THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1980
Page 3
Ben stops traveling, starts school
Ben Robertson is attending Texas A&M University on two scholarships
despite having virtually no formal education.
Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Technically brilliant’B-grade movie
by CATHY SAATHOFF
Battalion Staff
For most students, the road to Texas A&M Uni
versity includes 12 years of sitting in a classroom.
For freshman Ben Robertson, however, the road
held only 12 weeks of classroom sitting and 17 years
of traveling across the United States and Canada.
“I’ve had to grow up a little quicker,” Robertson
said of his nomadic life.
When he was eight, his father told him he was on
his own, although he traveled with one or both of his
parents until he was 13 years old, when both were
killed. Robertson is reluctant to talk about the inci
dent, but is willing to talk about what happened
afterwards to bring him to Texas A&M.
His life was lonely, he said, and he never stayed
anywhere long enough to form any permanent re
lationships. He also got to see things other people
never see, but Robertson said he missed having a
home life.
In December, 1978, a radio report of Austin’s
74-degree weather brought him there from Irving.
After a day and a half, he decided he’d had enough of
Austin.
Robertson said he picked Burnet, in the Texas Hill
Country, off of a map and headed in that direction.
He made a wise choice.
The bus he boarded took him to Lampasas; while
waiting for the bus to Burnet he was picked up by
Johnny Curoo of the Buckner Boys Ranch.
Curbo took him to Burnet and left him in the care
of Leroy Eliot and his wife. After that, he stayed with
Wanda and Jim Legg.
The town just sort of adopted him, Robertson said.
“It hit kind of quick,” he said. “I kind of like it.”
While in Burnet, he worked for veterinarian Dr.
Dan McBride.
He seemed interested in getting his high school
diploma, and went to Burnet high school to see a
counselor. He started attending classes as a sopho
more, but had a lot of freedom in the level of classes
he could attend.
After 12 weeks, he decided he’d had enough, and
took his Graduate Equivalency Diploma test.
“Some people suggested that I should go to col
lege,” Robertson said.
But as with most college-bound students, money
was a problem. Not to mention being accepted at
Texas A&M with no school records.
Actually, with no records at all, since Robertson’s
father delivered him and he had no birth certificate.
Robertson was basically a non-person as far as the
government was concerned.
It was about this time that Kyle Crews of the Texas
For freshman Ben Robertson,
the road to Texas A&M held only
12 weeks of classroom sitting and
17 years of traveling across the
United States and Canada.
A&M school relations office found out about
Robertson.
“It is a very unusual circumstance to find someone
in this day and age who is this articulate and has
never had any formal education,” Crews said.
“My mother taught me how to read when I was
10,” Robertson said. After that, he kept up by read
ing on his own.
“Ben is not someone we have been set up to work
with, but I ran across him while I was recruiting in
the Hill Country and felt he was worth the special
effort,” Crews said.
Although Robertson has had basically no formal
education, Crews said, he was admitted to Texas
A&M on the basis of his GED and his Scholastic
Aptitude Test score of 1100.
Robertson said he has “no earthly idea” how he
scored 200 points above the national average for that
test, but said his English and math teacher helped
him cram the week before the test.
Robertson hopes to one day return to Burnet and
work not for McBride but with him.
He has a standing job offer from McBride, he said.
He is taking English 103 and Mathematics 102
right now.
“I had to take a tutor for math,” Robertson said. “I
am having to play catch-up.
For now, two scholarships, one from the Texas
A&M College of Agriculture and one from the High
land Lakes A&M club, are helping him meet college
costs.
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Evenings by Appointment
Empire’ great, but unsatisfying
by DILLARD STONE
Battalion Editor
Even before you go brave the lines
Sir The Empire Strikes Back you’ve
mixed anticipations about the
You know it’s got a lot to live up to
the reputation of its parent film,
Star Wars, so you expect lots of ae
on, great effects and a good two-
bur trip into fantasyland.
But you’ve also heard that Empire
ionly Episode V (Star Wars has
pen retitled Episode IV) in what
feator-producer George Lucas
pans as a nine-part series stretching
to the next century.
