From: KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: DIARY ENTRY: September 10, 1992
Date: 10 Sep 92 23:34:24 GMT
Organization: Kamchatka Charlie

September 9, 1992:
     Already we're one week into the new school year here at Michigan
State--the first year under the semester system--and already three articles on
rape have made it to the front page.
     Friday (9/4/92, the first issue of the State News for this school year) we
have a report of a rape at Cedar Village, a group of apartments near the
Campus.  Supposedly the rape happened in the hallway of one of the apartment
buildings (of all places), and the victim knew who raped her.  Something
smelled fishy about the incident, but the reporter made it sound as if she was
exceptional in her reporting of the incident.
     Tuesday (9/8/92, the second issue...) there's a terse, three paragraph
article in the upper right hand corner of the front page.  The headline:  Rape
report was a fake.
     Geeze...the "men-as-evil-rapatious-sadistic-sex" campaign seems to have
started in earnest this year at MSU.  I wouldn't be suprised if a thousand
"Women Don't Lie" type letters have already flooded the State News editorial
department in response to the "Rape Report a Fake" story.  That woman better be
thankful her name wasn't reported in the press, she would probably not make it
one week without getting hounded to oblivion by the frat system here.
     Also, I feel for the guy.  Having been harassed once for doing something I
thought was clever at the time (I knocked on her window to get her attention. 
Even though I apologized seconds later, she called the police on me and charged
me for prowling.  Damn Bitch...) I can understand what he's going through.   
Rape is enough of a problem, the last thing we need is a faked report for half
the dedicated rapists in the area to point at and brow-whip their intended
victims with.

     Wednesday (the 9th...) The trial for another rape case made it to the
front page.  Here, the question was:  Was She Able To Give Consent?  She said
she found herself too drunk after three quarters of an East Lansing style Long
Island Iced Tea (without her knowing it was alcoholic, mind you) to give
consent, he said she took the initiative and laid HIM--then they went on the
the Silver Dollar Salloon, a once-respectable rock-n-roll bar now reduced to
the flatulance played on country stations.
     One wonders--how strong was that Long Island Iced Tea?  I had a friend to
told me that certain drinks were made weaker than usual (and less expensive
than usual, in addition) around campus.  I tried a Long Island Iced Tea once,
and wondered how it could have gotten its reputation as sobriety-slayer (this
was a campus version--again, cheaper and weaker).  I also know some people are
extremely sensitive to alcohol.  So one wonders--was she a hypersensitive or is
she trying to get even with the guy for some presently unknown reason?

     This is going to be a fun year here in East Lansing.  With the many
student-haters of East Lansing ("We came here for the college town atmosphere. 
Who brought in the students and ruined it for US???") becoming more active by
the day, I see much pressure for major restrictions to be put on the students
and MSU.  Will the university be forced to shrink down its enrollment?  Will
East Lansing become dry again?  Will a curfew for students be implemented?  And
what will go through their head when they realize that half their arts and
taken-for-granted business district becomes unviable because the students these
businesses depend on are no longer around to throw their dollars in the
businesses' coffers?
     Like I said, this will be a fun year here.
     Cheers.
Kamchatka Charlie           KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
Peace, Love, and Freedom for all.  Forget equality, that gums up the works.