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Lifestyles
Page 2
The Battalion
Tuesday, January 19,1993
Volunteers help transfer students adjust to changes
y, Januar
By MELISSA HOLUBEC
The Battalion
Walking through a tour of the Texas A&M cam
pus at orientation can be a moving experience. Ex
citement, anxiety, and a sense of accomplishment
blend, creating an emotion which may bring back
memories of the first day of kindergarten. The tran
sition will create changes for both students and par
ents, exactly as the one so many years before did.
"Things will never be the same again," said direc
tor of student affairs Ron Sasse, addressing parents
attending orientation sessions in Rudder Theater on
Monday. "Both students and parents change."
Still, some students are comforted from the begin
ning by the attitudes of other students here at A&M
who help make the whole ordeal a little less over
whelming.
Student orientation leaders volunteer their time to
provide campus tours and informational seminars
for incoming freshmen and iransfer students.
"Everyone makes it much easier," said Nicole
Hand, a sophomore transfer student from Houston,
as she waited to tour the A&M campus on Monday.
"They're nice and friendly, and I am excited."
Orientation leaders put on a series of skits at new
student conferences on Monday, pretending to
phone home and tell their parents about college life.
In the first call, the student tells his mother about
his roommate, who has three nose-rings and a pet
snake, and the professor who illustrated the princi
ple of gravity by hitting him with an eraser.
The second call occurs just after mid-term when
the parents have received their son's grades and he
insists that his professors gave C's to all their stu
dents. In addition, his parents inform him of their
plans to visit him that weekend.
The third and final call home takes place the week
of finals. The student is stressed over the three exams
he took that day and is eager to return home.
Even when parents have some idea of what to ex
pect, letting their children go can at times be difficult
and emotional.
"It's the pits," said Hand's mother, Diane, with a
tear beginning to form in the comer of her eye. She
smiled and hugged her daughter. "It's a growing ex
perience in a whole new world," she said.
The Department of Student Affairs distributes
pamphlets to parents which offer advice on adjusting
and describe some of the changes that many students
encounter.
The Texas A&M University Parent Handbook
1992 describes "The Ten Phases in Preparing for and
Adjusting to College." In the first phase, students
look to the future with mixed feelings described as
"Early Summer Anticipation." "Midsummer Anxi
ety" sets in when "individuals realize they will soon
leave home, family, friends and those feelings of se
curity." Phase three is marked by the student's entry
into the college experience with a new roommate,
red tape, classes, and a new social world.
Phase Four is called "The Honeymoon." This is
when students meet lots of new people and don't
have any tests for three weeks. The next phase, "The
End of the Honeymoon," is marked by too-much-to-
do-in-not-enough-time, homesickness, and generally
feeling overwhelmed. Phase Six describes the "I
think I could do better somewhere else" mentality.
Phase Seven occurs when students go home and
realize life goes on there without them. Well into the
first semester, students enter the "Primitive Coping
Behavior" phase when they have learned to use the
library and hold a reasonably intelligent conversa
tion. "Realization," the ninth phase, hits around fi-
Rol
ing the second semester students are able to put it all
together and see college as a total experience.
"Parenting a College Freshman: From A Stu
dent's Perspective" advises parents to write letters L
even when students don't write back, to visit but not THE AJ
necessarily surprise students at school, not to worry
BILLY MORAN/The Battalion
J. P. Patel (facing left), a junior microbiology major
from Houston, explains the tradition of Silver Taps
at the monument by the Academic Building to a
group of transfer students Monday morning.
excessively about panic phone calls or letters and to ;USTIN —
ask questions— but not too many. The section en-umittee this
courages parents to trust their son or daughter and ;l to continu
encourages students to solve their own problems. of redistribi
Pamphlets distributed at orientation and through- rey within cc
out the semester address topics such as academic ;:mansaidV
success, roommate relations, dealing with campus saBillRatli
diversity, changing family relationships and expecta- janned to fi
tions, and self-esteem.
Volunteers help the orientation process by offer
ing information and help on a personal level as well
as through the tours and seminars.
Susan Emmons, a junior political science major,
said the help and support orientation leaders offered
her when she was a freshman encouraged her to vol
unteer.
"They answered every question I could think of," ||
she said. "They gave all of us the numbers of at least *
two of the orientation leaders. It helped because I
knew there was someone here to call if I needed
help."
