| Summary: | EDITORIAL - McNally misses states; Newsweek misses mark Traveling along 1-94 west from Fargo towards Jamestown, one can sometimes get the feeling the only thing moving besides you and your car is the wind tossing a tumbling tumbleweed across the freeway. Sometimes it gets to a point when you would be overjoyed to see a tree. Yet even though it seems this part of America is barren and stagnant, it is no reason to believe North Dakota does not exist. Rand McNally Co. chose to conveniently leave out the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma in its Photographic World Atlas. Based on space limitations, the map makers decided these three states have nothing to offer the world, and just said "no" to the Great Plains. What does Texas or Delaware have these three states don't? "America's Outback" — the centennial states of North Dakota, c uth Dakota, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, have been getting a lot of press as of late, and it hasn't been exactly good. A recent Newsweek article (Oct. 9, 1989) said "The breathtaking Centennial West may return to what it was: vast silent spaces where wild game stare at the passing horseman." The governors, representatives and residents of the states are irate about the report, to say the least. Just because the popula-tion of these states is a little lower than Minnesota's or Califor-nia's or Ohio's doesn't mean these states shouldn't deserve the attention or consideration these naive atlas people or Newsweek writers deserve to give them. The Newsweek article touched on the economy of the Centen-nial West. It stated that "the mining, agriculture, timber and energy industries will never produce the jobs they once did. The decline has devastated many towns." Maybe they should have mentioned Minnesota or Texas or Iowa. They have had mining and agriculture problems, too. Minnesota's coal industry is get-ting better, but for a long time the Iron Range was in dire straits. Was Minnesota considered outback? No. Minnesota had the Twin Cities. Contrary to popular belief, Minnesota has more to it than Ridgedale, the Metrodome and the IDS Center. Maybe the drive to the other side of the state of North Dakota is dull. Albert Einstein once said, "People who are bored are boring people." In other words, the true wonder of these nor-thern Great Plains states lies in the people, the scenery, the history. Where else can one roam the hillsides looking for old Indian arrow heads, old buffalo skulls and see magnificent sunsets, but in the Badlands of North Dakota? What do these people want? Do they want to see an entire na-tion turn into slab after slab of-concrete highways, shopping malls, amusement parks, and skyscrapers? Sorry folks, this na-tion has more to offer. Of course it would be nice for some folks in the middle of rural North Dakota not to have to drive for two hours to go Christmas shopping, but then again, they have something people who live in the big cities could never have — they have the beauty of scenic unspoiled America. If Nfwsweek and Rand McNally judge strictly on criteria of economy, scenery and population, America as they would like to see it would consist of New York City, Los Angeles, a couple dozen other major cities, Glacier National Park, the Mississippi River and the Eastern and Western seaboard. What a wonderful world this would be? Thanks, but I think I'd rather move to Canada. The Concordian CONCORDIAN Dr. Paul Dovre, Publisher • Maria Temanson, Editor W. Scott Olsen, Adviser • Beverly McMinn. Business Manager John Borgc. Photo Adviser • Chris Opsahl, Advertising Manager Paul James. Associate Editor • Lori Eastlund. News Editor David Gibbons. Features Editor • Jay Lemke. Sports Edrtor Kirk D. Johnson. Copy Editor • Wade Gardner. Production Director Brenda Daincs, Photo Editor • Kristi Jorftenson. Typesetting Editor Janet Williamson. Administrative Assistant • Theresa Dailcy. Assistant Advertising Manager Kurt Guthmueller. Ad Production Director • Jonathan Stein. Ad Designer Scott Johnson, Graphic Artist SUrvt Hanson • John Ua/telt • Whifcy. Photographers John Bartelt • Stew Hagstrom • Ik-nut- Larson • Gary Jacobion. Sales Representatives Dean GulsUd • Tun Stwbncr • 1-isa Pedmon. Editorial Technical Workers L i u Plummer • Lara Obon. Adverting Technical Workers 8ccky FletKhaucr • Carrie Hartmann • Lisa Weckwerth. Typesetters The Concordian is the official newspaper of Concordia College and is published each Friday of the academic year except holidays and exam weeks. Opinions expressed in The Concordian are not necessarily those of the student body, faculty, staff or administration. Letters to the edrtor and guest columns provide a forum for readers. Letters must be typed, douMe-spaced and signed with the author's name, year in school and phone number for verification pur-poses. Non-students should include other identifying information, such as occupation or residency. Anonymous and form letters will not be published. Utters should not exceed 300 words and must be received no later than Monday at 5 p.m. for Friday