1983_02 Insight February 1983

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OPINION
February 16, IMS
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PROBOSCIS f
Words to the world at small
Michael Todd
A quick glance at the Time best
seller list from a few weeks ago
reveals a trend In fiction. Six of tbe
top ten books are somehow concerned
with space. Not the area twixt your
ears, but rather tbe great beyond, the
final frontier, tbe place Russian spy
satellites are stored between drops on
Canada or the world's oceans.
I hesitate to use tbe words
'science fiction,' as the popular conception of the genre would exclude the
second ranked book, James
Micbener's "Space." But in tbe
broadest sense, sci-fi it certainly is.
And since 60 percent of the books are
this new sci-fi, I feel 'trend' describes
tbe happening accurately.
Since we live in an evaluative
society, anytime you see the word
'trend' you should expect to read bow
it will bode ill or weD for society. As
part of your continuing and multi-
faceted education, I will not disappoint in this respect. I Judge merely as
a public service, although many
assure me that I could perform a
greater service by allowing my
typewriter to cool.
1
Alex Pulaski
How worthy Prop. 48?
Kevin Ross rode a
men-y-go-'round at Creighton University in Omaha for four years, hoping
school average in 11 college part of the test and 362 on the math ACT. are the only accurate
preparatory subjects and score at section, while whites averaged 442 achievement tests, and these tests
least 700 on tbe SAT or IS on tbe ACT. and 483 (out of 800 points possible on bold only nope for Prop. 4tt to work.
-.--„ Formerly, all a student had to do each part). So either the test is biased The NCAA- considered requiring a
to one day-grab the golden nng of pro- was carry a 2.0 average and Jb>e 400 or whites are mentally superior to higher GPA and dropping the
fessional sports. After knee surgery on the SAT or 1 on the ACT. A score of blacks. rninimum test score requirement, but
his Junior year and academic proba- 400 on the SAT is accomplished by Assuming that the test is biased, there are no national standards for
tion as a senior, the former captain of signing one's name to the bottom of what can explain the average math school grades,
the varsity basketball team found that the paper and turning it in blank. J score of 513 by Asian Americans? Criucsof Prop. 48 are, in effect,
the ride had stopped. Now Kevin Prop. 48 will take effect in 1986, giving Certainly the College Board has not saying that black athletes aren't
Ross 24, is learning to read. current high school freshman all ihe fUled the SAT's math section with smart enough to score 700 on the SAT,
After four years of college, Ross time they need to prepare for an questions on the Chinese abacus and but white athletes are. They claim
still printed instead of writing cur- education beyond the X's and O's on Japanese calculators. that tbe SAT is culturally biased, but
slvely. He had never read an^entire tbe coach's blackboard. Since the first SAT was given in are liarboring biases of their own by
book He could, howwrer^te} a pick Seemingly, Prop. 48 is a well- 1926, it has been reviewed and has not crediting black athletes with tbe
and slam-dunk a basWOTem. intended attempt to discredit the changed with the times. Astbecoun- intelligence lo score as well as, or bet-
Ross, who is now attending grade "dumb-Jock" image of college try became more aware of minorities ter than, white athletes,
school in Chicago, wis a victim of athleUcs. But critics of the proposal and women in the 1960's, the SAT As Penn State football coach Joe
coaching's three R's: running, re- have charged that the SAT and ACT changed to reflect' those concerns. Paterno put it, "We've told black kids
bounding and recruiting. Eligibility are discriminatory toward blacks. Among other content specifications, who bounce balls, run sround tracks
before education. Although Ross's Dr. Joseph B. Johnson, president of the SAT is now required to hold one and catch touchdown passes that is an
case is an extreme, Digger Phelps, Grambling University, said, "I think minority-oriented passage in each of end unto itself. We've raped them,
head coach of Notre Dame's basket- a message has been sent to black its forms., We.can't afford to do it to another
ball team, said that less than one- athletes across this country. There's Perhaps minorities do not score generation." '
third of the athletes in six major too many of you on America's athletic as well as whites on the SAT because Prop. 48 is a fair and long overdue
basketball tjonferencee who used up teams." minorities are (Uscriminated against way to ensure that athletes use col-
tbeir eligibility last year earned their         Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is in school:   Perhaps white families lege as an educational experience and
place      -
black, charged that Prop. 48 was pass-
Small wonder, then, that the Na-   ed because "white boys are inferior
tional Collegiate Athletic Association   athletes  to blacks."     Good point,
has proposed  higher  entrance re-   Reverend.