Sasse said that the Department of Student Affairs
has learned more about the student's side of adjust
ing by talking to students and through letters they
have written. Many students feel that the transition
is a normal and necessary aspect of college life de
spite its difficulty, he said.
"It's a transition from outer control to inner con-
nals when students realize that future success de
pends on academic success. Finally, sometime dur-
trol," Sasse explained to the auditorium of parents. |4f
"Students and parents have to find a way to cele- !*'*
brate it."
'Alive' explores extremes of adversity
By JENNY MAGEE
"Alive"
Starring Ethan Hawke and Vincent Spano
Directed by Frank Marshall
Rated R
Playing at Post Oak 3
After viewing the previews for "Alive", the
story of a group of airline passengers who
fight for survivaj after their plane crashes, I
walked into the theater expecting a scenario
somewhat like this... Welcome aboard flight
117, destination survival. And for your dining
pleasure tonight We will be serving fillet of the
first class passengers who sat on the left side of
the plane. Luckily, "Alive" does focus on
more than just hunger pangs.
All right, call me crude, call me tasteless,
but try to imagine a situation so desperate that
the only way to survive is to eat the flesh of a
dead human being. After the queasy churning
feeling in your stomach subsides, evaluate the
reaction. To my surprise, this was "Alive's"
lifeline for me.
The fact that the movie made me to think
seriously about cannibalism was an accom
plishment; primarily be
cause this was not exactly
a matter that I wanted to
think seriously about. I
enjoyed the fact that this
movie made me consider
what I would have done.
"Alive" is not just an
other sugar-coated story
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of catastrophe cast out into a sea of over-
dramatization; it is a true story about a real
plane crash that occurred in 1972. It is the sto
ry of real people. It is the story of impossible
survival. But most of all, it is the story of real
heroism. I consider it a movie worth seeing.
A rugby team from Uruguay has chartered
a plane to land their strong youthful bodies
safely in Chile. But due to a thick fog, the
plane crashes into the side of a mountain, rav
aging the rear of the airplane and tossing the
passengers out into the merciless winter of the
Andes. Under the pressure of extreme cold,
horrible injuries, fading hopes of rescue, and
starvation, the passengers must bind together
to put mind over matter in the truest sense of
the phrase.
Ethan Hawke plays one of the stranded pas
sengers, and his performance struck my atten
tion. He was able to capture the role of a hero
without donning a red cape and leaping over
buildings in a single bound. He simply ap
plied a subtle streak of courageousness that
was appropriate for the job.
One of the main things this movie taught
me is that in desperate situations people are
forced to do things in the name of survival that
are unthinkable under normal circumstances.
I was also impressed with "Alive" because
it dealt with the idea of cannibalism on an ethi
cal and religious level. Nestled in the wreck
age of the plane, the passengers try to justify
their only choice for survival, debating theo
ries such as, "If the soul leaves the body at
death, isn't the body just a carcass of the al
ready departed human being?"
I got the impression from the previews of
"Alive" that the movie was geared for this big
dominating footage of eating human flesh.
Granted, I would have liked to have been
spared viewing the process, but to my ap
proval the matter was handled tastefully.
Accidents such as this one are always filed
under the "this could never happen to me"
folder of the brain. But when they do I think it
is miraculous to see how people fight to sus
tain life. For me, "Alive" was not a movie
about eating dead people, which was my ini
tial fear; it was a movie about going to the ulti
mate extremes to live.
There is one question that remains unmis
takably alive upon my reflection of this movie.
Why does it take half the movie for these
freezing people to start a fire?
Van Damme's acting goes nowhere
in new film with toned-down action
By ANAS BEN-MUSA
"Nowhere to Run"
Starring Jean-Claude Van
Damme, Rosanna Arquette,
Kieran Culkin, Ted Levine
Directed by Robert Harmon
Rated R
Playing at Cinema III
Once again, Jean-Claude
"Muscles from Brussels" Van
Damme flies across the screen
showing off more than his pec
torals in his latest venture,
"Nowhere to Run."
Unfortunately, I also had
nowhere to run from this
mediocre film.
Van Damme tried to tone
down the
violence in
"Nowhere
to Run" and
d i s p 1 ay
more of his
acting abili-»
ties.
Howev
er, I think
no one told Van
Damme exactly what acting is.
The talent he displays most is
his derri^re. He hardly says any
thing throughout the film. When
he does say anything it is usually
a cheap copy of Eastwood- or
Schwarzenegger-style one-liners.
