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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1989)
~ >The Battalion swdENTERTAINMENT iston Thursday, February 16,1989 roved to 15-9and6.; first time the 0% Austin since 1984i ud time the Longlc )nie all year. tys, the confetti r, finished with 2fi : Lance Blanks, then scorer, was held to ‘ he first when hers lie floor. ;ars grabbed a 11 remaining on ad) nk shot by Craig t uid 23 points. ■d by six points sen intermission andktlj ige at the break, jars also forced ito 12 turnovers iii| nne into the game#) per game. , Texas Christians; scored 18 points,; of the final 10, asj at Texas Christian; west Conference plj ight in Houston, jhes of Texas Chrism s with a personals high of 23 points,; 3-point field goals. improved their reto: all and 4-8 in confe ile Texas Christian and 7-5 in conferem rned Frogs, whoa i conference play i first six games, b d their last six games r & Bill Hind jj6-Ve Got a lb-tv cowmr -R MEGoTiATlOk). PeuA i Moonlighting means extra cash, experience for working students By Thomas Boy Ian ENTERTAINMENT WRITER The definition of moonlighting has changed over the years, ranging from late night cattle-stealing to working tw'o jobs at once. In 1961, moonlighting was de fined in the Oxford English Diction ary as “the performance by night of an expedition, or of an illicit action.” Fifteen years later, the view on moonlighting had shifted. The 1976 edition calls it “...the taking of a sec ond job to keep body and soul to gether, or to finance one’s own brand of personal extravagance.” Perhaps few students would call school a “personal extravagance,” and fewer still rely on classes to “keep body and soul together,” but many of them do moonlight. Working and going to school is a way of life for a large percentage of Texas A&M students, including many who don’t have to work to pay for their educations. Having work experience on a re sume can make finding a job after graduation considerably easier. A&M Associate Professor Dr. Eliz abeth Tebeaux, who teaches techni cal writing, described a recent grad uate who had a difficult time finding ajob despite completing a degree in accounting and earning a GPR close to 4.0. No employer was willing to risk hiring a recent graduate who had never worked in the “real world.” The graduate eventually found a job, Tebeaux said, but getting the first offer was tough. Whether working for the experi ence or to make enough money to cover school, rent and food, there are dangers in combining work and school. Carolyn Wheeler, a junior envi ronmental design major and former lifeguard at the A&M pool, said, “The key is time organization.” She warned that one danger of holding a job is “waiting too late to tell the boss that you need time off for school.” Not only was asking time off diffi cult, but quitting could be even more difficult, Wheeler said. “It’s easy to keep putting it off, though you know you need to quit, but you feel obli gated to stay,” she said. Wheeler said she could no longer afford the time to work and go tc school. The most obvious hazard of work ing is time conflicts. Study time con flicts with work time, and work time conflicts with study time. for ajob that leaves plenty of time to study, possibly even on the job. A position that came to her mind was intramural checkout or any other “counter job” that allows a worker to sit quietly for long periods. Students should look for jobs that relate to their major fields of study, Wheeler suggested. “At least for a design major,” she said. “It’s good for building projects be cause you can see applications and uses of materials . . . Building a pro ject isn’t like studying. You don’t sit and look at a book; you build houses, bridges, et cetera, and that takes spe cial techniques.” Jeff Bearden, a freshman aero space engineering major, agreed. “Go for one (a job) in your major,” he said. “That way you can see if it’s what you really want to do.” Bearden works in the Academic Computing Center in Blocker Build ing and said he finds no real disad- Working and going to school is a way of life for a large percentage of Texas A&M students, including many who don’t have to work to pay for their educations. Having work experience on a resume can make finding a job after graduation considerably easier. The conflicts may lead to difficul ties even after graduation. Perenially late employees may receive bad job reviews. Compound the problem with a low GPR if the work schedule turned out to be too demanding, and job-hunting takes on a whole new face, not a pretty one. Wheeler recommended looking vantages to going to school and working. “If anything, it’s an advantage, the extra money and all,” he said. A rela tively light schedule (“not too bad, only 12 hours”) helped him avoid time conflicts, he said. Anita Cavazos, a sophomore psy chology major, arranged her school Anita Cavazos disconnects