Keep it in the bedroom
We live in a world today that is more accepting now than it has ever been. People are talking freely about religion, race, drugs, politics and sex; but where do we draw the line? Our society has become completely oversexed.
What happened to the days when sex was a private and personal matter? The media are catering to the idea that sex is OK to do with whomever, whenever, wherever.
TV, movies, Internet, magazines and newspapers all portray sex as this wonderful, no consequences, free to do it as you please, nonchalant hobby that “everyone is doing.” This includes the subtleties that some might find as innocent humor, i.e. cucumbers.
Sex creates a very fine line between funny and inappropriate and that line is crossed far too much, especially considering that the topic has become so commonplace. It’s no wonder we’re a nation filled with AIDS, STDs and teen pregnancy.
I’m not suggesting that we should all be a bunch of prudes; I just think that what you do on your own time, or bed for that matter is your own business. Besides the fact that we’re losing the sanctity that sex once possessed, we’re multiplying the problems that it can cause.
People obviously don’t realize that sex comes with responsibility. I think if you willingly have sex and you get pregnant “by accident,” you have nothing to blame it on except your own stupidity. If you contract herpes and you “don’t understand because you thought you knew the person,” it’s your own fault.
Granted, it’s ultimately your choice to do what you please, but I don’t think you need to broadcast it to everyone, nor should it have to be you to whom it is broadcast. The media aren’t thinking that what they show and write has such an impact on society, or are they?
If they are, then we’re in worse shape than I thought.
Kelly Davis
Freshman
Mass Communication
Economic conditions don’t justify raises
On Saturday, January 24, The Baton Rouge Advocate reported that Louisiana’s interim legislative financial body voted to give its two leaders a 28 percent pay raise!
The recent pay raise for House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Alario, Jr. and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Francis Heitmeier should be appalling to Louisianians when our state is facing a bleak fiscal year in 2004.
This extra 28% of funds could have gone to help buy a poverty-stricken senior medicine, or to help a high school purchase new books, or to give a scholarship, or to the Charity Hospital system. The list goes on with wiser uses, but our new financial legislative leaders decided to line their pockets a little more.
Representative Alario and Senator Heitmeier were under two weeks into their new jobs when the meeting occurred. What can we expect when the Louisiana Legislature convenes this March? If the past meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget is any indication, Alario and Heitmier will fund pet projects while driving our state deeper into fiscal oblivion.
Governor Blanco, when the budgetary piggy bank is empty, look no further than your own hand-picked legislative leaders.
Devin Reid
Sophomore
Latin and Political Science
Bus system needs overhaul
I am writing this letter in regards to the LSU bus system.  I know that I do not stand alone in saying how frustrating and inefficient it is.   
A normal day for me and my sorority sisters involves the expectation of a bus passing us up or the necessity of making alternative transportation plans. 
The 8-minute system they pride themselves on too often proves itself to be nothing but a 15-20 minute system with, at times, three buses following one another. This is no fault of the drivers, but of the entire system. 
There should be an efficient and synchronized plan to work with the needs of the drivers including their lunch and bathroom breaks.     
As students, we find it very aggravating to load a bus to find out that the driver will be taking a break. To achieve a less stressful day for us all, I think this should be taken into consideration. This is their job to make sure we can do our job, school.
Megan Harney
Sophomore
Mass Communication
We’ve heard enough about parking
Parking, parking, parking.
Honestly. As a 5th year student at LSU, I’ve heard these same lame arguments at the start of every semester. Parking is too far from class, parking is too far from the dorms, but in all honesty, parking is just fine.
I lived in the dorms for a few years and I live off campus and commute now. Both had their drawbacks, both have their advantages. That’s how life works and if it’s a problem, tough.
Living on campus was great, I could roll out of bed 15 minutes before class and didn’t have to fight traffic beyond a crosswalk on Highland, but on those nights when I was returning from work or the grocery store at 9 p.m. there wasn’t a parking spot anywhere near my dorm.
Oh well. That’s the price I pay for getting to sleep in.
Now, off campus, I have to drive to school. Frankly, after so many semesters full of Reveille opinions about how awful commuting is I cringed at the thought. Come to find out, it’s not so bad.
I park across the Nicholson Extension from CEBA, and walk to the quad for my history classes every day. It’s barely a 10 minute walk.
Granted, some days I am tired or late and that walk seems interminable, and on hot days the ragged air can be suffocating for those 10 minutes.
Oh well. That’s the price I pay for living rather independently off campus.
Seriously, folks. Grow up. As much as I love cars, I know that we have legs to walk, not to work the gas pedals. And arms are for carrying books, not just to turn the wheel.
LSU does not expect us to grin and bear it, and all this whining does not make us seem lazy. LSU expects us to act like sensible college students, but instead we are indeed just lazy. Walking to and from class won’t kill you.
I don’t think your convenience should get in the way of LSU’s expansion, stadium, mystery building, whatever. And if walking is such a trial, get up earlier and beat the rush to campus.
If you make it in time, you might be able to park in the hall outside your class.
Will Morrison
Senior
Secondary Education