University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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. j'iLg; t n.X, xxxxxxxxxxx l IIIIH I'A-Cs .1--- - - . , By Dave Von Drehle am alone in my kitchen. On the stereo Rubinstein plays Rachmaninoff. I first heard this melody in high school, and I swore it was the most beautiful in the world. It was the only great melody I knew. ? here are no more easy answers. I College has come between me and that cer- tainty. Now I know Handel and Haydn. Mozart and Mendelssohn. Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Chopin and Couperin. Telemann and Tchaikov- sky. I canit say what is most beautiful anymore. On my wall is a print of a Monet. itBoats at Argenteuilf it is called. Two years ago I knew it was my favorite painting in the world -- the shimmering orange boathouse and the white sails reflected in single broad brushstrokes on the sky-blue water. But in college I have seen the masterpieces of Michaelangelo and Manet; Picasso, da Vinci, Degas and Van Gogh -- a thousand breathtaking canvasses. I cantt say any more which is my favorite. And I was no different than any high school sophomore. I knew Catcher In The Rye was the greatest book ever written. Then came Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, Dickens, Twain, Melville, Goethe, Thoreau, Augustine, Homer, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Cervantes, Tolstoy and the rest. And whois number one? I thought I knew right from wrong. Then came Ben- tham, on the one hand, and Socrates on the other. I thought I knew the way the world worked. But Hobbes and Jefferson cantt both be right. I thought I knew what beauty was. But then there was Plato, and to confuse mat- ters, Kant. I thought at least I knew where money came from. Wrong. Smith and Marx each makes a powerful argument. And on and on. I feel as though light years have come and gone smce I left my high school; put letter jackets and Jacked-up Camaros and meeting the gang at Mickey D,s behind me. In those days I knew all the answers, tJust lik . . e I thought I could wr1te until I read Steinbeck,s Travels Wm. Charley. lid sell my soul to be able to write just One Of the perfect, plain sense sentences of that book. But it wouldntt work. Marlowe tells us all about soul sellingI. College Was to be tolerated -- a waystation where my tthe-knows-it-allv, papers would be issued. Then on to a career. I had it all picked out. Not anymore. I am reduced to an endless stream of questions: What shall I do with myself? What do I want? What is best? For me? For others? What do I believe? Why? Who cares? Who should? ths to say? Surely this is not what college was meant to do. In a sense I am stripped of confidence in my ideas, in my capacity and my ability. College has dragged me into the presence of the greatest minds and talents of all history, and made me look. I am like Lotls wife, who looked back at the power of God as he destroyed Sodom and Gomor- rah. She was turned to a pillar of salt. live looked at the power of the greatest men, and I am transfixed and im- mobilized by it. For to struggle, grovelling, for kernels of knowledge already chewed and spit out by the great men seems so futile. And it seems so useless to seek after truths -- not if they couldnlt find them. To make matters worse, I am not nearly finished with college. If trends continue, who knows how I might end up: a blithering idiot? An analyst on the Chicago Board Of Trade? A congressman? But then, illuminated this night by the work of Fara- day and soothed now by Mozart; allowing my troubled, unsure mind to tumble through the jumble of these tighIIY' packed college years spent shattering my false truths on the anvil of great art and ideas, I pause. Thoughts of the many great already, thoughts of many more. I used to know all the answers, but the easy answers are gone. And I am We in awe than I was then, but I am less lonely. Less alone 111 the lost crowd of twenty-first century folks. A slick trade, perhaps. men live mentioned D . ave Von Drehle served as editor of the Clarion for the academic year 1981-82. iitlnmlhmnl tlluiemul , minim llfltllt michaclH's' MlllldM'i Sa'elopsllat'll I frlieliomhd' i Mimi a oiledaidofld llelylodudapu' Il'illtddjrm.l Mll-wlih Immu- llllparm' . a WE: Emittm'

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51 liktl ?T'i'dslllh 1W 0mmi Bluitwouldnvl H - -COIlegewa; ' knowit-auu i -- - l hadilal WIMIM i I' kbulllo: . Whom? mmtodolni my idea, inm't wt meintolli ofallhistori Iholooledbai l u HI MOON I'Rmdalliz mfuedandl .. oflnowklir g. Juvenile Justice In Perspective by Dana U. Wakefield Every year, we hear renewed cries from the public for law and order, stiffer prison sentences for Violent and repeat criminals, and for something to be done about the increasing rate of juvenile delin- quency and teenage prostitution. How much do we hear by com- parison about child abuse, neglect, and incest? If we want something done about crime, delinquency, and prostitution, then we must lobby our legislators as zealously for more and better utilized resources for treating child abuse and neglect as we lobby for stiffer sentences and more prison facilities. Juveniles do not become burglars, auto thieves, and the like by suddenly deciding one day that crime sounds like a fun way to pass an otherwise boring Saturday evening without a date; adults do not become criminals because they got sick of work or their wife and kids and decided one day that rape, murder, and