a VCR in Blocker Media Center’s equipment room. and work schedules to allow ample time for both. “My schedule works out really well because I study in the evenings, Cavazos said. She works the day shift in Blocker’s Media Center, checking out audio-visual equipment and computers. Her job leaves her plenty of time to study, she said, because after all of the equipment is set up between classes, she has little else to do. Cavazos answers the phone, tak ing orders for future equipment set ups, and waits for class changes. Working only the day shift pre vents her nights from being in truded upon, so her study schedule and nightlife are unobstructed. When school and work schedules get out of hand, many unanticipated problems can arise. Meals, for example, tend to come from either frozen packages or cans because of a lack of time. There sim ply isn’t time to cook a full dinner. Shopping becomes a serious chore, and there is rarely time to hunt for bargains or find sales. One simply buys what one needs, which is often expensive. Students who are both working and going to school and are having a hard time getting everything done have places to go to on campus for help. They include: • Concentration Problem Assis tance. Student Counseling Services, 3rd floor YMCA. 845-1651. • Learning Resources Center. Contains class notes, sample labs and supplemental texts. Basement, Hel- denfels Hall. 845-3781. • Library Skills Training. Ster ling C. Evans Library. 845-5741. • English Writing Lab. Room 152, Blocker Building. • Reading Efficiency Course. 7th Floor, Harrington Building. 845-7140. Students who are not having trouble with their classes and who are looking for a job can go to several places on campus for direction. The second floor of the Pavilion has bulletin boards with on- and off- campus jobs. The first floor of the YMCA building also has job listings and a placement service, and the first floor of the Systems and Ad ministration Building has a list of positions. Most of the jobs listed in the Sys tems Building are full-time and pro fessional jobs, but it might not be a bad place to look if graduation is ap proaching. W Immigrant author praises America, ■"(pens award-winning book as tribute &M AS :30 p.m. ime) Bucks! i a draw- :ash and > shoot a ks will be ants (one i grab as egame of NEW YORK (AP) — They are not the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. They are pxford-educated professors from |ndia, wealthy families chased from Idi Amin’s Uganda, factory owners leeing Afghanistan’s upheavals. They are America’s new immi- ;rants, arriving via Concorde, not a lefugee boat. They have found a voice in Bha- fati Mukherjee, a self-described Hindu Bengali Brahmin who was aised in affluence in Bombay, In dia, educated in British and Swiss ichools before receiving a master’s md doctorate at the University of Iowa, and who last year became an merican citizen. In January, her sixth book, “The Middleman and Other Stories” (Grove Press, $15.95), won the pres tigious National Book Critics Circle Award. The honor has been gratify ing for two reasons, she said in a re- :ent interview. First, it has put the book, pub lished last spring, back on the shelves. But far more importantly, she said, it has shown a “marvelous cu riosity and adventurousness” on the part of the literary establishment to select such an unconventional book. “A country that allows a writer from a minority community or a marginalized group to be included as a voice in mainstream American literature — now that’s a tribute to the country,” Mukherjee said. She was asked if she hose the title “The Middleman” be- ause immigrants are, in effect, mid dlemen —shuttling between their native and adopted countries. “Immigrants are middlemen, l I also feel that America is gc g through transition, that the country has changed since the 1970s with the fast influx of immigrants from non- traditional countries,” she said. “We are in many ways similar to the European, and especially the Jewish, influx of 30 to 40 years ago. But in many significant ways, we who are coming from Asia and the Caribbean are very dissimilar, very distinct. “For many of my characters, as it was for me, coming to America is a social comedown. “I had a life of ease and privilege which I have chosen to not want to continue by living in the United States — a social demotion. I’ll never have that kind of money and physi cal comfort in this country.” Mukherjee, 48, who has lived in North America for 28 years, has wholeheartedly embraced the United States. She said she thinks of this collec tion of short stories as “my tribute to America. This is finally my very American book, and I want the exu berance to reflect the kind of exu berance that this country has re leased in me that none of the countries I have lived in have.” While studying at the University of Iowa, Mukherjee met and mar ried Clark Blaise, a novelist, and