Dear Editor,
After reading Will Haun's recent gay marriage column this reader was left extremely confused about what exactly he was advocating.ÿ On one hand it was not an ideologically conservative one, nor was it a purely religious one, and it clearly was not a progressive essay advocating full equality. ÿ In a way, Mr. Haun is like the United States, unsure about what role Americans who are gay should play in American life, and also unsure about what we are to do with marriage. ÿ The answer to the first question is to embrace Americans who are gay with the same fervor that we do any other American.ÿ The answer to the second question is much more complicated.ÿ
ÿ What is marriage?ÿ In the ancient days it was the union between a man and a woman, but the man could sleep with the slave women to produce an heir (see Abraham and Sarah). ÿ The 600's saw the Prophet Mohammed having several different wives.ÿ The Bourbon family used marriage as a treaty making device during their reign Thomas Jefferson had a wife, and then had a few mistresses. The late 1800's saw the LDS church practicing polygamy. ÿ In the 1950s TV producers invented the Cleaver family.
ÿ Even in the present day marriage means different things to different people. ÿ In my own personal belief it is a sacrament given by the Church to a man and a woman for the express purpose of pro-creation.ÿ My friend Jon's church confers the rite upon any loving couple (including he and his boyfriend in the near future.)ÿ My feminist friend finds that marriage is nothing more than middle class prostitution designed to exploit the wealth of women in a male dominated world.ÿ To Brittney Spears it was a quickÿ new flash.ÿ Who is right?ÿ Everyone.ÿ We will each live a life of our own choosing based on our personal religious beliefs guaranteed by the First Amendment.
ÿ The problem is that the state provides material benefits to one definition, one man and one woman.ÿ Why do we do this?ÿ To benefit children is the knee jerk answer!ÿ Yet, that answer is flawed. ÿ If the interest was truly on children should we not provide benefits for children rather than their parents?ÿ Are the same people who are chanting that marriage is for children also chanting that we need child-care subsidies? Education subsidies? Paid maternal leave?ÿ Not likely.ÿ Lets take the state out of marriage and leave it to be a personal bond that a person freely enters into.ÿ
Paul Breaux SIS, '07
Dear Editor,
In response to Jesse Epstein's misguided "truth" written in "Two Truths and a Lie: These quarterbacks are The Truth" from January 19.
Take this ridiculous quote, with regards to Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Plummer: "The career mediocres are studs at this point and will lead their teams to home victories this weekend."
Matt Hasselbeck can hardly be placed with Jake Plummer as a career mediocre.ÿ Since Hasselbeck has become a full-time starter in 2002, he has thrown for more than 3,000 yards each year and thrown more than 20 TDs three times.ÿ That's after both giving it off to Shaun Alexander and letting him score a ton of TDs and factoring in a tandem of receivers who for a few years did nothing but drop the ball.
Plummer, in that same time frame, failed to reach 3,000 twice and over the course of his 9-year career, he's thrown more TDs than interceptions only four times.
Toss Plummer in as a career mediocre who had risen to the occasion until the playoffs against Pittsburgh, that's fine.ÿ But to say Hasselbeck, who is still young in his career, years-wise, has been mediocre, and has suddenly become a "stud" is off.ÿ
Your analysis of Hasselbeck is a lie.ÿ
Mine is the truth.
1-0, me.
C. Brandon Chapman Seattle, WA
Dear Editor,
A blurb? Are you serious? AU's wrestling is the best team we have right now, currently ranked #25 in the country and recently lost a close match to #3 Nebraska, at Lincoln! All they get is a few sentence blurb? AU is in the midst of its best season ever and can realistically have multiple All-Americans and potentially 2 NCAA champs,.something AU has never had before in anything, ever. So as an alumnus of the program, I'm extremely disappointed with the lack of coverage in the student newspaper. Students for years have complained of a lack of school spirit at AU.
Recent national success, via the field hockey and CC/Track & Field programs, is now being continued by Mark Cody's wrestling program and it deserves much more attention than your staff is currently giving it. It would be an absolute shame if the wrestling program finished the year with AU's first NCAA champ and multiple All-Americans and all the Eagle wrote about was the men's and women's hoops teams once again not winning the Patriot League. The Patriot League!
It's part of your responsibility to communicate the news and successes of AU athletics to the university community. All I'm asking is that you do your job
Matthew Pellegrino Class of 2005
