page 12 over the Edge Feb. 07, 1996

RA’s who promptly d look

become co-defendants in managed to overloo

cont'd from page 11

Crawl Editorial to
someone who lived on the
first floor, which is
something that I now
regret, since you
managed to get your
hands on it before it went
to print. What I saw was
just as lot of people
having a good time. The
main purpose of the first
floor was just a
communal get-together
with a disco theme. This
is something that I would
probably have fun at.
Alcohol was a mere by-
product of this. The
whole idea of the Floor
Crawl was to see how
much you could drink
before you purged your
guts. And regarding the

comment about “alcohol
in the hallways”, the area
was technically a private
area, being that it was
closed off to everyone
except people from the
Ist floor. And if you’re
going to try to find a hole
in my arguement by
saying I managed to gain
access, it was technically
a private place, being
that the door was closed
at most times and had a
“Keep out” sign on the
outside. If the door is
open, it’s a “public area”.
If the door is closed, it’s
not a “public area”.

I did happen to see the
girl who was sent to the
hospital. I did see several
people in authority
around her, namely

cleaned up spills of
vomit. In the edition of
the editorial what was
supposed to be printed, I
did give credit to those
who made sure she
didn’t wander off and
freeze to death or pass
out and choke on her
own vomit, namely the
RA’s and the Security
Staff. I didn’t feel it was
necessary to note that she
didn’t come from the
residence, because if she
died from _ alcohol
poisoning, all those
people who were in
authority could have
been sued for a sizeable
sum of money for
negligence anyways, but
the girl’s friends in

the case if it ever went to
court. And yes, fam aware

of the fact that the
participants signed
waivers.

The editorial was written
in the best interests of the
well being of the students
involved. Do I have
anything against parties?
Far from it. I am giving
an insight to a worst case
scenario. If the girl
actually died of alcohol
poisoning on the way to the
hospital, everybody
involved would be knee
deep in excrement. I’m not
opposed to a bunch of
people having fun. How
ever did you get that idea?

You also mentioned that
there was zero damage to

the window that got
smashed while the
people who lived in that
particular suite were
passed out, although to
their defence, they had
no idea what happened,
how it happened, why
it happened, or when it
happened.

And do I really want
to move to the third
floor? Thanks, but no
thanks. From the tone
of your response, I get
the impression that I
wouldn’t be _ very
welcome there. So, no,
I’m not jealous at all.

Peace,
Vince Yim

security staff_and the residence would also facilities. You obviously

Poison Pen

Valentine’s Day huh?
Sounds to me like a hoax

created by the greeting -
‘conclusion while walking

card companies and
flower stores to suck
some more money from
those emotionally cripple
co-dependents out there.
Anyway judging from
the number of people
who complained that my
last column didn’t have
its usual bite, you must
be a very hard bunch to
please. Lucky for you
though...I aim to please.
So let’s talk about the
most oppressed people
on the planet. No, it’s not
women crushed under
the centuries of
patriarchy. No, it’s not
natives fighting for their
land or minorities being
culturally oppressed.
Yet at the same time it is
all of these groups plus so
many more. Children

are the most oppressed
group on the planet.
I came to this

through Costco and
listening to the
conversation of a mother
and a daughter. The pair
was walking by a
sampling table with hot
dogs out for consumer
tasting. The daughter
looked up with wide eyes
at the mother and said,
“May I have one
please?” The mother
looked down on the child
and said in the rudest
possible voice, “Do you
know what they are?”
At this, the child said,
“Ya.” #$The mother
replied, “You don’t like
hot dogs at home so you
don’t want one now.”
The girl insisted that she
did indeed want one now,
but the mother still

refused. She then
grabbed the girl by the
arm and pulled her along
through the store.

I just stood and stared
at the woman and girl as
they trotted off. What
gives this woman the
right to talk to another
person like that? Maybe
the daughter doesn’t like
the hot dogs at home
because her mother is a
lousy cook? Maybe
today was the day the
little girl had decided
that hot dogs could after
all be a delicious treat?
Who knows? But I don’t
think it is right to deny
someone some food
simply because at one
time they said they didn’t
like it. If an adult said
that — fo another
adult...well, I think you
can guess the probable
outcome.

Then there is the way
teachers sometimes treat
children. The example
that sticks out most in my
mind is from my time
volunteering at an
elementary school. A
young boy came in late
(about five minutes) and
the teacher looked at him
and said, “Why are you
late?” The child replied
the only way that he could:
“T just didn’t make it here
on time...I was running
late.” This question
shouldn’t be asked of
anyone that -is_ not
chronically late. It’s a
loaded question that
children are asked all the
time, along with, “Do you
know that you are late?”
Children are young...not
stupid. I am sure that they
know they are late, and
equally sure that they tried
to make it on time. The

Ian Lorenz

end result of the child
being late was he had to
stay 10 extra minutes
after school. Just
imagine if you were five
minutes late for work
and your boss made
you stay an extra 10. I
think you would be
right pissed off as was
this student, but do you
think anybody said
that he was being
treated unfairly? No
they didn’t; because in
our society, it is okay
for children to be
arbitrarily (i.e. without
due process) punished,
sometimes physically.
It almost amounts to
institutionalized
slavery. Children are
still the only segment of
society treated as the
chattel of their parents
and the only persons in
Canada that can be