the two moved to Canada in 1968 to teach and write. They both became Canadian citi zens, but left that country in the late ’70s because of racial prejudice and physical harassment of foreigners there. The couple came to the United States and now live in New York City, where Mukherjee teaches full time at Queens College and part- time at Columbia and New York uni versities. She has written two novels, “The Tiger’s Daughter” and “Wife,” and a previous collection of short stories, “Darkness.” She also has collaborated on two non-fiction books with her husband, “Days and Nights in Calcutta” and “The Sorrow and the Terror.” The latter book is about the 1985 Air India flight that crashed over Ireland, killing 329 people. “The Middleman” is a departure for her because she now feels com fortable adopting the persona of white Americans when needed, she said. In fact, this collection’s power lies in the enormous range of characters and locales so convincingly por trayed —a Vietnam vet who becomes a hired killer in Florida, a Trinidad woman who sneaks into America from Canada and finds work as an au pair, a Sri Lankan high school teacher who gets stranded in West Germany, a young woman from a close Italian family trying to intro duce her Afghan lover to her blue- collar parents. “When I’m with Ro I feel I am looking at America through the wrong end of a telescope,” thinks the woman with the Afghan lover in the story “Orbiting.” “He makes it sound like a police state, with sudden raids, papers, de tention centers, deportations, and torture and death waiting in the wings.” Other characters see America as Disneyland, a nation of infinite plenty where adults act like overfed children. Mukherjee said she is not sur prised at Americans’ ignorance of events and geography beyond their borders. “I remember as a kid in Calcutta, where we had to know street names in London and Paris . . . because real life was lived elsewhere, and what ever life we lived was somewhat de valued by colonialism and post-colo nialism. I envied Americans their insularity.” America will learn about the rest of the world when geopolitical events force it to, she predicted. And perhaps the literary world’s recognition of “The Middleman” is a small step toward increasing under standing of this new and different generation of immigrants. “The people I’m writing about have had no voice in American liter ature,” she said. “And I think one of my tasks be comes sensitizing editors of mag azines, saying, ‘Look, we all exist out there. The people you sit next to on the No. 7 train have enormous sto ries to tell.’” Home viewers take part in game show by calling ‘Hotline’ to answer questions, register for prizes HOUSTON (AP) —Just dying to tell America that you sleep in your underwear? That you think chops ticks are harder to use than a com puter? That you cheat on your in come taxes? The producers of “Hotline,” a new interactive game show, think so. If the syndicated show hits the air in the fall, as the producers hope, viewers can call a 900 number to reg ister in a central computer their an swers to a series of poll questions, such as, “How do you sleep? In noth ing? In your undies? In jammies?” The answers will be used on the fol lowing week’s show as contestants try to guess what answers were most popular, a la “Family Feud.” Callers also register to win cash pi izes. At the recent National Association of Television Programming Exec utives convention here, the distribu tors tried to convince program buy ers that viewers who can play along are more likely to tune in. Home shopping programs and TV talk shows already use telephone call-ins. The difference with “Hot line” is a computer that can process 1.8 million calls an hour. “People love to use their tele phones,” said Ronald A. Katz, presi dent of FDR Interactive Technolo gies, developer of “VIC,” the “viewer interact computer” used by “Hotline.” “They just love to use their tele phones, and this gives them a chance to do what everyone wants to do — get their opinion on air, see the re sults of their opinion on air and also have a chance to win monev and prizes,” Katz said. “ It’s fun.” FDR also has signed a deal with Capital Cities-ABC Inc., which plans I hey just love to use their telephones, and this gives them a chance to do what everyone wants to do — get their opinion on air, see the results of their opinion on air and also have a chance to win money and prizes. It’s fun.” — Ronald A. Katz, president, FDR Interactive Technologies to use the technolog)' in program ming and market research. Katz says the company plans to have VIC processing the end of r 30,000 calls at once by the year. “As a marketing tool, as a research tool, as an entertainment tool, (tele phone interaction) is going to be awesome,” Katz bragged. Norman Horowitz, president of MGM-UA Telecommunications Co., the syndicator of the show, mean while was trying to sell “Hotline” to station executives. “I think if we had a game show and it was a good game, they would go (yawn). ... But I think the combi nation of the technology, the pro gramming, the producer, and we’re a big company, I think they will se riously consider the program,” he said. “Hotline” will be a go or not by March or so, depending on how many stations agree to carry it, Ho rowitz said. 