So you anticipate a great film, but
)u also know that plot resolution
ill be weak — after all, how can
ucas resolve the conflicts or
iy characters when he’s got seven
lore flicks to make?
Does the film’s merit nonetheless
rerride this drawback?
You bet it does.
The Empire Strikes Back is just
hat you (and George Lucas) want it
, be—a technically brilliant, break-
he was' eck-speed film that leaves you wait-
. roofnefl igforthe sequel-to-the-sequel just
. 2a j n pri;i is breathlessly as you awaited
d “I halt 1 , , r u n
1» It s a classic example ot that all-
, ' |! )o-rare Hollywood genre — a se-
a f? ain 1 uel which is as good as, and in some
„ ases better than, the original,
banks k And, like Star Wars, it’s nothing
jurtkW'bore than a lavishly made B-grade
ill
Movie Review
nt, worl
ingtoW
iber, ih
she likes Han Solo more than a little;
to hear the beeps from R2-D2 and
the whines of C3-PO and to boo and
hiss Darth Vader, the galaxy’s Public
Enemy No. 1.
And you’re going to see if the
effects are as you hope, the best
you’ve ever seen.
You’re not going to be dis
appointed if that’s all you want.
But I’m a real pain. I expected
more. I should’ve been content to
merely be seized by the action from
the outset, to be held captive for two
hours, to be dazzled by the effects.
I should have put the acting and
dialogue out of my mind and used
them only as mental threads con
necting visual sequences. That’s
what Lucas wanted me to do, and
who am I to quarrel with him?
Lucas has given more depth to the
storyline by adding new characters.
At the insistence of Obi-Wan Keno-
bi’s ghost, Hamill as Luke Skywalker
sets off to find Yoda, the Jedi master 1
who instructed Ben Kenobi in- the
ways of the Force.
Although the training sequences
tend to drag (the only time in the
show), Yoda’s presence makes it
worthwhile, for Yoda is an ingenious
little green muppet-like robot oper
ated by Frank Oz. Speak he although
in dialect warped most of the time,
Yoda is an excellent creation, a cau
tious character that plays well off
Luke’s impulsiveness.
Frustratingly, he also drops to
Luke and the audience a million lit
tle hints about Luke’s past and fu
ture.
In the end, your initial apprehen
sions become a fulfilled prophecy.
After Empire is over, you’re satisfied
at having seen a good flick. But the
satisfaction fades as you begin realiz
ing that the story uncovered more
holes than it filled in.
What happens to Han Solo? Who
is the Rebellion’s ‘other hope’? What
does the front of Darth Vader’s head
look like?
The most unsatisfying thought of
all is that we’ve got to wait tljree
years for the sequel-to-the-sequel,
the answers ... and even more ques
tions.
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3m which depends more on action
tod effects to carry it than on acting
the bility and crafty dialogue.
" But who cares? After all you’re not
[oing to see Empire to see an
.cademy Award-type performance
rom Mark Hamill.
— You’re going so you can see the
tside'®] food guys, in the face of tremendous
Iversity, whup up on the bad guys;
see if Princess Leia finally admits
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Your Assets?
Accountant $29,788/yr.’
Attorney $56,477/yr.*
Chemist $51,492/yr.*
Engineer $45,101/yr.*
LUBY’S ROMANA $80,000/yr.
MANAGER
Seem hard to believe? The average Cafeterias, Inc. manager did earn over
$80,000 last year. The average training period to become a manager is 6 to 8
years. Managers attain these earnings by collecting a share of the net profits from
their own cafeteria. The average associate manager last year earned $45,000. This
earning level is attainable in 3 to 5 years.
To become a manager of one of our cafeterias is a very special business opportunity.
You'll be joining an ambitious and progressive company that requires more of its
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Cafeterias, Inc. is not restricting interviews to only Business majors; we're open to all
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# Average Salaries; highest level of experience, difficulty, and responsibility, from the
National Survey ot Professional, Administrative, Technical, and Clerical Pay, March
1978-U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bulletin 2004.
Interviewing Placement Office
Tuesday, July 1
Cafeterias, Inc.
CENTURY BLDG SUITE 200E • 84 N E LOOP 410 • SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS 78286