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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1976)
THE BATTALION FRIDAY, MAR. 26, 1976 Page 3 ill "try, am liighest ^stothest; i law, tic Priman' 1 fight. e cretary 8 f, Minnesota S| ey’s naniej 'residential Arey'srej, ie is not3(5 1(1 acceptn Dragon series results of hard work Anne McCaffrey :er s surpij fhio whet; s in 18 ional distii 2S for at-l, : en specula x wouldwnti ive become “Don’t talk about it—write it” is Anne McCaffrey’s advice to aspiring writers. McCaffrey, guest of honor at Cepheid Variable’s AggieCon VII, has published 14 books including ten science fiction. Her best known works are the “Dragonriders of Pern” series, which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, “The Ship Who Sang” and “Decision at Doona.” In an interview Wednesday, McCaffrey talked about her career as a writer and the craft of writing. “I am usually at the typewriter by 9 or 9:30 every morning, ” McCaffrey said,” and I’ll stick with it until some thing dries up or I can’t keep it mov ing, so I’ll quit about lunch time. If something is moving well, though, I can’t quit—I’ll keep on working until it’s time for dinner.” When working on rewrites or final copy, she will frequently spend 10 hours a day at the typewriter. “I cannot work from outlines—I’m a storyteller,” McCaffrey said, “I start from a situation and a basic con flict between the major characters orld oceans an’s dump Texas A&M University |dgrapher says the relationship jveen man and the ocean is sour- Book shows Nixon suicidal in last days and very often the story takes off on its own. “Very often I have to rewrite por tions of the initial story when I find out where the story’s going in order to emphasize directions that I hadn’t known were going to be useful to me.” McCaffrey usually has about four uncompleted works in progress and will take anywhere from 3 1/2 weeks to a year to complete a novel. McCaffrey said that writers’ con ferences have helped her greatly. “It takes a lot to sit and listen to 25 pro fessionals rip your stuff apart. Not everyone can take it but if you can, you can learn a lot.” Observation, McCaffrey believes, is an author’s most important ability. Pulling a large notebook out of her purse, she said, “A writer is never not working. I keep with me a notebook in which I jot down phrases, characteristics, names of towns and places that might be good names for heros or planets. I never stop working; I never know when something will prove useful.” The author graduated with honors from Radcliff with a degree in Slavonic languages. “We were very friendly with Russia in 1947,” she said, “and I thought knowing Slavonic languages would help me get a job in the foreign service but like many college students, my plans underwent a severe change.” McCaffrey lives in Ireland be cause her income as a writer is tax- exempt. She explains with a laugh that she pays no American taxes since “I carefully keep my income under $25,000 a year.” McCaffrey will speak at 2 p.m. in the Rudder Theater on “The Whys and Wherefores of the Dragon Se ries.” Tickets that are available in the box office of the Rudder Tower will also admit purchasers to other Ag gieCon events. Tim Sager »% pure led Po- . $1.29 Itini and Sauce, ghettini, hopped French .$1.29 William M. Sackett asserts cans have become a dumping bd for man’s garbage and chem- [waste. Ian has always used the ocean as I of a giant garbage can, but “be- I jj of his small numbers he had 6 influence until about 1900 I in industrial activities began to liv, Sackett said. ackett researched some of these I IS as part of a 1975 National Sei- le Foundation funded study on I (circulation of the Gulf and the psand biological effects of various n-derived chemical contaminants 11. Tie principal sources of pollution I lie Gulf are the rivers that empty 11 it (primarily, the Mississippi), pore petroleum production oper- I ins and offshore dumping of in- \ trial wastes. lie Gulf, his calculations indi ll contain critical levels of DDT, | ich. tcording to experts, is re- nsible for the sudden disappear- |eofthe Brown Pelican, a symbol ie Gulf coast region. DT is magnified as it passes ugh the food cjiain from phytop- ;ton, to minnows to large fish ching a concentration in the fine birds of 25 parts per million. dual pollution problem accom- pes offshore petroleum produc- Sackett warns. High molecular weight com- |nds are the most visible, seen in form of tar on beaches, floating water surface and coating and lig birds and other marine or- isms,” he said. bth er compounds also present in liid petroleum have major, long (■n sub-lethal effects on ecosys- |»s Bn the vicinity of industrial and Bvage discharges, Sackett ex- lined heavy' metals may be a prob- ln. In