents in their dip?
What is so funny about
money clips is that they usually
contain about 19 one dollar bills .
cloaked with a 10 or a 20. This
gives the impression that there
are more 10's and 2CTs hidden
within.
If you ever want a good
laugh, watch one of these "rich"
guys pay for a $22 item.
After five minutes of unfold¬
ing, there are 22 ones on the
counter along with an empty
money dip.
Something else that gets my
goat is the increased use of "in
my own personal opinion* or
*me myself personally* when
someone is giving their opinion
on something.
I don't claim to be a master
of the spoken word ("or written
either* you may be saying), but
redundancy irritates me.
If you say "George Bush is
the education president," that is
obviously your opinion. You
don't need to preface the remark
with "in my own personal
opinion".
You are repeating yourself
while disproving your asserta-
tion that Bush is pro-education.
In fact, you are exposing the in¬
adequacy of the educational
system in this country with your
poor verbal skills.
OK, maybe I'm getting a
little too worked up about
things, but criticism of govern¬
ment policy is just so dam easy.
Have you ever noticed the
name of a dty corresponds to
people's desire to live there?
Sure, we live in one of the
fastest growing dues in the
nation, but don't you brace for a
laugh when you tell someone
you live in Fresno?
Saint Francis (San Fran¬
cisco), Saint John the Baptist
(San Juan Bautista) and The
Angels (Los Angeles) are some
examples of names that resi¬
dents of these areas are not
embarrassed to say (well maybe
LA was a bad example)..
But what does Fresno stand
for? Ash tree? Wow, what
honor, what prestige!
What this city needs is a
name change.
I submit FJ Basin de Polu¬
cion. It not only captures the   . .
true essence of the city, it is  ** '
poetic.
Sure, the name may contain
eight syllables and be hard to
pronounce, but that would
create a mysterious aura.
People everywhere will wonder
what secret pleasures lie within
the city veiled in a mile-thick
layer of smog.
That sure is a tong name,*
they will say. "Hard to pro¬
nounce, too. Must be an impor¬
tant place.*
One last thing that really
bugs me; why do so many
fraternity guys on this campus
wear their visors upside down?
Do they hold their umbrel¬
las upside down when it is
raining? I don't think so. .
I hope someone will explain
to me why a visor that is made
to block out the sun's rays is
worn so no sun-blockage occurs.
Is it an initiation thing?
Does it leave less of a ring
around your head when you
take it off? Does it hide male
pattern baldness?
Do you think I've had too
much time on my hands?
The American Dream inaccessible [tT^^S^^^t^^
!  columns. Piease drop tkem $41 in The Datiy Cmilealan i
to welfare and AFDC recipients
PUasednptkem$4finTkeDaa9C^les^nsffk^
in the Keats Campus buUlnf.
Dear Editor,
* America the Land of oppor¬
tunity.* This was a slogan
constantly used by my parents
and grandparents. This simple
slogan inspired them to hope for
increased prosperity for each
successive generation. The hope
that their children would live at
least a little better than they did.
As with previous generations
our generation has adopted a
slogan, "equal opportunity,* but
for a large group of people these
ideas have been stripped away
with much of their pride and
self-esteem. This group consist
of people surviving at a level of
income most of us have not seen
since working part-time in high
school. They are Public Welfare
and AFDC recipients.
Unless major changes occur in
our welfare system, we (taxpay¬
ers) will continue to support
them, as well as their children
and thrirrWIrirfii^rhlWrfln
many limits on their field of
opportunity that this group of
people will remain in the rut of
poverty until they are lucky
enough to have divine interven-
tion or win the lottery.
The most unreasonable of
these limits is the "100-hour
rule.* This rule seems ironic, in
that to receive either AFDC or
Unemployment Insurance the
worker cannot work more than
100 hours in a 30-day period.
But even with working 100
hours and receiving aid, a
family can still be below the
poverty level and still be
struggling to meet basic needs.
This rule also completely limits
the range of jobs available to be
held while receiving welfare
(Sommers, 1962).
If anyone of us knew that
until our children were grown
and we could take extra risks in
pursuing job opportunities, that
we would be slinging hamburg-
*aa^tjadpin£rjm* at some ptho\
we too would lose our motiva¬
tion to better ourselves we well
as sit back and wait for our
check.
The sad part about this is that
tne children of AFDC redpients
are taught ideals of have-not
and cannot-have, breaking their
spirit and their drive for self-
advancement, thus continuing
the chain of poverty. To break
this chain we must abandon the
100-hour rule or alter it so that
additional hours of work can be
obtained from the state to help
these people economically and
socially, allowing them to see
the great "land of opportunity*
that is currently only available
to the rest of us.
Sincerely,
Gre£ McMfMan
Why? Because we ha ve set so        minimum wage entry level job,
LetUnUtmeEAtUrcanmi
mnsfU sft at Tie Da% Csf-
Iteiaar-f sfflca to theKeats
=\
The Daily Collegian
Editor in Chief.
Managing Editor.
News Editon
Graphics Editon
Photo Editor:
Sports Editon
Artspeak Editor
Staff Writers:
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Photographers:
Business Manager
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Michelle Martin
Yu Ting Huang
Aimee L Fisher
Jana Ballinger-Amezcua
Brian Davies
Richard James
Jason Terada
Adam Breen, Manny Fernan¬
dez, Rob Hruska ,Vicki
McDaniel, Wanda Russell,
ErinYasuda
Adam Brady, Chris Cocoles,
Danny Ezmup Doug Mcheod
Hector Amezcua,
Christine Baker, Bryan Chan
Shawnda Grice
StuuvktH Wentworth
Shawndale Grice, Lance Jackson
The Daily CoUegian is published by the Associated Students, Inc.
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