From midterms to
Thursday, October 30, 1997
From midterms to
UCLA: Grievances, random thoughts from one outspoken student
By A.J. Harwin
One of the worst things about UCLA is the parking ... If you don't have a parking permit already, good luck getting one ... If you didn't get one, it's $5 a day to park ... and then you have to waste time actually finding a parking spot ... or you can squeeze your car into a spot on Gayley if you're lucky, but you'll waste two hours finding a space ...
And you just know someone is going to ding your car ...
You can chance it by parking in a red zone, on a street with a designated two-hour parking limit. Keep in mind there's no parking allowed on Thursdays or Fridays from 8-10 a.m. ... so you'll risk getting a $35 ticket ...
Who the hell is only here for two hours? Why not just designate it for two hours, 37 minutes and eight seconds?
You can park at a meter on campus for two hours max - assuming you have enough quarters. Each quarter will last you only seven-and-a-half minutes - and those in charge of parking know you don't have those quarters readily available, so pay the five bucks. You can't win here ...
And if you do pay the five bucks, I think it's fair to employ someone to valet every single car that comes in on campus ... For five bucks, someone ought to take my car, find a spot himself, and bring it back when I'm done at the end of the day ...
UCLA must have more - I was going to say meter maids, but Parking Enforcement officials is probably now the politically correct term - per capita than anywhere else on the planet ...
Attention: Registration fee payments will decrease next year by 5 percent ... Don't be surprised if parking, books and on-campus housing fees are raised to compensate ...
And as the Gas Co. sputters out of Westwood on its last fumes, I'd like to say a farewell to them - B. Dalton, the Pizza Cottage and Merry-Go Round Electronics ...
A new Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon Street, has sprung up in the old Pizza Cottage shack ... and every time I've passed by, it's been really busy ...
I'd like to thank the American Indian Student Association and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana y Chicano de Aztlan for raising my awareness on how Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World was, in reality, not so great ... To be perfectly honest, the role Columbus played in the demise of Native Americans never occurred to me ...
However, if you take a quick glance at the racial make-up of UCLA, most of its students are recent immigrants of the last 100 years ... My family has been here for only three generations.
It's unfortunate that it came at the expense of Native American culture ... Personally, had my family not come to America from Russia before World War II, my family lineage would have ended at the hands of the Nazis ...
UCLA spends so much money on wasted construction ... You'd think they would put some money into something simple like lighting by the "Rape Trail" near Saxon Suites. For those of you who don't know what it is, the "Rape Trail" is a shortcut to get to the apartments. Regardless of obstructions, students are going to use it ... Things don't get names like "Rape Trail" for nothing ...
And while we're at it, how about installing air conditioning in Haines 39? Administration might note that the intense heat in the Haines building is not conducive to the learning potential of students. It's like a sauna in there ...
Since I'm at the middle of this column, I'd like to tell you personally that midterms suck ...
This year's best new TV show is Fox's "Ally McBeal" ... It's sort of like a cross between "L.A. Law" and the "Wonder Years" ... Even though it's from a woman's point of view, I can easily relate to her insecurities about love and dating ...
Although it's definitely a very cute show, an hour is too long ... Whether it's "ER," "Melrose Place" or "NYPD Blue," a show really needs more than one main character to keep it alive for an hour ...
I feel like a criminal for staring at Fiona Apple, Let's face it, she looks like she's 11 or 12 ...
She made this big deal on MTV about how it doesn't matter what someone looks like; looks are not what makes them special ... This is the same person that was practically naked in her videos, and on the VH1 Fashion Awards this week ... I'd like to see her pull off the same positive reception if she was built more like Carnie Wilson from the defunct Wilson Phillips ...
In a parody of Wilson Phillips on Saturday Night Live a few years back, Chris Farley played Carnie Wilson ...
I think I'm the only one happy about the new and free Bruin Card ... mainly because my wallet was stolen last summer, and I don't need to spend another $15 on a new ID card ...
Matchbox 20 ... "I want to push you down, I want to take you for granted." Somehow I don't think those are the best pick-up lines these days ...
And I'm not surprised USAC's stand against Nike resulted in a full-page ad in the Daily Bruin denouncing Nike's right to invade UCLA land. Further infractions will result in the dissing and name-calling of all students wearing Nike products by USAC members ... probably followed by a demonstration march through Westwood where all students can participate - sponsored by Reebok. And if USAC can think of any things of importance to do against Nike, I'm sure they'll Just Do It ...
And finally, I just felt it appropriate to quote the great philosopher king Zack Morris from "Saved by the Bell" - "I love school ... It's too bad the classes get in the way."
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