Sacramento State Students may have been troubled by a recent article by Sacramento Bee columnist R.E. Graswich. The article effectively branded the younger generation as cowards. Wrote Graswich, “This should be a time when young people are lining up outside military recruiting stations. But it?s not.” Partially true, but his main source, Maj. Isabella Mayo, who runs several Army recruiting offices in the Sacramento area, claims to be misquoted.

As reported in The Bee, Mayo said, “I saw young people at Sac State saying how they would love to do something in response to the terrorist attacks. Well, we have a two-year enlistment plan. That would give them plenty to do. They are waving flags, which is great, but they aren?t willing to serve.” We may never know what parts of that statement were true, but Mayo sang a much different tune to this columnist.

Said Mayo, “I haven?t lost any faith and neither has the Army. I have a lot of faith in the young people of Sacramento.” She fully expects our youth to serve if they are called upon, she said. Mayo also reported that Army recruitment has far exceeded this year?s expectations, a fact that was skipped in The Bee.

For the record, recruitment has remained steady since the Sept. 11 disaster, exactly as it should. This is not WW II. There is not the inevitability of a massive land war that would require “lining up outside military recruitment stations,” as suggested by Graswich. The younger generation is smart enough to understand this. To those of you who share Graswich?s thoughtless bravado: welcome to the 21st century. The rest of you keep waving those flags?

?If Sac State students are not lining up, we are holding hands, courtesy of the Athletic Marching Band. Several band students honored the victims of the terrorist attacks by coordinating a vigil in the Library Quad on the evening of Sept. 11. There were no politics, no bellicose calls for revenge and none of the righteous indignation that has been seen on television. An estimated 250 people gathered by candlelight with no goal but to honor the victims of the attack.

The student-coordinated event was not planned overnight. It was planned that day. “We thought about what we wanted to do and kind of winged it,” said Drum Maj. Shari Gross. Once the idea was conceived that Friday, it snowballed. Some band students posted fliers around campus, while others scrambled to area grocery stores to purchase candles. Professors reportedly announced the vigil to their classes. The overwhelming number of students and faculty in attendance brought banners and flags.”For something that wasn?t very planned, I thought it was very successful,” Gross said.

The 45-minute event consisted of singing (my voice cannot quite handle the National Anthem, and to the people standing near me: I?m sorry) and some humble words from Band Director Jeff Edom who called for a moment of silence. It was a moment of silence I?ll never forget?

?The Mattel Company has been trying hard lately to bring Barbie dolls within the realm of political correctness. The company now has a line that includes handicapped and presidential Barbies to compliment the traditional Ken-lover. Has Barbie refined her image? Not so, according to Communication Studies Professor Virginia Kidd.

“I even found a Hispanic Barbie, and she was blonde,” Kidd said. Kidd, who specializes in visual communication, resents the message that Barbie sends, in spite of attempts to lighten the doll?s image. She has presented her research at two conferences this year. Her lectures were aptly titled “Barbie Gets a Social Conscience: Do You Buy It?” and “Barbie in the New Millennium: Still Shallow After All These Years.”

Said Kidd, “Almost everything is about clothes.” She would like to see toys that are less discriminatory among genders and encourage learning.

“Toys are much more important than we think,” Kidd said.Whatever your personal feelings are, Barbie-haters are in for an uphill battle. Mattel sells 2.5 Barbies per second. I?m in the wrong business.

Joshua K. Leon is opinion editor of The State Hornet. He can be reached for any questions, comments or suggestions at [email protected].