Graf's columns trivialize women\nIn my time at IU, there have been opinion columns that have captured my attention, either for good or ill, but none of them has elicited so violent a response from me as some of the columns that Ms. Bridget Graf has written this semester.\nOf all the vapid, generalizing writing I've had the misfortune to read in my life, Ms. Graf's columns are the most astounding. Her columns routinely trivialize women; I find it insulting that she makes such sweeping statements as, "There is something about being a woman that forces us to indulge in shopping extravaganzas, try on everything possible in the closet, and then throw temper tantrums like 5-year-olds when we hate everything we put on" ("You are what you wear," Feb. 6). I beg Ms. Graf's pardon, but I haven't thrown a temper tantrum since well before the age of five, and I'm certain that many other women here at IU can say the same.\nI can sympathize with anyone's desire not to write about some of the troubling issues of today -- goodness knows that the rest of the media inundates us with updates regarding the "War on Terrorism" and the Enron hoopla. I even applaud Ms. Graf's efforts to write about being a woman at IU. I deplore her methods, however. The stereotypes she perpetuates are the ones that lead young girls to value themselves for their looks alone, as so many other things in our image-obsessed society encourage.\nI am tired of turning to the opinion page of the IDS, only to find columns that would be more at home on the pages of Vogue. Please, Ms. Graf, if you must write about being a woman, write about the things that concern us all -- not the things that you and your friends giggle about together while primping for a night out.\nEmily M. Hurford\nSenior
Peace camp tents should come down\nAs a business student, I rarely experience the displeasure of walking by the "peace camp" in front of the Indiana Memorial Union. However, important errands sometimes require my walking down Seventh Street in disgust. I have tried to understand these campers; I even visited with a few of them in early October, which made me wonder if these people were even Americans. \nBesides the campers seeming to be representing and understanding of terrorist organizations, they are living in disgusting and unsanitary conditions to which I do not want to be exposed. I thank God my grandparents, who are paying for most of my college, haven't seen this filth in the middle of the campus.\nThey would truly look upon this university in disgrace. This mess should be torn down.\nI feel sorry for the ROTC men and women who have to walk by this dump and know that they will be defending these tent people. I beg these people to please pack up their tents and read some American history -- not just the First Amendment.\nDuring World War II, there were college-age students lining up to enlist, eager to defend America. These days, before America even attacked anyone, we had tents in the middle of campus. If these campers are just looking for attention, then they should join the military, because they defend our rights -- not shame them.\nGlen Carson\nSenior
Well-paid jobs hard to find \nI appreciated Rebecca Riall's letter ("Appalled by Baron Hill's comments," Feb. 5). Allow me to add more.\nIt's obvious Congressman Baron Hill, D-Ind., (supporter of NAFTA) is totally out of touch with reality. During his appearance at Ivy Tech Feb. 1, he indicated that there are "well-paid jobs in the service sector of the Bloomington community."\n I would like to know where they might be. Would that be K-Mart, Target, Wal-Mart or the Cracker Barrel? Many of these places only pay the minimum wage and employ their workers less than 40 hours to avoid any kind of adequate benefits. \nAre these jobs supposed to be compensation for those who were laid off from GE or Thompson or those people who are, in Hill's own words, "young and pretty"?\nDave Johnson\nBloomington
