RPC tries its best with ticket subsidies

To the editor:

Regarding your editorial, the Rice Program Council has typically subsidized tickets mainly to musicals, the ballet, opera, rodeo and professional sporting events (“RPC should broaden target audience,” Apr. 14). These events have been chosen because there has been a consistent demand for them, and relatively inexpensive group sale tickets are available.

This year I did attempt to broaden the scope of events by subsidizing tickets to the Harlem Globe Trotters and monster truck racing. However, unlike tickets to the previously mentioned events, these tickets went unsold. Evan Mintz actually complained in one of his articles about monster truck tickets being subsidized (“My hypothetical platform as SA president,” Mar. 10).

In your editorial you stated that you wanted there to be enough “tickets for everyone who wants one.” The fact is that this year, demand for tickets greatly exceeded supply for only one event, the musical Wicked. For every other show, either only a handful of people were left without tickets or RPC was left with excess tickets. 80 tickets to the Mar. 2007 Wicked show have already been purchased and will be subsidized next year.

Further, I am not sure what events you are referring to when you mention “popular events” for which too few tickets have been subsidized. I have asked around to see what people would like to see subsidized, and a common response has been concerts. The problem with concerts is that they are expensive and special group rates are not given. Once Ticketmaster costs are factored in, the average ticket price for a popular concert is consistently over $40. To subsidize this down to $15 will cost RPC at least $25 a ticket. If you want 80 tickets to be subsidized, it will cost $2,000, or one third of the entire arts and entertainment budget for that one event. I do not think that subsidizing three events a year is enough, but I will make efforts next year to spend more money on “marquee” events.

RPC always welcomes students to come share their opinions, and at every meeting I ask if anyone has suggestions for shows to be subsidized. Next year RPC will focus on better publicizing its actions, and I hope more people will become involved in the group.

Jacob Teplin

Jones sophomore

Rice Program Council arts and entertainment co-chair

Pot promotion has no place in Thresher

To the Editor:

I would like to congratulate “self-proclaimed gadfly” Evan Mintz for effectively wasting space on the third most read page of the Thresher and, perhaps more annoyingly, wasting my time (“Roll up for the 420 magical mystery origins,” Apr. 14). In his column, Mintz all but advocates that all Rice students breach their commitment to upholding Rice’s drug policies, respect for the Rice University Police Department and respect for the image of the university as a whole.

Perhaps if Mintz wasn’t so doped up on his own brand of college humor, he would realize that prospective college freshmen and their parents are in the process of weighing in on their future universities, and they are paying attention to every outlet of information available to them, including the Thresher, for their May 1st decision deadline.

My personal beliefs regarding marijuana use may not always fall strictly within Rice’s guidelines, but the greater issue at hand is not about what I — or Mintz — believe when it comes to lighting up. The Thresher, if it dares to strive for respect outside of Rice’s hedges, must not allow, as Mintz admits, “one silly collegiate column” to grace a page that should address other, more cogent opinions on real issues. Mintz, in concluding with the words, “come this April 20, do not worry about the wasteful drug war or pointless laws,” confirms that his words and talents should remain relegated to the Backpage, lest the Thresher turns into one big joke.

Philip Arthur Moore

Lovett senior

Columns should not promote crime

To the editor:

Bravo to Evan Mintz for two provocative opinions in one semester (“Roll up for the 420 magical mystery origins,” Apr. 14, and “Masturbation: habit of the healthy student,” Feb. 24). It is regrettable, though, that my response seems to inherently legitimize his indeed “silly collegiate column.”

I believe passionately in the freedoms of press and speech — they do seem endangered these days. However, I do not believe that a student newspaper, or indeed any newspaper, should be used as a means of encouraging illegal behavior — running red lights, underage drinking, employing illicit substances or otherwise.

While it is true that some harmful and addictive substances are legal and that others are not, it is unfortunate that Mintz chose to hide behind a predictable red herring — that tobacco, a highly addictive and carcinogenic substance, is legal — as justification for law-breaking. Such a distracting and irrelevant legal inconsistency does not detract from the substantial myriad of reasons that marijuana usage is forbidden.

I do not intend here to invoke contrived or pretentious metaphysical rules of “right” or “wrong;” I do intend to defend “law.” If marijuana usage were legalized, I would be among the first to defend his right to poison himself through such means. In the meantime, I would suggest Mintz reacquaint himself with “pointless laws,” like Rice’s “Code of Student Conduct” and the “Texas Controlled Substances Act.”

Perhaps Mintz’s contemplation was purely a semiotic exercise? If so, let’s hope that the next time he ponders such issues he is not living on a six-month “lease” in a concrete condo in Huntsville, TX.

Peter Tschirhart

Martel ‘05

Drug references in rap just tell the truth

To the editor:

In his article, Bryce Gray placed blame on contemporary rap stars for the emulation of their lyrics dipped in explicit drug references (“Hip-hop artists misstep with drug-centric lyrics” Apr. 14). And while emulation of forms of popular entertainment is an area of lively debate, the drug-drenched rap of the last five years is doing the important job of painting an accurate picture of life in the midst of the contemporary urban crisis.

The fact of the matter is, for some of us who are less well off, the best opportunity for advancement within our current social situation is the sale of illegal drugs despite its obvious dangers. Rap in the last five years reflects this. It is the story of the underground inevitably created when society attempts prohibition of a substance told straight and raw from the mouths of those affected.

Now that hip-hop is in the position to reach a large audience, the story has the power bring about social change — including, but not limited to, reducing the negative stigma often arbitrarily placed on drug use. But regardless, blame for the drug “problem” should not be placed on the storytellers.

The Juvenile situation is entirely different, however. In the midst of post-Katrina confusion, Juvenile released Reality Check last month featuring “Get Ya Hustle On.” The album, like a lot of recent New Orleans hip-hop, reflects one of the major changes in the city since the storm: a marked increase in drug use. Juvenile’s just telling the story.

Devin Naquin

Hanszen junior

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