publication. The Concordian reserves the right to edit obscene and potentially libelous material. AD tetters become the property of The Con-cordian and will not be returned. Advertising inquiries should be directed to Chris Opsahl, advertising manager, at 218-299-3827. The editorial phone is 218-299-3826. A subscription is 110 per school year, mailed upon request Offices are located at second floor Knutson Center. Concordia College, 901 South EfchtfvStreet. Moorhead, Minnesota 56560. The Cqncordian's mailing address is'F.P.0.104. Concordia Col-lege. Moorhead, Minnesota 56560. The Concordian and Concordia College are equal opportunity employers. October 13, 1989 6 IS MR. m. RfiND rmr r /* ir OK, wiru LESS TROUBLC rue fllArives To JUST rue IAJ/T// LETTERS Erickson's "Promise" misses mark; needs re-direction To the editor: There is an addict writing for the Concordian. The addict is Kevin Erickson and his drug is the Chrtstian religion. Displayed in his column "Promises," Mr. Erickson possessess the religious attitude which, I believe, has aid-ed in the decline of Christianity from evolving intellectually. Without intellectual evolution religion simply becomes, as Karl Marx would say, "the opiate of the masses." From what I understand, Mr. Erickson believes that with a strong faith in God, peoples' various problems will magically be cured. When times get tough and events happen that make us depressed it means the devil has a strong hold on our lives. Thus when positive events occur it is a result of our refound faith in God in which she/he intervenes and temporarily banishes Satan from our lives. I'm sorry, but I can't believe in metaphysical games of tug-o-war. Mr. Erickson has changed a very powerful religion into a mind-numbing drug. All you have to do is smoke a little faith and your problems will disappear. The danger Mr. Erickson's beliefs parallels the danger of drug use; nothing will ever get done. The heroin addict travels from one place to another in search of v * his/her next fix. The person who believes strong faith will cure al problems travels through life waiting for God to solv§ the world's problems, rather than tak-ing action themselves. We must ask ourselves, is it the purpose of Christianity to actively create a better reality or is it a mind alter-ing drug used to escape reality? Derek Johnson Junior Library hours changed last spring haven't solved the problem To the editor: What's- the deal with the library hours? Last year the library was open until 10:30 p.m. Friday night and until 5 p.m. Saturdays. This year, the library closes at 6 p.m. on both Fridays and Saturdays. At the end of last year, the 1 library committee of the student life commission conducted a survey of the hours students use the library and when students would like to use the library. I thought that the purpose of this survey was to switch the hours from Friday, when students are less likely to use the library, (as they have been studying all week), to Saturday, when they are more likely to study. The hours the library is open have changed this year, but we only gained one hour on Saturday, and lost four and a half hours on Friday. In effect, we bst three and a half hours of library use. Now we not only are unable to use the library Saturday night, but we can't use it Friday night either. I don't understand. Am I miss-ing something? What happened? Susan Calhoun junior Societys reputations defended by inter-society member To the editor: Why join a society that won't let you rape your date, enflict physical and mental harm on another human being, or force so-meone to do something against their will? Contrary to popular belief, those statements do not happen; All Societies are against such actions. In recent years the societies have taken on a bad reputation — a reputation that exists under false pretenses and exaggerated rumors. It's time for this reputa-tion to be turned around. When societies at Concordia were first formed, they were the sole organizations on campus. The societies contributed to every facet of campus life, and yes, they did make a difference>Jnevitably as the times changed and the col-lege grew, the societies took on a less active role. And eventually some of the societies started cer-tain activities that have given to-day's societies an undeserved reputation. Today's societies are changing societies. Societies now offer, as in the past, a chance to change things, a chance to make a dif-ference. By joining a society you not only become part of a group of people who become like brothers and sisters, you become part of a team that can and does make a difference. Through either campus activities or community service work, societies serve an important function. Give today's societies a look. . They just might turn out to be a valuable and meaningful ex-perience in your life, If you can see beyond the past rumors and want to make a difference, I en-courage you to look into Concor-dia's societies and make the difference. Todd Marolt Inter-society Counci
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