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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1988)
ember 2, Wednesday, November 2,1988 The Battalion Pages at 6 p.m. atASiJ the council rooit I g about loans f«| n 308 Rudder. Rudder, ampaign meetin irmen at 7 p.m,j dder. p.m. at Rudde: i. in LoungeBor e St. Mary's Stu. erele Neeld we idder. >rs of War” and 5 earce Pavilion, hip and worship : will meet al 7 minar are avail- at 6 p.m. in 164 &M professor speaks f love for Middle Ages D MSC Political Forum achry, ie Edge, rout from 7 ■ 10 eed McDonald, Ve only publish J. What's Upis issions are run By Ron Pippin Reporter pbert Boenig is a Renaissance man ie true spirit of the term. The 40- -old assistant professor of English at [as A&M would feel right at home png the poets, musicians, noblemen | knights of the Middle Ages, lowever, if he were to return to that period, he would need to change out lis purple plaid shirt, green silk tie, [pants and tennis shoes into something re medieval. lut would a real Renaissance man [ose Arnold Schwarzenegger as his fa ke actor? [He’s my hero,” Boenig says. “He’s |h a throwback to the Middle Ages. If had to make a movie of Beowulf, iwarzenegger is the only actor you [idcast in that role.” loenig has been teaching English ;e 1974, concentrating primarily on I literature of the medieval and Renais- [ce periods. He began as a teaching as- [ant at Rutgers University in New Jer- while working on his Ph.D. Boenig [s he has been interested in books and [rature for as long as he can remem- ' I {‘When I was a kid living in Hoboken, , I could see the Empire State Build- from my kitchen window,” Boenig s. “1 remember that famous week in 1950’s when the Million Dollar vie was showing King Kong seven ;hts in a row. 1 watched it every night, one night I rushed to the kitchen to if King Kong was really standing on Empire State Building, swatting n airplanes. That was my first lesson ' will run. ll\/ou jt era t urei the difference between real and a story.” [After teaching at Rutgers for seven , Boenig spent from 1981-1983 as assistant professor of English at Penn ite University. Following a return to itgers in 1983 as the associate director the writing program, he brought his ife Loran and his unique classroom at- isphere to Texas A&M in 1986. Tressha White, a senior journalism |ajor from Houston, took Boenig’s dd literature class in the spring of Election ’88 Series: presents ELECTION AWARENESS DAY 1988 Come get infonnation about the candidates and vote in our mock election. Wednesday, November 2 10-4 p.m. MSC Hallway This program is presented for educational purposes, and does not constitute an endorsement for any candidate. 4^ .’enter, will il- m of the . , ®“He didn’t try to intimidate us like manager or p ro f essors do, but he wanted us to ,y what we felt if we could support it,” ite says. “I had a lot of fun in his ass. He was always doing neat things get us involved.” That’s the way Boenig wants his classes to be — entertaining, with a lot If class participation. For instance, when Boenig took a position as visiting lec- Irer in English at Purdue University in US7, he taught a course on the history of he English language. “That can be a very dull subject,” loenig says. “One of the things we had ) discuss was how the Vikings invaded Ingland and brought a lot of their Norse rords into the English language. So I de- iribed the invasions as if they were in fusions of Viking motorcycle gangs, riving with leather jackets and new ords tatooed to their arms and bellies, f people laugh they feel more comfort- 'Jureyev took jble. Learning can’t happen unless irector of the ou’re comfortable.” has created Boenig also strives to give his students rlassic ballets [lore than just English, own versions [ “I try to give my students a more ste- “Washington :oscopic view,” says Boenig. “One of ie strengths of English is you have to am a lot about different things, because uthors of different time periods had as heir subject their own world and their ^wn outlooks in history, philosophy, art, nusic and this and that.” Perhaps it was his dedication to leam- igwhen he attended college that makes oeing so thorough in his teaching. Boenig attended Rutgers as an under- graduate from 1966-1970. He was a ?hubb Foundation and Lane Cooper Scholar for four years. He became a Furnishings, furniture de- 11 a.m.