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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1983)
, • ■ ■ ■ ■. . ■ a,.;,..,)!'. jil .limits- ■■■■■ Wednesday, November 23, 1983AThe Batlalion/Page 3 Researchers develop train rail stress test issengen s to picb ' their d e poked i ived cardSJ wardesi at the i oved; we lan pilot: Elephant hunters open fire Mike Davis, Battalion staff Juniors symbolically shoot graduating seniors, affectionately known as dead elephants, during El ephant Walk Tuesday. Dead elephants wander aimlessly around campus to symbolize the fact that they will soon be of no use to the Twelfth Man. froEs poetry reflects beliefs by Tracie L. Holub Battalion Staff jice oftk ir. Paul Christensen, associ- rks thatc e professor of English, is a ofthepM m pi° n of mixed cultures. Ih his poetry and short stories Iries to express his belie! that fceople are equal. ■There is no cult of purity in le whatsoever,” Christensen jys. ‘Most of what I write is ab- lit mixed cultures, the merging lares, merging of identities all Jning some sort of highly di- mtoniatitp s 'fied whole community ler Exc(W e U P °h all the different ex- pesof all who want to partici- he futurtl ted overl inounceij e infornil oninthel ry to cirt jeforehi anythinl i is the! to do tv ters woi blunder) n anecoi] low <ed individi te heniar 1. On tk ■It’s not a melting pot. I don’t believe in a melting pot. I want everyone to somehow keep their Identity, but at the same time puild up a tremendous mutual ly of experience.” |Christensen, whose father in the foreign service, spent st of his childhood traveling. family moved to Beirut, banon, when he was 12 years Jhristensen said that growing pin Beirut caused him to ma re quickly. [The culture was so very com- xin Beirut,” he said. “There Ire Arabs, there were French, ■glish, Italians, Americans, . , .(■re were Jews and they were 11 '"'l all swarming around in this 011 jiuge metropolis. The process iletns. 1 was so accelerated that 1 felt as if •n — I' fwasa Roman candle being shot m asi' : putof my life and being thrown . state Into this all at once.” id wlief ( B^hristensen said he began J( / r0 | e : pritingwhen he was in Beirut to help him convey some of his emotions. ■‘‘Some of what I wrote about then was having my certainty as 4 child removed from me one step by another,” he said. “Be soming an American abroad was n a very seriousjuncture in my life and so a number of my poems then were about leaving the cer tainties of my childhood here and being thrown like an aster oid into a crazy orbit. So many were about cultural disorienta tion.” Christensen said that when he came back to the United States after living in Beirut he felt as if he was a stranger. “When I came back to the Un ited States, I thought I would plug right in and be everything I saw the nation in the waters below Mexico at the bottom of the dish of the sea it glowed in the merging of its content into one coherence — Dr. Paul Christensen that everyone abroad admired about Americans,” Christensen said. “I got here, though, and found that everything was so placid and structured in class lines, I lost that marvelous sense of a bouquet of people that Beirut had been. So when my father said we were going to Asia, I didn’t complain at all and was ready to do so.” Christensen later lived in Saigon and the Philippines. He earned his bachelor’s de gree at the College of William and Mary, his master’s degree at University of Cincinnati and his doctorate at University of Penn sylvania. Christensen said many of his writings now have to do with Americans being expelled from a foreign country either emo tionally or circumstantially. “For some reason, writing ab out this has become somewhat of a parable to me,” Christensen said. “I tend to do a lot of writing about the American who tries to sink his roots in some other medium than his own country and what happens to him as a result. “I also write about Americans who have never left the country and who are facing middle class adulthood. Many are only wak ing up to the depth of the reality they have always taken for granted.” Christensen said teaching li terature at Texas A&M has helped him to develop as a writer. try to arouse it.” by Cathy Smith Battalion Reporter Within eight days, two fatal train accidents occured in Texas. To help prevent further mishaps, Texas A&M resear chers are working on a method of testing track rails. Dr. Don Bray, a researcher with the department of mecha nical engineering, said Monday two main elements are involved in train accidents — material factors and manpower. Material factors include the condition of the train, the wheels and axles, and the track. A breakdown in manpower means human error — like not leaving enough room for the train to stop. Texas A&M researchers are working on a testing method to decrease potential material fai lures in