is on education. A not as a training camp for profession between higher income sional athletics. We can't let anotheri
higher  SAT^ scores  has  been Kevin Ross get taken for a ride,
established,   and! white   students Editors note:
—>»»««•. -.— csuiuiisiieu,    anui wiiiic    Biuucnta
quirements for student-athletes. Does the SAT contain cultural reported higher average family in- The opinions expressed in Uus col-
Prop. 48, passed by an overwhelming biases? When the College Board comes than did minority students who umn are those of the author and do not
majority at the NCAA's annual con- released, for the first time, average took the SAT. necessarily reflect the opinions of the
ventJon in mid-January, requires SAT scores arcordirig/tt)race in 1981, But the SAT itself is not to blame Insight editorial board or the CSUF
student-athletes to carry a 2.0 high   blacks averaged 332 on the verbal    for lower minority scores. It, and the Department of Journalism.
Alan's corner
Happy Birthday,
Alan Atamlan
After indulging to satiety at my
parents' bountiful Sunday dinner
table, I was overcome in divine
gratitude. Enough so that I felt goaded to give thanks to the Lord, and then
meet Mike Todd's editorial deadline.
Amen.
Ever thought about tbe millions
who have writhing pain in their innards for lack of food? The destitute?
The homeless? The disc Jockeys who
have a graveyard shift on Sunday
yet underexposed problem in this
country. On the other hand is the en-
trepeneur who toils 80 hours per week
and exists as an emotional flake. This
individual is typically bored with the
superb and searches for more obligations, like a famished shrew. She or he
considers sleep and Abraham
Maslow's bottom level of tbe "hierarchy of needs" as a waste of time.
The interesting thing about
overemployment and overextension is
that the person is left with so little
time to spend and enjoy his earnings.
More importantly, less time to reflect
on the deeper philosophical underpinnings of life. Such as, does Roger
Rocka really own 23 Tatung
Oscillating Fans and a gold-plated
Boekamp quartz heater.
Well, we Armenians have finally
arrived. Always expanding — albeit
to Maiyreeg's home looking — into all
sorts of areas of academia and occupational pursuits. We now have one
of our brethren in the highest position
In tbe most populous State of tbe
United States. Next step is tbe golden
arches and McPaklava.
Tbe word for today is "tyroman-
cy," or fortunetelling by watching
About   the   subject   of   work,    cheese coagulate. Cholestor-all for to
underemployment is a rather serious   day.
Henry Wilson
Well, I shouldn't complain, but I
wish to call attention to those profound hardships that befall us who
belong to the middle-class genre. We
bitch ad nauaeum over tbe protracted
wait at tbe Shaw-Blacks tone intersection or how one used to get a pack of
gum for a nickel. We miss the overall
splendor of life, which is often better
appreciated by tbe simple and less
As W.C. Fields felt that it was too
bad youth had to be wasted on
children, I submit that it's too bad
convenience has to be wasted on the
Elizabeth Payne
Jeremiah Jones Colbath — better known as Henry
Wilson, vice president of the United States in 1873 -
would be 170 years old today. He ran on the presidential
ticket with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant during Grant's second
administration.
Wilson was born in Farmingham, N.H., to a poor
family that was a descendent of poor families, with all
his ideas of life associated with conditions of extreme
poverty.
He led an acUve life. Wilson once walked 100 miles
to Natick, Mass., to find a Job to pay for his education at
Stratford Academy in New Hampshire.
Wilson never finished his education. He loaned his
earnings to a friend who failed to reimburse him.
Upon reaching the age of 21, he changed his name to
Henry Wilson, which he considered to be a "simpler
name."
He was voted to tbe House of Representatives of
Massachusetts for the town of Natick in 1840. This was
the beginning of his political career.
Wilson is known for launching the Free Soil party
after denouncing the Whig party In June 1848.
In November 1875 be suffered a paralytic stroke in
the capital and was taken to the Vice-President's Room,
where be died 12 days later.
Through nearly 30 years of public service Wilson did
not allow personal ambition to swerve him from the unpopular causes to which he had devoted himself — the
freeing of slaves and a position of dignity for the com-
Be that as it may, tbe stars
beckon me to write, much tbe same
way they must have to at least six
others. I think these six author's
books deserve some delving before I
prefer my judgment.
The number one book is a sequel.
Fifteen years after "2001: A Space
Odyssey" we get "3010: Odyssey
Two." In an era when sharks, mass-
murderers and anti-christs Join
aluminum cans as objects to recycle,
mis shouldn't surprise. Nor should tbe
fact that Michener, number three on
the larger list and second on the space
list, is lounging around in rarefied air.
Michener has had the year's top selling fiction book four times since 1965,
so be needs no sherpas or alpenstock
to negotiate the peaks.
