Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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Halley ' s comet was indeed visible in AJabama. This piclure was taJten in North SiieJby County on March 17. « A here the hell is it? YY ' I don ' t know. Oh! Is that it? No you fool That ' s the red light on the Channel 13 Tower, Go ask that guy over there. Which one? The one with the 6 foot telescope. Oh, you mean the one looking in the opposite direction that we are? Yes, that ' s the one. Oh, Okay. Well, what did he say? He said that Larry Nobles said it was supposed to be next to the constellation Centarus. Well where the hell is that? I guess next to the comet. So go the scientific observations of two faithful followers of Halley ' s Com- et. They were a small part of the uni- versal many who readied themselves for the arrival of Halley. The latest in- formation on the comet was gathered by subscribing to Science and Sky and Telescope magazines and by watching Star Hustler weeknights at 11:00 p.m. on PBS. Just about everybody tried at least once to spot the comet — to get a view of that marvelous tail streaking across the heavens. Beginning in November the comet grew from a small fuzz ball until its height at its closest point to Earth on April 6, when it appeared as a giant fuzz ball only a mere 39 million miles away. Of course the view from the city wasn ' t that great for viewing a fuzz ball. The li ghts and pollution blocked out just about anything celestial. An exodus to the country was needed. The best place to view the comet was at roadside park on 280 past Lloyd ' s restaurant in Shelby county. On an average night there were about 100 people looking for the dot in the sky. There were families with crying babies; left-over hippies playing Aquarius on harmonicas; and many professional junior astronomers who moaned when a carlight obstructed their vision. On that early magical morning of April 6th, about 1000 people showed up. At ' Southern, comet pools were formed to take people to see Halley. The planetarium was jumpin ' with standing programs on the comet. Dr. Boardman had a constant smile on his face for six months. The comet may not have turned out as promising as advertised. The tail, if there ever was one may have been a little too short, and those reports of you can see it with the naked eye may have been slightly misleading, but Halley ' s comet was still the event of a lifetime. All those kids who found Halley Telescopes under the tree on Christmas morning can pull them back out in 2062, when comet Halley returns. i»lig3 Isi Cut Where Wao It? By Tom Doggett Halley ' s Comet— 241

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-Si y cop - A photograph of the Comet tak- en from Mi. Hopkins, Arizona on Sept. 15. At the time of the photograph, the comet was 200 milhon miles from earth. . -: . :.: .. f.: ...«iS ..:.aSS. ., m 240— L sues

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By Shannon Manthey 3 Di hiking A e Gues Ujj On September 31, 1986, an event took place that affected the entire college-age population across the U.S. This certain event placed a pronounced limit upon leisure-time activities; in ad- dition, it caused and is still causing this age group undue stress due not only to the limit mentioned above also due to the frustrating search for new socially, politically, and legally acceptable activ- ities. The event to which reference is being made concerns the raising of the national drinking age from 19 to 21 years old. So, at the age of 19, a young man can drive a car, vote, get marled, be drafted, and is legally considered an adult. The logical assumption follows that this responsibility extends to alcohol consumption; however, this is no longer true! In the under 35 crowd, the general attitude is let ' s get wasted not shall we have a cocktail this evening. In the South, the traditional Southerners totally detest the thought of poisoning the mind and body with alcohol while they sit back on their plantation porches sipping mint juleps or mimosas. The rednecks are rather gung-ho when it comes to finishing that bottle of Jack Daniels. But the new law doesn ' t effect the mint juleps or the Jack Daniels because mint juleps are for sophisticates and Jack can be gotten by just about anyone. The real effect will be felt by the new under age college crowd. By the time the class of ' 89 graduates from college, very few le- gal drinkers will be on campus. The image painted by movies such as Ani- mal House, depict the typical college student as a commode-hugging drunk. College students really do not fall into this stereotype (at least not all the dme). By 1989, what are college students going to drink? Kool-aid? Hey, Kool- aid is the one for kids! is not exactly what we had in mind. The future doctors and lawyers of the 1990 ' s will have to look up the word hangover in Webster ' s Dictionary in order to know what it is. When these students are es- tablished, they will probably come home and ask their husband or wife, honey, can you mix me a strong pitcher of grape juice — I have had a bad day. Times have changed. Right now the college student is caught in a transition- al period between the mint julep of the past and the Kool-aid of the future. How are they going to cope? With the raising of the drinking age, could the government be causing excessive psychological problems in the guiding lights of our future? That question remains to be answered. FvTl W 242— Issues