Over The Edge Page 4 | OPINION | : October 26, 1998
It’s Not Winter Yet? ea

By Nicole Larson

On Sunday October
18, | woke up to snow
and not the little tiny
skiff of snow that so fre-
quently one wakes to on
an October morning
either. This was real,
wet, sticky snow. | was
not surprised.

| have lived in Prince
George for most of my
life, so | know snow. |
know about when it
should arrive, usually
mid-October sometimes

as early as_ late
September, always,
always for Halloween. |
know about when it
should be gone, by the
end of April. | know all
about the different kinds
of snow: wet, dry, soft,
icy. You name the kind
of snow, chances are
I've had contact with it.

Now, | like snow, to a
point. | love to watch
snow fall, to dance in
tiny pirouettes as it is

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the editor and attempts to print every

submission. Submissions may be with-
held and printed at a later date due to

spacial restrictions

Over The Edge reserves the right to edit

for spelling, grammar, content, withhold,
in whole or in part any Letter to the
Editor.
Anonymous Letters will not be a
in any way shape or form.

pushed by the breeze. |
also love the way a lawn
looks covered in a fresh
blanket of deep snow. |
really like snow but as
soon as the paperboy
tromps his way through
my front lawn or the
rogue neighborhood
dog bounds through the
drifts, snow loses all of
its mystique and | come
back to the realization
that it is just snow.

Snow was right on
schedule on Sunday,
but it didn’t last long, not
even a day. | know it
will soon be back, in its
many forms, soon,
because what would
Halloween be without
snowdrifts that force
trick-or-treaties to wear
high, heavy boots, and
bundle up good under
their princess and spi-
derman costumes. It
just wouldn't be
Halloween.

Rally Protester Support

In response to James
Moore's letter “The
Chalk “Expression”:

It is obvious that the
intent behind the actions
of the two women who
chalked the Civic Centre
was not to vandalize
property. By utilizing
chalk they made sure no
damage would take
place. Chalk is easy to
remove and leaves no
nail or staple holes.
Since the women did
not want to cause prop-
erty damage one is left
to wonder about what
was damaging about the
expressions they wrote.
The two women must
have wanted their politi-
cal views to be known to
those attending the
“Unite the Right Rally’.
The expressions, written
in children’s sidewalk
chalk, were in opposi-
tion to the right-wing
presentation given at
the Rally

It is no wonder James

Moore, being a
researcher and support-
er of the right-wing,
completely avoids the
political views that the
two women wrote in
chalk (using chalk as a
political device is highly
constructive). “CAU-
TION: NOW ENTERING
BULLSHIT ZONE” at
the entrance of the Rally
is an interesting mes-
sage. “WAKE UP
RALLY GOERS - THE
RIGHT-WING AGENDA
IS THE CORPORATE
AGENDA” says a lot
about the political views
of the two women.
Others were “FREE
MARKET THEORY IS A
MYTH”, “DISSATISFIED
WITH THE NDP? YES!
BUT UNITING THE
RIGHT !S WRONG’,
“GO LEFT NOT RIGHT”
along with “THE RIGHT-
WING AGENDA DOES-
N’T INCLUDE SOCIAL
WELFARE PRO-
GRAMS’. The erosion
of our public programs

by an ideology that puts
profits before people
must be an issue for the
two women.

By neglecting to men-
tion what the women
wrote and by focusing
on the idea of them
being “tacky” “unimagi-

native” “vandals” one
cannot help but con-
clude that James Moore
has been aggravated
and insulted by what the
women wrote. The tone
of his letter is quite agi-
tated and defensive.
The numerous refer-

Make love,
not war.

ences he makes about
the two women being
kindergartenish, child-
ish, and adolescent-like,
as if writing in this way is
a sign of maturity. Any
effort going against the
current system that is
promoting the corporate

Injured Student Debate

To the Editor,

With regards to “Taking
Pictures of Injured
Students” Aaron
Mahoney, October 12th
issue, it should be
noted that the photog-
rapher does not pos-

sess any right to photo-

graph someone or
something. The inven-
tion of film, lenses and
paper gave us the privi-
lege of reporting issues
to the general public,
who might otherwise
have gone _ happily
uninformed, oh the
bliss of ignorance. The

invention of atomic
weaponry doesn't give
us the right to detonate
wherever and whenev-
er we please for the
good of our country. His
argument that students
might not have the “real
story” without the pho-
tograph is a naive one.
Most photographic jour-
nalists are well aware
of the fact that the cam-
era is an excellent tool
of propaganda when its
necessary. And it has
always been that good
journalism is about pre-
senting one side of the
story, not “present-

ing...stories accurate-
ly”. Just ask the CBC
about Conrad Black's
decision to print one
side of the Nisga‘a
Treaty story, and not
the other, in his numer-
ous Canadian newspa-
pers. Mahoney's final
comment was, “don’t
put your hand in front of
my lens”; if someone
feels strongly enough
to physically place
themselves between
lens and subject, its
their right. Perhaps
they were infringing on
the personal space of
the photographer, or

takeover (privatization)
of social programs - and
with it the loss of any
public voice in decision-
making is commend-
able.

Bruce Passmore

perhaps Mahoney was
infringing on the space
of those involved. In
your position | would
have been annoyed,
yet | also would have
made an attempt to
understand the motiva-
tion of the owner of that
“hand”. Good journal-
ism does not require
that we objectify the
most hideous of life's
experiences.

Penny K Brown
2nd year, General
Science