PACZKI: Fat Tuesday traditions continue

across Cleveland

Continued from page 6 parents provided for me, that’s what it is,” Trempe said. "It’s meant they work day and night. The American dream is what my parents did: they put me through college, and I repaid the favor and came back and helped and I am so privileged. My parents did that for me.”

As a popular landmark with a storied past, Rudy's represents Cleveland’s trademark grit and positivity.

“The grittiness, the reality, and still the smile that happens on the face of every Clevelander is what I think is the most special thing in the world,” Trempe said. “I feel so lucky to live in this small, big city. The grit and the shine, that’s Cleveland.”

We seek respect, not love. We seek humanity, not degradation. We seek not whiteness, but an identity.

We seek honesty, not deception nor your gracious attempts at tokenism. And whitey smiles.

He smiles in his own iniquitous transfixed way, impervious to a problem he desperately tries to deny. A problem to which he day by day adds.

Whitey smiles at B-W. He smiled last Saturday night as Black students silently protested on the courts of Ursprung Gymnasium. His smile broadened as they took to the stands, and he gradually wiped their presence from his mind.

What’s behind whitey’s smile at BW? It is ignorance and withdrawal. Ignorance of the critical situation which does exist, and withdrawal from the realities of that situation.

It is the white man interpreting in his own mind the needs of the Blacks. It is the failure to understand, the inability to act to create a better atmosphere of understanding.

The white man offers his feeble gesture of understanding, his smile. He says he bears no hate, no prejudice. He rationalizes his own mind, and closes it to the realities that are afoot.

Some whites go overboard to prove their good intentions. They seek to be seen with Blacks, they teach in the innercity for a month or a year, then retire to their own worlds feeling justified.

They become alarmed when the Blacks attempt to establish their own identity. They would sooner have the Black race in a position to be controlled rather than have them take the initiative to determine their own destiny.

The Exponent joins with the President of the Student Body and all concerned students of good will on the college campus in urging the entire college community to be in attendance tonight in Kulas Auditorium for the most significant address on human relations that this institution has seen in its one-hundred and twenty-five year history. We cannot afford not to be there.

Continued from page 6 day by day,” Mason said.

The different aspects of college may be what draws some students toward more short-term dating. For Vall, she said that while she does not enjoy the “temporary affection,” she said she understands that the short time college students spend in school may make commitment less appealing.

Hall-Hamilton said that being an out-of-state student further impacts their willingness to commit since they aren’t going to stay in Ohio for long.

“I’m someone that’s more career-oriented,” HallHamilton said. “Love comes and goes ... If it comes along, great! But if not, that’s okay, too.”

For those who want to commit to a relationship, dating apps and hookup culture may influence how they wish to approach it.

Vall said she was cautious of committing to her partner because she worried about his “intentions” — if he was ready to commit or if he wanted to remain casual. Prior to her current relationship, Vall actively used dating apps for casual dating and sex. Vall said that the dynamics of dating apps impacted how she went about her current relationship.

Vall also broached the topic of demonization of casual sex in hookup culture, especially for young women.

“Casual sex is demonized for women and praised for men,” Vall said. “And it makes women vulnerable to the idea that their value has gone down because of their participation in [casual sex].”

When it comes to casual sex, Shkembi said we need to stray away from the villainization of it — but a person should still understand what they are getting themselves into.

“Just be safe and smart about it,” Shkembi said. “You have to be prepared for any potential ramifications — both physically and mentally.”

For Vall, a period of “loneliness and emptiness” comes after a casual short- term encounter on a dating app.

Hall-Hamilton said that how they feel emotionally and mentally after a hookup depends entirely on how they feel going into it. HallHamilton said body issues can be a factor, and said that they experienced situations where other people expressed an ideal body type they were seeking.

“When those conversations happen, I kind of go, 'Oh, I’m not very comfortable with that,'" Hall-Hamilton said.

Vall said that as a minority, she ran into other users that would seek out women of a certain demographic to fulfill a fantasy. Hall-Hamilton also said that this issue of fetishization is a downside to dating apps.

“You know when you’re being fetishized,” HallHamilton said. “It’s happening because someone doesn’t see me as a person.”