'Rain Man ’ claims Oscar nominations BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — “Rain Man,” the Dustin Hof- fman-Tom Cruise drama of a self-absorbed car dealer learning to love his autistic brother, took home eight Oscar nominations Wednesday, including best pic ture. In collecting the most nomi nations for the 61st Academy Awards, the movie that overcame production obstacles also gar nered a best-actor nomination for Hoffman and a directing honor for Barry Levinson. “I’m happy for Barry Levin son, the film and everybody con nected with it,” said Hoffman, whose depiction of an autistic sa vant brought the actor his sixth Oscar nomination. He won best actor in 1979 for “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Earning seven nominations each were “Dangerous Liaisons,” a drama set in the bedrooms of the elite in pre-revolutionary France, and “Mississippi Burn ing,” a controversial exploration of the FBI’s handling of the 1964 murder of three civil rights activ ists. Both were nominated for best picture, as were “The Accidental Tourist,” an adaptation of Anne Tyler’s novel about the heart breaks and romances of a travel writer, and “Working Girl,” a cor porate Cinderella story about a secretary on Wall Street. Sigourney Weaver claimed a rare double nomination for best actress for “Gorillas In The Mist: The Adventure of Dian Fossey” and best supporting actress as a shrewish executive in “Working Girl.” The awards will be presented March 29 at a ceremony broad cast on ABC. Joining Weaver in the best ac tress competition were Glenn Close, “Dangerous Liaisons”; Jo die Foster, “The Accused”; Meryl Streep, “A Cry In The Dark,” and Melanie Griffith, “Working Girl.” Streep, who won in 1979 for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and in 1982 for “Sophie’s Choice,” now has eight Oscar nominations in 15 roles. Griffith’s nomination was her first. Facing Hoffman in the best ac tor race will be Gene Hackman for “Mississippi Burning,” Tom Hanks for “Big,” Edward James Olmos for “Stand And Deliver,” and Max Von Sydow for the Dan ish “Pelle The Conqueror.” Best director nominees in cluded Charles Crichton for “A Fish Called Wanda,” Alan Parker for “Mississippi Burning,” Mike Nichols for “Working Girl” and Martin Scorsese for “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a film crit icized by religious groups as be ing blasphemous. Levinson, the fourth director of “Rain Main,” took control of a project burdened by months of delays and rewrites. Once filming started, he came to Hoffman’s rescue when the ac tor feared his depiction rang false. “It really was charmed from the beginning,” said producer Mark Johnson. “It was next to impossible to put together the film (in eight weeks). But there hasn’t been a stumble along the way.” Nominated for best supporting actress were Joan Cusack for “Working Girl,” Geena Davis for “The Accidental Tourist,” Frances McDormand for “Missis sippi Burning,” Michelle Pfeiffer for “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Working Girl’s” Weaver. Veteran actor Alec Guinness, co-star of “Little Dorrit,” received a nomination for best supporting actor, as did Kevin Kline for “A Fish Called Wanda,” River Phoe nix for "“Running On Empty,” Dean Sfockwell for “Married To The Mob” and Martin Landau for “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.” “It’s a wonderful way to wake, really an incredible way to wake up,” said Landau, upon learning that he had received his first Os car nomination. “As a kid in Brooklyn, I dreamed of this. I think everyone does.” Among multiple nominees, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” the inventive comic blend of anima tion and live action, drew six nominations, all for technical achievements. “Working Girl” also collected six nominations, including best original song for Carly Simon’s “Let The River Run.” Other multiple nominees in cluded “Gorillas In The Mist,” with five and “The Accidental Tourist” and “Die Hard,” with four nominations each. “A Fish Called Wanda” and “Tucker” both drew three nominations. Among the films and perform ers attracting little or no attention from the Academy of Motion Pic ture Arts and Sciences were “A Cry In The Dark,” “Bird” and “Bull Durham,” each collecting only one nomination. There was no apparent back lash against “Mississippi Burn ing,” widely accused of rewriting the history of the civil rights movement and overemphasizing the role of the white law enforce ment agents at the expense of blacks.