railroad tracks. Students and researchers have been working in the Texas A&M re search annex on Highway 21, about live miles west of Bryan, to perfect the P-wave ultrasonic stress measurement system. The group has been using a system set up in a hangar at the annex to test stress levels of different types of rail. During testing, ultrasonic waves are sent down the length of the rail. The time it takes for the waves to run between two receivers is used to measure the level of stress currently in the rail. A shorter travel time indicates compressive stresses while a lon ger time indicates a pull, or ten sile stress. Researchers can use * those measures to determine the stress allowance needed when installing new track. A stress allowance is needed to accomodate the track’s con traction in the winter and ex pansion in the summer. When the weather is cold and the track contracts, it can break apart at the welding. In the summer, the track can expand and buckle, re sulting in “sun kinks.” Currently, Bray said, track is installed according to experi ence. The amount of stress allo wance used is based on some one’s judgement as to the ex pected temperature variations. The stress measurement sys tem is designed primarily for testing rail before it is installed, Bray said. A measurement is used instead of an educated guess. After the rail is installed, the system can be used to test the track periodically, he said. Safer tracks would be the result. The system could be perfected and ready for widespread use in ab out a year. Bray also said a trend in unit train operations could make trains safer. The coal burning and utility industries have started to run the same rail cars along the same routes, he said. Ihis way, companies always know where their trains are, and the cars can get regular mainte nance and can be inspected more easily, he said. BOB BROWN UNIVERSAL TRAVEL l COMPLETE, DEPENDABLE DOMESTIC AND WORLDWIDE TRAVEL • Airline Reservations • Hotel/Motel Accomodations • Travel Counsel • Rental Car Reservations • Tours • Charter Flights • FREE Ticket Delivery 846-8718 Say “I do” to Zales diamond wedding specials! Solitaires, diamond bridal sets, wedding bands, duos and trios, — we have them all! Many are even at savings of 20% to 25% off their original prices. Best of all, if you’re not satisfied with your ring in 90 days, you can return it for a full refund. And be sure to ask about our “Win an Enchanted Wedding” sweep- stakes ending Octo ber 31, 1983! • Agency is fully computerized- 410 S. Texas/ Lobby of the Ramada Inn/College Station MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: Zales Credit Card • MasterCard • VISA • American Express Carte Blanche • Diners Club • Illustrations enlarged. Sale prices effective on selected merchandise. Entire stock not included. Original prices shown on every item. All items subject to prior sale. Items illustrated not necessarily those on sale. “I think that a writer in a clas sroom is like a scientist in his laboratory,” Christensen said. “This is were you know if your ideas will work or not. They will draw a laugh or a frown or some type of feedback that will tell you if your idea was a good one.” Christensen said that although his poems may deal with many subjects, they all cen ter around one main theme. “The one main theme which is in all my work is the sense that identity can not be circums cribed by employment, mar riage and possessions,” Christ ensen said. “Identity is like a leaf floating in outer space. “I love to have my characters realize they are on a perch, have lost their footing and are falling through all that is themselves. It all has to do with waking up to this immense, eminent identity ^ that exists within you if you just 37, and r WhitfJ l other) cities, irgetfl) -s'those ing f° r MSC Town Hall presents nt0 yant 1 ^ te sip s Thursday, December 8 8 p.m. Rudder Auditorium Tickets $10.00, $9.50, $8.50 Option Pass period, Nov. 15-18 General Admission go on sale Nov. 21 tatt: Gifts, decorations and memories fdrlirtniiilrom The Christmas Store. Enter The Christmas Store and feel the emotions of Christmas past and the hopes for Christmas future. Christmas is a tirhe when sharing and caring come together with family and friends to create special mem ories and feelings. Gifts and decorations alone do not make Christmas special but they often bring back wonderful memories of the season. The Christmas Store has assembled a wide selection of fine gifts from around the world to insure we have something for that someone special on your list. No one has gifts and decorations in such a range of colors, quantities, prices, shapes and sizes. Come to The Christmas Store. We are sure you will find what you are looking for to make this Christmas season special. _sl nstma 10-9 Monday-Saturday 1-5 Sunday STORE 504 Harvey Road (FM 30) College Station / 696-6986 ifipiH&Aliigi!