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

Over The Edge welcomes all letters to 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