-noon ecture Build- d open to the >AS ng ones from leeping Beau- id with more major dance horeographed duding “The ra\ Ballet and lost recently, Tempest” for as te Democrat# •oduce Bentsei t think Dukakii really hurtirt 1’t really attad said, especiall) himself nan and Ket he spokesmai iaign in Texas, beral, hereall) 'idcnce of thil ng up in e term liberal lovern, Jim® ale school ol handlers weit Dukakis saj was flying to lis, Mo., in World Wai at the General ntsen, Beat ies yelled out ash’s running l him a supporters i» heckle or dis- e-long plant, t 300 jets a ie single-seal • the cameras its like a wet- he’d fly it to meet his en Dr. Robert Boenig member of Phi Beta Kappa his junior year and graduated summa cum laude. After his undergraduate work, Boenig attended Princeton Seminary for three years and specialized in Greek. “I learned how to teach at Princeton Seminary more than anywhere else,” he says. “You had to take classes in coun seling, psychology, Greek and theology. One of the reasons I entered the Semi nary was I didn’t want to go straight from college to graduate school in the same discipline.” In 1973, he returned to Rutgers to pur sue his doctorate in medieval English lit erature. In 1974, Boenig received the Walter Russel Graduate Scholarsip, and he graduated with his Ph.D. in 1978. Boenig reads eight languages: Old En glish, Middle English, Latin, Greek, German, Hebrew, Syriac and, of course, modem English. “They’re all dead languages except German and modem English,” Boenig says. I’ve learned Hebrew and Syriac, which very few people know and almost no one speaks. “I’ve always been interested in things that people aren’t interested in. To know something about things that are arcane always appealed to me.” For instance, Boenig is interested in music, but not just ordinary music. “I build and play musical instru ments,” he says. “I have a collection of about 50 or 60 instruments — about half of which I made — and most are medi eval or Renaissance.” Boenig says the lute, which is a medieval instrument re sembling a guitar, is his favorite instm- ment to listen to and play. “I’ve also built and played crumhorns, which is a late medieval woodwind,” Boenig says. “Its sound can be best de scribed as that of an electric kazoo.”, Boenig says he first got interested in medieval music when he first heard it in 1972. “I was ready to enter graduate school to study medieval or Renaissance litera ture,” he says. “But my liking for the music is independent of my liking of the literature. All classical orchestra sounds basically alike. If you listen to a consort of Renaissance musicians you hear a wider range of different sounds —comic, serious, pretty, sad, loud and raucous.” Although music plays an important role in Boenig’s life, he spends the ma jority of his spare time writing. “I am currently working on a mystery novel set in the Middle Ages,” Boenig says. “I have about 70 pages written, and I don’t have it worked out completely.” Boenig says that other than two or three poems and the mystery novel, his writings are primarily literary criticisms. “We have to write criticism to survive in this profession,” Boenig says with a smirk. “I don’t do it to stay alive, but be cause I can hopefully see things about a work that other people haven’t seen be fore.” Boenig says he believes that too many people write just for the sake of writing. “There are too many people who want to be writers and poets who have nothing to say at all,” Boenig says. He is the associate editor of Studia Mystica, a literary journal devoted to the study of spirituality in the arts. Boenig has written the majority of his criticism on nature and the roles spiritual matters play throughout our lives and literature. “I’m interested in literature for mysti cal reasons,” he says. “When I read a work it affects me emotionally. Litera ture is mythical and it helps you under stand yourself. The mystical approach to literature gives that myth a reality, and the boundaries between text and personal experience disappear.” \AGGI INEMA/ (Presents ‘The Mfreci^itckcocfifTftriUcr '• - -3-'.. l&TOHNWSV ICCMNICOlOft ‘Wednesday, 9{pvember 2 7:30 p.m. in ‘Rudder ‘Theatre tickets $2.00 zu/TSPMU I'D 10% to 30% OFF ALL SHOES Giving you the freedom to choose from a variety of styles from the best names in. athletic shoes without worrying about the price. Here are just a few of the many values to choose from. 3 DAYS ONLY Thur., Fri. Sat. LADIES AEROBICS MODEL 400 Reg. 34.95 28 95 NEW BALANCE 476 for men and women Reg. 51.95 41 95 AVIA 850 High Tops for men Reg. 59.95 41 95 CONVERSE Cons High Tops for men Reg. 52.95 39 95 NIKE Boss Shark for men Reg .44.95 34 95 NIKE Waffle Trainer AC for men and women Reg. 38.95. 31 95 NIKE MEN’S & LADIES CROSSTRAINER LOW Reg. 54.95 42 95 CONVERSE CSV France for men & women Reg. 48.95. .38 95 Spot-bilt 1 B Soft-Joys II (iSconvEr^j newbalanco —— .) ACROSS FROM THE FARM PATCH AND CHICKEN OIL CO, tri-state Hours: Mon-Sat 9-6 SPORTING GOODS 3600 Old College Rd. 846-1947 What's missing from this picture? YOU! Last chance for juniors, seniors, vet, med and grad students to get their yearbook pictures taken for the 1989 Aggieland The deadline has been extended one week until FRIDAY NOV 4 GET IN THE BOOK! Yearbook Associates 401 C University Above Campus Photo on Northgate S46 - SS56 8:30 a.tn. - 5:00 p.m.