He hardly shows any emotion
even during the few scenes in
which he is fighting.
Van Damme has yet to create
his own sense of acting style or
technique. He keeps resorting to a
poor imitation of Schwarzenegger.
It is a tragedy to see Van
Damme try his best to act and
fall several steps short, but with
the help of supporting actors
"Nowhere to Run" did not fall
into the dumbest film hall of
fame.
Rosanna Arquette plays
Clydie, the widow protecting her
house and land from real estate
developers trying to forcefully
persuade her to sell.
Arquette creates a realistic
character who is desperately try
ing to keep her family together.
Clydie's son Mookie, played
by Kieran Culkin, is a fun-loving
boy who yearns for a father fig
ure. . . Enter Van Damme as Sam
Gillen, an escaped convict who is
wrongly accused of murder dur
ing a bank heist.
After escaping from prison,
Sam wanders in on the family
and appropiately assumes the
position of protector/watchdog.
The rest of the story goes on
in the same unoriginal fashion as
other countless action flicks —
man meets women, man protects
woman, woman is grateful, man
sleeps with woman, man stops or
kills bad guys, end of story.
If you're interested in another
action-packed movie from
Wham-Bam Van Damme, then
skip "Nowhere to Run." There
are very few fighting scenes.
However, it's worth a peek
during a matinee run for those
who like to see cute children in
humorous scenes. When it came
to the acting, the children did a
better job than Van Damme.
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The Battalion
STEVE O’BRIEN, Editor in Chief
JASON LOUGHMAN, Managing Editor
STACY FEDUCIA, Opinion Editor TODD STONE, City Editor
MEREDITH HARRISON, News Editor K. LEE DAVIS, Sports Editor
KYLE BURNETT, News Editor DON NORWOOD, Sports Editor
SUSAN OWEN, Lifestyles Editor DARRIN HILL, Photo Editor
Staff Members
Reporters — Mark Evans, Melody Dunne, Reagon Clamon, Cheryl Heller, Matari Jones, Juli Phillips,
Jennifer Smith, Brandi Jordan, Gina Howard, Stephanie Patillo, Robin Roach, Julie Chelkowski, Jeff
Gosmano, Jason Cox, Will Healy, Kathryn Lubbeck, Cynthia Trevizo, Kevin Lindstrom, Natalie Giehl, Heather
Henderson and Shelia Vela
News desk — Belinda Blancarte, Carey Eagan, Lance Holmes, Elizabeth Lowe, Jennifer Mentlik, David
Thomas and Heather Winch
Photographers — Jen Lockard, Robert J. Reed, Billy Moran, Joseph Greenslade, Richard Dixon, Craig
Fox, John W. Bartrom, Mark Ybarra and Murphy Hawkins
Lifstyles - Anas Ben-Musa, Dena Dizdar, Melissa Holubec, Tanya Williams and Jenny Magee
Sports writers — William Harrison, Michael Plummer and David Winder
Columnists — Julie Polston, Toni Garrard-Clay, Matthew Dickerson, Chris Whitley, Robert Vasquez, Rich
Henderson, Dave Brooks, John Scroggs and Janet Holder
Cartoonists — Thomas Deeny, George Nasr, Clay Welch and Boomer Cardinale
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Sore Throat/Strep Throat
Individuals at least 13 years old needed to participate in a sore throat
(strep throat, tonsillitis) research study involving an investigational oral
antibiotic in capsule form. $100 incentive paid to those chosen to
participate upon completion of the study.
URINARY TRACT INFECTION
Do you experience painful, burning, stinging, frequent or difficult
urination? Females age 18 and older with uncomplicated UrinaryTract
Infections needed for an investigational research study using mediactions
in powder and tablet form. Six weeks, 5 visits. $100 for those who
complete the study.
CHILDREN'S SKIN INFECTION STUDY
Children, age six monthsto 12 years, wanted to participate in a research
study for bacterial skin infections such as: infected wounds, bug bites,
earlobes, burns, boils, hair follicles, ingrown toenails, impetigo and
others. Investigational oral antibiotic in liquid form. $150 incentive for
those chosen who complete the study.
Asthma Study
Individuals, age 12-65, with mild to moderate asthma to participate
in a clinical research study for 6 weeks with an investigational
medication in inhaler form. Individuals must be using inhaled
steroids and bronchodilators daily to qualify. Up to $300 paid to
those participating in the study.
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776-0400
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