Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1989)
- ~ ^ -U.SSki Breckenridge plus $20 tax 1-800-U.B.SKIING The Battalion LIFESTYLES Monday, October 23,1989 Lifestyles Editor Dean Sueltenfuss 845-3313 ACTION DEFENSIVE DRIVING PROGRAMS OF TEXAS DRIVER IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS FOR: REDUCED INSURANCE RATES AND TICKET DISMISSAL WEEKDAYS AND SATURDAY CLASSES Classes are currently being held in Bryan/College Station at... COMFORT INN on Texas Ave. (across from Fajita Rita's) For more information and pre-registration call: 409-361-7997 Aggie shuttle bus drivers reveal hazards, pleasures of driving $1°° OFF 1 gallon plastic Scatter Print popcorn filled containers (Any Flavor) Reg. *5 95 With Coupon $ 4 95 RMELKORN Manor East Mall Coupon Expires 12-31-89 822-9027 Call Now For an Appointment! $0000 ROUTINE CLEANING, X-RAYS and EXAM (Reg. $59 less $30 pretreatment cash discount) CarePlus^tt* Dental Centers Bryan Jim Arents, DDS Karen Arents, DDS 1103 E. Villa Maria 268-1407 College Station Dan Lawson, DDS 1712 S.W Parkway 696-9578 2 FREE RENTALS with a new membership OR RENT Any Game or Software Get Second One Vz OFF Photo by Scott D. Wearc; Laura McNamara, a student bus driver, drives one of the off-campus shuttle buses on the “Elephant Walk” route. FLOPPY T O E ’5 5 i/P*. ry f a, t Culpepper Plaza By Don Kopf Of The Battalion Staff We Rent & Sell: IBM, APPLE, MAC, COMMODORE, AMIGA, SEGA & NINTENDO Software. WE SELL: Acct, Productivity, Utilities, Education and Entertainment Software....DISCOUNTED 25% Culpepper Plaza • College Station • 693-1706 Not good with any other offer • VOID 10-29-89 Some restrictions apply Every morning while I’m on my way to class, I hear the growls and roars of the maroon and white monsters that make up the Texas A&M bus system as they rush past. And it seems no matter how early it is or how rotten the weather is, the drivers are always in a my-what-a-wonderful-morning mood. It made me wonder. Who are these pre-dawn perky people who drive the bellowing bus beasts, and why do they do it? I cornered a couple of drivers and found out everything I ever wanted to know about the A&M bus system. Every driver I talked to was more than willing to help. “Ever since I was a freshman and started rid ing the shuttle bus, I wanted to be a bus driver,” Laura McNamara, a junior industrial distribu tion major, said. “They always looked like they were having so much fun.” McNamara, now a bus driver, said the job is just as much fun as she thought it would be. Not only are the drivers friendly, but bus operations is understanding and helpful when drivers need a day off either to study or because they are ill. It’s fun because of all the people there are to meet, she said. This is easy to understand when you know that the A&M buses give 24,782 rides a day. McNamara, who has been driving since Au gust, at first had trouble explaining to her mother her decision to become a bus driver. When she got the job as a driver, she called home and excitedly told her mother about it. “I’m gonna be a bus driver! I’m gonna be a bus driv er!,” she said. Steven Carlson, a senior engineering technol ogy major, said he likes the job because he gets to meet a lot of people and the pay is pretty good. When people who obviously have had a really lousy day get on the bus, Carlson enjoys trying to cheer them up. He said people often start feeling better after he has talked to them. Carlson also said he likes the feeling of being in control of a large vehicle such as a bus, whichis why he likes to drive the larger off-campus buses But driving buses isn’t all fun and games. Ma neuvering such a large vehicle through crowded campus streets isn’t an easy job. McNamara said the most dangerous place is the Ireland Streel bus stop when classes are being let out. Pedestri I ans casually step in front of a bus assuming it will stop for them until they are out of the way, ski said. McNamara recalls one incident duringwhicha cyclist tried to squeeze between her stopped bus and a parked truck. The rider smacked his head hard into the bus’s side mirror, moving it quite a bit (a feat not easily done). She said he just kept riding, probably because he was too embarassed to stop. According to Daniel McRedmond, ajuniorii nance major and bus driver, people on bikes See Bus/Page 15 Group offers alternative to television ’magination Station uses entertainment to teach COLLEGE STATION 504 Harvey Road A and B Leagues, —P Hatche-S gjuarante.e.d PfinzE-S AvARD£D TO IN EACH L_£.AG|UE1 sign up nonzMZ/AiMSC By James A. Johnson Of The Battalion Staff Although many forms of enter tainment such as television and vi deo games often do little to help chil dren become more creative, there is an organization in Bryan-College Station that entertains youngsters while teaching them about the un limited possibilities of the imagina tion. ’magination Station, a non-profit organization that utilizes an ensem ble approach for casting its plays, is dedicated to producing plays for children of the Bryan-College Sta tion area. Actors audition at the be ginning of each annual season to be come a part of the troupe. Each play is then cast from members of the troupe. Performing such memorable plays as “Charlotte’s Web” and “Hansel and Gretel,” the group re lies on participants from all areas of the community. Diane Florshuetz, a business owner in Bryan-College Station, said she enjoys using her talents for the children’s benefit. “It allows everyone to use their creativity,” Florshuetz explained. “The children are able to create and interpret what they see in the per formances. Each child may interpret different situations in entirely dif ferent ways.” In “Charlotte’s Web,” Florshuetz said the children get to play the part of trees, helping them to understand the importance of participation and teamwork. Although the suybject of death is presented in the play, it is not done so in a tragic way. Instead, children see the subject from a sympathetic view as well. In plays like “Charlotte’s Web,” Florshuetz said the actors also can suggest ways of dealing with death. ’magination Station is beginning its third season and was started by nine friends who saw the need for a children’s theater workshop in the Bryan-College Station community. Because of the huge success of its first show three years ago, the Sta tion has grown into an 18-member organization. Cast members communicate a sense of family and familiarity which they develop from working with each other. The actors use a direct approach to communicate with their audience members, performing each play in close proximity by hav ing the children sit on the floor near the stage area. Pamela Wiley, the group’s public ity chairman, said today’s society doesn’t expose children to the world of make-believe as often as it should. “We’re not like Mister Rogers or some cartoons,” Wiley said, smiling. “That stuff is sick.” In its own way, ’magination Sta tion teaches children about how even the simplest things can provide fun. “Our productions let youngsters see what they can do in their own room and in their own backyard,” Wiley said. To stir the children’s imagination, expensive props or costumes are rar ely used. Instead, the group leaves such imagery to each child’s mind. “They see everything that’s going on,” Wiley said. “We don’t use elab orate sets. We keep everything very simple.” She said that this allows the children to understand that they can make objects and places whatever they want them to be. Another purpose of the group’s See Station/Page 15 Photo by Kathy ’magination Station member Dennis Busch plays the part of Wilbur in a production of “Charlotte’s Web.” About 150 par ents and children saw the production Saturday afternoon at Jane Long Jr. High School.