embezzlement better suited their life style; teenage girls and boys do not unexpectedly throw off their cheerleading outfits and football uniforms in exchange for the garb 0f the street prostitute so as to earn a quick buck or to add a little spice to their lives. These unacceptable aberra- tions from the norm were seeded long before they came into public View as a crime statistic. Long ago in childhood, the pattern was set. There are those professionals who will tell you that they can watch a childis interaction with his parents at four to six months and predict what is in store for that child as he develops. That is not entirely overstated. Consider some of the tirelations back,l from later problems to earlier childhood experiences: some studies claim that children who are not cuddled and offered ample physical affection as infants are likely to develop more violent personalities; the majority of juvenile delinquents suffer from some form of learning disability a while learning disabilities are arguably organic, they may well be rooted in or substantially contributed to by poor parenting; a majority of teenage prostitutes have a history of sexual abuse by fathers, brothers, uncles, neighbors, etc.; the vast majority of the prisoners in the Col- orado State Penitentiary were abused or neglected as children; most of the parents we see in juvenile courts for abuse or neglect of their children were abused or neglected themselves when they were children. From generation to generation, the chain often seems unbreakable. Please do not make the mistake, however, of turning the statistics around and concluding from all of this that abused children will necessarily abuse their children or become criminals, that all sexually abused children will grow up to be prostitutes, that all children with learning disabilities will become juvenile delinquents, or that all children who do not receive enough affection will become violent. Admittedly, our society has not found the key to curing criminality or rehabilitating criminals. We must face the reali- ty that some adults must be imprisoned to protect society. We may have failed the criminal when he was a child by not pro- tecting him from abuse or neglect, but there comes a time when that person must take responsibility for himself and cannot forever expect us to forgive and forget his crimes just because we understand what made him the way he is. Dana Wakefield went to law school at DU and is now ajudge 0n the Denver Juvenile Court. See People section, p 120. The juvenile delinquent poses a more difficult case. The age of the culprit is of no consequence to the innocent victim, and society must be protected from a lawbreaker no matter what age. Yet, we hold on to the hope that with timely in- tervention we can still rehabilitate a juvenile and divert him to productive citizenship. Of course, had we been able to in- tercept the childis plight at an earlier time prior to his delin- quent involvements, we might have been able to protect him from abuse and neglect or to diagnose his learning disabilities. The status offender, on the other hand, has become the focus of public attention for different reasons. The public, or at least a pseudo-liberal faction thereof, has become incensed over the idea of locking up these juveniles who have done no criminal wrongs but have only run from home or have other- wise become beyond the control of their parents or who have been caught on the streets after curfew, etc. The solution has been to change our laws to prevent the institutionalization of these children; rather, we should ensure that behind that lock- ed door is a professionally staffed treatment facility. If the door is locked and treatment is provided in a setting from which the child cannot run, the child has not been deprived of any liberty; but, if the child is allowed to continue to run away, then that child will likely be imprisoned in a life of crime and prostitution. We cry in righteous outrage, as well we should, about those beasts known as pimps who prey upon our runaway children; but if we, in the name of liberty, let our children run the streets without treatment, then we are the true pimps. The runaway child is not running to prostitution, drugs, and crime; rather that child is running awayfrom something. It is usually that same something which we have been discuss- ing - physical or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, or parental neglect. The abusive parent is acting out what he or she learn- ed by example in his or her own childhood. Our college diplomas and graduate degrees may make it possible for us to be successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., and may even make it possible for us to wage a more and more successful battle against the problems we have been discussing, but every graduate should understand that if we have not become better parents to each succeeding generation of children, then our diplomas and degrees are little more that pieces of parchment or, at most, temporary stopgap measures in combatting some of societyls worst ills. The most impor- tant profession practiced by any person who raises a child is the profession of parenting. It is the profession which should command the greatest respect and which has the greatest im- pact on our society. A person who has elected to pursue parenting as a full-time profession, and is successful in this endeavor, should be as highly revered as our doctors, lawyers, and yes, even our judges.