EDITORIAL

Elian, we hardly knew ya, but it's time to say goodbye

Elian Gonzalez seems to be a pretty nice kid. He is ·acute six-year old, who appears to enjoy school, playing with his friends and Disney World.

The problem is, Gonzalez is an illegal alien. No matter how symbolic he may be, he is not ours, he is a Cuban citizen, and by fighting to keep him in our country, we are violating our own laws.

It seems that many American citizens and even segments of our law enforcement seem to be overlooking this simple fact. As many ways as we can try to rationalize keeping him here, there is really no disputing the fact that his uncle is currently harboring an illegal alien.

What kind of message would keeping him send? Would there be so much interest in keeping him if it weren't for his tales of being saved by dolphins (which is really unlikely, when you think about it)? How are we to send back the countless other immigrants who would inevitably be encouraged to make the trip if we accept Elian?

It is sad that this boy has become the focal point of the age old tension between America and Cuba. Both countries seem to have Elian's best interests in mind, but is he really just a pawn in the battle between capitalist America and communist Cuba?

America is the land of the free, and many, including Elian's mother, have died trying to achieve such freedom. It makes for a great story, the mother who died to give her son a chance to live in our country.

But here is the ugly reality: We have immigration laws, and we have them for a reason. It is never pretty having to send back Cubans (or anyone) looking for a better life, but that is the way it is. Overcrowding our country, which would be the result of unregulated immigration, would drive down the quality of life in our America.

It may be the time to rethink our immigration laws. America was founded by immigrants, and we thrive because of it. But we also thrive on law and order, and our law says one thing clearly: Goodbye Elian.

I would like to start this viewpoint out by saying hello to everyone out there on the Cabrini campus. When I was told that it was my turn to write a viewpoint I had no idea what to write. I did not want to write about housing or any other problems that they have here at Cabrini because I am completely sick of them. So, as I sat in my lovely dorm room in Woodcrest pondering on what to write and bugging my other two roommates nothing, came to my mind. As I started fidgeting and looking around the room, it came to my attention that I have practically my whole bedroom from home here in my dorm. Now, that is a problem for me considering that I am from California, or as my friends like to say, from a whole different time zone, and I have a limit on how much I can take home with me.

Now, this is not good for a girl who has a major shopping addiction and always brings twice the amount of stuff back from home when she comes back to school. The airlines allow their passengers to only have two checked bags and

Let me use Christmas break as an example. I went home just fine with two bags plenty under the weight limit of 70 pounds and a carry on, but Christmas break is also a very long break. Now, by the end of break I had accumulated a pretty nice supply of presents, much of which was food, and had gone on a few shopping trips. With these newly acquired items, guess who had a little trouble at the airport? That's right, there I was with my parents in the middle of the Fresno Yosemite airport, (whose initials are FAT), unloading items from my suitcases because somehow I had managed to fit over 100pounds of luggage into each of the two suitcases. As I left my parents and went to board the plane, I looked like a moving grocery store. My backpack, which I was using as a carry on, was filled not only with the essentials--gum, books, Discman--but also with a pair of figure skates, ten bags of Ramen noodles and a variety of drinks. Now, not only was my backpack a walking grocery store, but my purse looked like a mini Wawa. Sticking out from the sides, the nearby passengers could have easily acquired a can or two of chicken noodle soup. This could have come in handy if the meal was bad on the plane, but actually

OOPS!

•In issue No. 19 we misspelled Seth Frechie's name.

•We also misspelled Katie Mirek.

•The photo of the lmprovicons was courtesy of the yearbook.

it was quite pleasant.

So as the year progresses, I now have to face the problem that has resulted from my mother coming at the end ,of the year. Now, the problem does not lay with the fact that my mom is coming, because I am excited that she will be able to see my dorm room and the school. The problem lies in the fact that since the airlines have this weight and luggage limit I have lowered myself for the past couple of weeks to begging my mom to bring only one bag and let me have the other one.

So, I guess the point that I am rambling on about here is that the next time you are packing for a trip on an airplane, don't forget that on your way back home you will probably have more luggage than you did on the way there. Unless you want to pay the extra money that the airlines charge for over weighted luggage or "heavy" as they put it, I recommend, and this is corning from a very experienced traveler, to always leave extra room in your bags. This way you will never have a problem or have to resort to carrying items from your suitcase with you in weird places, which results in people coming up and asking you if they could have the can of soup for a buck.

Kendra Clark is a sports editor for Loquitur. She has had a bad case ofjet lag this whole semester.

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