an 'inland or near shore " :r, heavy metal contamination Bally remains where it is dumped, Icting nearby animal populations. ■ Most of the pollutant-loaded BofFand industrial waste is carried ijthe western Gulf of Mexico, and It is where marine life is in the 9' test danger of being damaged by In’s activities,” Sackett added. lAlate summer westward current, Is near shore currents which gen- Blly move westward, serves to iso- ije the western Gulf from the east- jfrpart, which is continually flushed || the main Yucatan current. ■ Tn this way pollution tends to be Bried to the western Gulf off Bus, Sackett explains. \ Determination of the long-term cts of present levels of heavy tals and synthetic organic and pe- Jeum compounds on marine life in f Gulf of Mexico will require fur- til - investigation of the characteris- s of the contaminants and of the ected portions of the environ- :nt, Sackett concludes. Associated Press NEW YORK — A new book re portedly paints a picture of former President Richard M. Nixon drink ing too much, weeping and threaten ing suicide during his last days in the White House. The former president’s suicide talk so disturbed his aides, according to reports on the book, that they re moved all medication from his medicine chest. The book is “The Final Days,” by Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washing ton Post. Time Magazine and the New York Daily News say it has been closely guarded prior to its publica tion next month by Simon and Schuster and serialization of excerpts beginning Monday in Newsweek. According to the report in Time, as amplified by columnist Liz Smith of the Daily News, the book relates that in the days before his resigna tion Nixon spent much of his time drinking in a small office in the Executive Office Building, either alone or with Press Secretary Ron Ziegler. The News says that Nixon’s son- in-law, David Eisenhower, ex pressed concern for Nixon’s mental condition, reporting to an aide that he had seen the president, intoxi cated, talking to the portraits of former presidents. Time says that as the end neared, Nixon asked Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to kneel and pray with him, saying: “You are not a very orthodox Jew and I am not an orthodox Quaker, but we need to pray.” The News says that after the prayer Nixon began crying, scream ing and beating his fists on the floor. Even though Ziegler was one of the former president’s few con fidantes in the final days, Time says, the press secretary sometimes be came the object of Nixon’s temper and that Nixon was heard on one oc casion screaming at Ziegler, “Get out! Get out!” When Nixon summoned his fam ily, wife, daughters and sons-in-law, for a final White House photograph, says Time, White House photo grapher Ollie Atkins had to shoot for some time to get a picture which did not show tears on any of their faces. Woodward and Bernstein’s inves tigative reporting about the Watergate burglary and cover-up won a Pulitzer Prize for The Wash ington Post. NOW COMES MILLER TIME For your party needs . . . Miller Kegs, Lite Kegs, Half-Barrels, and Ponies. Also Muchner (dark). See your college rep. or call 822-3623. Reserve yours now. We appreciate it. BRAZOS BEVERAGES 505 HWY. 2818 - Industrial Park 822-3623 «■ VC£*r'C;'‘ The largest selection of hard aluminum MEASURING TOOLS in the country! STRAIGHT EDGES/T-SQUARES METRIC RULES/L-SQUARES CENTERING RULES TRIANGLES/CURVE STICKS INKING RULES and many others... See them at y° ur Bookstore* Battalion Classified 845-2.611 Tlve Tilings HAIRSHAPING EMPORIUM FOR MEN & v. QMEN 84 6- 7614 331 University (Upstairs above Kesami) 000; 00 City National Bank hasd,000,000. lV to loan for new cars. We plan to loan $1,000,000.00 to purchasers of new cars by June 1, 1976. We know in order to accomplish this we must have a good deal. City National has “THE BEST DEAL^ in town. And you can actually compare your payments and interest rates. Here it is in black and. wliite for TA MU Graduating Seniors. 42 Months Rate Amount Monthly Annual Add-on of Loan Payments Percentage Rate 3,000.00 84.93 9.99% * 3,500.00 99.08 9.99% 4,000.00 113.24 9.99% 4,500.00 127.39 9.99% 5,000.00 141.55 9.99% 5,500.00 155.70 9.99% 6,000.00 169.86 9.99% 6,500.00 184.01 9.99% 7,000.00 198.17 9.99% 36 Months Rate Amount Monthly Annual Add-on of Loan Payments Percentage Rate 3,000.00 96.83 10.04% * 3,500.00 112.97 10.04% 4,000.00 129.11 10.04% 4,500.00 145.25 10.04% 5,000.00 161.39 10.04% 5,500.00 177.53 10.04% 6,000.00 193.67 10.04% 6,500.00 209.81 10.04% 7,000.00 225.94 10.04% * Annual percentage rates are figured cm a 5.4% add-on rate. For the best deal in town call: Roy Simmons Wallace Dunham Perry Shirley Bill Williams City National Bank 301 Texas Avenue Bryan, Texas 77801 779-5402