Our number three takes us to
number six on the big list. Our
number three is tbe umpteenth book
by Isaac Aslmov, "Foundation's
Edge." This latest work (at least I
don't think he's whipped anything up
in tbe but few days) is also a sequel,
this time to the successful Foundation
trilogy Isaac cranked out 30 years
ago. Like a lot of science fiction, the
characters in tbe trilogy were cut
from tbe finest cardboard while tbe
plot moved along in the most convincing way. That is both tbe bane and the
boon of most science fiction — it's
readable, but as high art it Jus' don't
cut it. If I've offended with this, as I
hope, read on, I'll return to tins point.
But first let's move on. Right
after the ever ephemeral most-recent
Aslmov work we encounter yet
another sequel, this one completing a
trilogy.") This book is "Life, tbe
Universe and Everything," by tbe
redoubtable Doug Adams. Why
Adams and his Hitchbickers Guide to
the Universe books haven't hit tbe college scene like Tolkien on a Saturn V,
I don't understand, but apparently
this latest entry is opening a few
doors.
Tbe neat book on tbe Tune list,
"The Fall of Freddie the Leaf," by the
apostle of hug, Leo Buscaglia, sounds
pretty spacey to me, but for our
private list, it doesn't fit.
"But doesn 't space
exploration make you
want to get up in the
morning?"     j^
But tbe next work, *BattJefield
Earth," by L. Ron Hubbard, certainly
does. This is classic science fiction jn
all tbe trite ways, a novel out of grab
tbe comic book crowd by their ray
guns. (Not to be confused with their
reagans, which are folds of flesh along
the neck area caused by reading in
bed.)
L. Ron Hubbard, for those luckily
not in the know, is Scientology's very
own space cadet. (I knew I'd slip that
in somewhere.. Space cadet Funny
stuff, huh.) I think he's missing or
dead or something now. But with a
book in tbe top ten, be won't be out for
long. Sequelmania.
The last book, both on tbe top 10
and tbe stellar six, is "E.T. The
Extra-terrestrial Storybook." This is
by somebody named Kotxwinkle. I
won't say anything derogatory about
this" one, because even more than my
friend "Freddie the Leaf," this one
speaks for itself.
So there we have it, the newest entries in tbe Luke Skywalker Derby.
What do we have, though? Only one of
tbe books, "Space,"
fiction. And it should be obvious that
it's the magic of tbe author's name, as
opposed to the subject, that attracts
readers. Three of tbe books, "2010,"
"Foundation's Edge" and "Battlefield Earth" are traditional sd-fi,
and Clarke's work pushes at tbe
category for itself, science humor,
ly slighted. I think the E.T. book
might also fit in this new category, but
writing or sci-fi or what? Or ct
all Just be a fluke? Regardless of
whatever else I say, I'm sure a good
deal of this is fluke. The three sequels
had an inside track to tbe charts
merely by virtue of being sequels
(and as seen in last year's crop on sd-
•'scropon
's "The I
Tree" and Herbert's "God Emperor
of Dune"). That they came out at tbe
same time smacks more of coincidence than plan.
"Battlefield Earth" is the only
real surprise on the list, and even that
luster dims when the amount of pre-
book publicity Is taken into account
BE received much more than aa
average sd-fi hardback.
AH this meandering leaves as
back at the only unifying point in our
'trend,' tbe presence of space. It could
Just be the residue of the Star
Wars-E.T. hoopla, but I think thoae
movies rode an inherent trend, defining it perhaps, but sot creating it
Space is, after all, "tbe last frontier," tbe last refuge for a harried
mind in times of economic stress.
How often have you heard of the attraction of motion pictures during tbe
Depression? Space offers "aUyUatag
you wish.
I forget who told tbe story to me,
but an acquaintance once got into an
with a NASA t   '
_ Mr. NASA, las
case fast dissolving, reached into a
bag of last resorts and asked ingenuously, "But doesn't space exploration make you want to get up in
tbe morning?" I've laughed at that
one a few times, yet I wonder If
there's not a great deal of truth
engendered in that simple inquiry.
If only because space exploration
makes one Gulf Coast resident get up
in the morning, 1 think the space book
'trend' is good, and in fad, healthy.
What of act? Despite my earlier
comments, I tend to agree with Anthony Burgess, author of "A
Clockwork Orange," who suggested
that science fiction, in the term's»
broadest definition, is tbe only real -
fiction lef t. That's a thumbnail asssas
ment and hardly true, but Just aa m
Mr. NASA's question, perhaps mors
true than not.
Is it too late for NASA to launch a
program to observe Halley's Comet?
I'm feeling tired.
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