A recent “open letter” address to me was printed in the November 15th edition of the Grinnell Herald Register and asked for a response. I would like to offer the following as a reply to that letter.
In the recent election the Democratic Party made a determined effort to register college students to vote. They did so because more often than not those voters will register as Democrats and vote accordingly. It has been their practice both locally and throughout the state for many years. This year was different in that Iowa was a battleground state in the Presidential campaign. Students were encouraged to vote in Iowa, instead of their “hometown,” where their vote would carry greater weight in the Bush/Kerry contest. In addition the Democrats targeted two local races, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat Senator Neal Schuerer and myself. The local Democratic Party also arranged for two satellite voting locations on the college campus one on October 5th and another on October 30th. This combined with an aggressive absentee voting effort was designed to convert those registrations to actual votes on Election Day. It was a logical political strategy on the part of the Democrats and one can hardly blame them for working hard to carry out the plan.
In response to this political effort the Republican Party in Iowa distributed a brochure in House District 75 “alerting” Republicans to this tactic being used by the Democrats. Given the effort of the Democrats to take advantage of a rather large block of friendly partisan voters one can hardly blame the Republicans for trying to thwart that effort.
However, the brochure in question was inaccurate in the way it portrayed Grinnell College Students. The mailing indicated that “1,000 east-coast liberal kids” would be voting. That is not accurate. There are not 1,000 students from the east-coast attending Grinnell College. In addition, of those who do attend Grinnell not all are “liberal” in their political philosophy. Furthermore the mailing said “They’re not from here. They won’t stay here. But they’re voting here”. Technically those are true statements. Most Grinnell College students have hometowns somewhere other than House District 75 or Iowa. As the letter stated only about 10 percent of the Grinnell College students are from Iowa. Also, most Grinnell College students will leave Iowa after graduation. SCIPE (Student Campaign for Increased Political Engagement) found the statements offensive and felt like they were meant to exclude “student residents” from the democratic process. If I were in their position I might feel the same way.
I would like to publicly apologize for the inaccurate statements in the brochure. Although I did not see the mailing prior to its distribution I should have and will try to do better in the future. Having been the victim of repeated distortions, exaggerations and outright lies in the form of political brochures I can sympathize with those who find themselves in similar circumstances.
In order for me to do my best in serving the people of House District 75 in the 81st General Assembly I need to put this election behind me. It was one of the most disturbing experiences in my political experience and I don’t think we should dwell on it any more. As I said in the interview with the paper “The election is over. This was an unpleasant experience for all involved. Let’s put it behind us and move on”.
—State Representative Danny Carroll
Dear Editor,
A couple of weeks ago, in an article titled “Posse Power” there was a misrepresentation of the group, Grinnell Posse One. Whereas the entire article focused on Grinnell Posse Two, one of only two sentences mentioning Posse One was a note of how many multicultural students we admitted into the group. The sentence read: “Of the 12 students in 2007’s Posse class, eleven are multicultural students.” This implies that one of our members is white. I got the sense that our one white scholar didn’t really contribute to the diversity at Grinnell…and that’s absolutely wrong. As a college, we are constantly trying to bring diversity to campus, but end up defining it as solely racial. The reporter failed to mention that the scholar was Jewish and comes from a community where he was the minority; the dominant religion is Catholicism and the dominant race is Latino. This makes our singled-out scholar as multicultural as any other member of the Posse groups. As a scholar myself, I am sometimes offended by the notions people get when they hear I’m from Posse, and I think the reporter definitely helped by breaking down some of those negative notions, but at the same time made a mistake by misjudging our “left-out” scholar. I believe that we all contribute one way or another to the diversity on campus, but I also feel that we shouldn’t always judge others’ cultural capital by means of skin color.
—Lester Aleman ‘07 [incorrectly printed as '05 in the print edition]
I’m certain that by now, everyone is aware of the death of Thomas Alexander - a good man, a great friend, the very epitome of a Grinnellian. I write in response to his death.
My political idol, John Kerry, said once in a speech that “Every day is extra.” Having never been on the field of battle - except battle waged with foam swords, of course - I never truly understood the magnitude of that statement until Sunday. Thomas is tragic proof of the fragility of our right to existence, of the stunning and cruel fact that nature can take that right from us in the blink of an eye, without warning or explanation.
He is proof that senseless death transcends age, nationality or political party affiliation. Just as death transcends those lines, it is my hope that grief for him in this community will transcend those lines, encompassing professors and students, jocks and hippies, males and females.
It is appropriate that grief at his death should be universal, for Thomas’s love of life and of his fellow humans was universal. Never once in the entire time I knew him - and he and I were acquainted for most of our Grinnell careers, though I only became close to him towards the end of our sophomore year - did I hear him speak a callous or cold word to anyone. As is true of everyone, Thomas was closer to some people than to others, but he treated everyone with respect and decency, tolerating and sometimes even embracing those who were ostracized by others.
For those who didn’t know him, no words of mine can paint a picture of his character that would be fitting. Though I am a speechwriter by vocation, what words of mine or anyone’s could possibly describe the exact quantity of the light that shot forth from Thomas’s eyes every time you met his gaze, or the cunning fox’s grin he wore as he charged onto the Dag field with his beloved spear or traded banter with his dear friends over video games?
What words could adequately quantify the passion that thrummed in his voice when he spoke about politics or the soft, almost reverent tones he used when speaking to or about his beloved fiancé Aven, which told beyond any doubt the depths of the intimacy between them? What words could I use to describe that set of mannerisms - which would have earned sneering and mockery for many but which were so well-suited to him - which he used to make everyone around him laugh on a regular basis?
No words can do him justice, so this small eulogy will have to serve as a poor substitute for justice: a great man has fallen, a leader of men, with a kind heart and a freight of good dreams that are now tragically lost, jettisoned into the sea of eternity. He was the very example of integrity and self-actualization, and everyone who knew him and everyone who didn’t has much to learn from his example.
Here’s to Thomas, for he fought the good fight, he finished the course, he kept the faith.
Yours most sincerely and respectfully,
—John Bennett Abramowitz ‘05
Thank you Waltz committee for deciding on an electronic invitation this year. During my past two years I’ve certainly appreciated the elegant announcement on cardstock that appeared in my mailbox. But, that appreciation lasted only a few minutes. Soon enough I’d put my invite in the recycling bin, along with hundreds of others, and wonder whether there might be some other way to publicize this fancy fete. Following in the economically and environmentally friendly footsteps of the campus memo, the Waltz organizers have done an excellent job on designing a classy “e-invite” while avoiding the waste of the past.
—Eli Zigas ‘06
To the Harris Cinema movie goers of the Friday (Nov 19) 7:30 p.m. showing of Garden State, I’m so sorry! I was the projectionist who was supposed to show the film during the above timeslot. What happened was entirely due to my error in copying down details.
Weeks ago, while filling in my calendar for the month, I’d marked down “Showing 7:30 movie at Harris” on the Saturday Nov. 20 spot instead of the Friday 19 spot without realizing it.
At the same time, it so happened that I was preparing for the GRE that I was taking the next day, so I was holed up in some computer lab where nobody could find me right after dinner Friday evening until early Saturday morning. That’s why nobody could get ahold of me to come show the movie when they realized that the projectionist didn’t show up on time.
I understand that it was a full house that night, I truly am sorry for the incovenience caused; I take full responsibility for my error and apologize for it.
—Marie Tan ‘05
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