Lifestyles
1
Tuesday, April 20,1993 The Battalion Page 3
Inward journeys,
Outward Bound
BILLY MORAN/Thc Battalion
John Pommier spends his summers camping and hiking with youths from detention centers, teaching them
survival techniques, in the Outward Bound program.
Graduate student leads at-risk youth
to self-discovery on wilderness trips
By DENA DIZDAR
The Battalion
Texas A&M graduate student
John Pommier will soon spend
his sixth summer canoeing, hik
ing and developing teamwork
with youth at risk.
Pommier, who is working on
his Ph.D. in recreation resource
development, works with the
non-profit organization Outward
Bound to help young people in
detention centers get back on
track.
For 28 days, Pommier and his
group camp near a river and learn
basic survival techniques that will
help the campers to reevaluate
themselves and the paths they
have taken in their lives.
Outward Botmd was started
in 1941 by Kurt Hahn, a Jewish
schoolteacher exiled from Ger
many, as a survival school for
boys in Great Britain.
Adapted in Colorado in 1962,
the United States division of the
program consists of tailor-made
wilderness trips designed to cul
tivate teamwork and self-esteem.
Corporations, cancer recovery
groups and numerous others have
contacted Outward Bound to help
them learn to work together and
identify strong leaders.
The groups Pommier works
closest with are juveniles jailed
for a variety of crimes.
For the past two years, Pom
mier has worked in Florida
where judges have seen the ben
efits of the program first-hand.
“Judges go see the program/'
Pommier said, "and some decide
that probation will be dropped if
they graduate."
Some students of the program
can get high school credit, and
some can even get their criminal
records cleared.
This is a way for the kids to
get back into society sooner and
start rebuilding their lives, Pom
mier said. Since most of the kids
Pommier works with are not in
school when they start the pro
gram, they have a tough road
ahead of them.
"I have not met a student (of
Outward Bound) yet that was in
school," Pommier said, "but
once they leave the program, it's
99 percent sure they'll go back."
What makes Outward Bound
work, Pommier said, is that it is
a psychological wilderness pro
gram, not just an adventure hike.
In the Voyageur Outward
Bound School catalog, one stu
dent, named John, said "I knew
it would be a great wilderness
adventure, but I didn't realize
how much fun it would be; and
how much I would learn about
the wild, myself and others."
"It's not seeing how many
miles we can paddle on the riv
er," he said. "It's what you do
with every kid and how you can
apply it to the home."
Pommier said the instructors
lead the trip for about the first
five days, and then gradually
give privileges to the students.
Choosing where to sleep and
what to eat are begirming privi
leges, and eventually the students
are allowed to take the lead.
Pommier remembered one
student, Robert, who had poor
family relations, a drug problem
and had quit school. Robert was
in a detention center at the time
for a drug-related incident, but
turned his life around after the
Outward Bound trip.
"When I met Robert," Pom
mier said, "he didn't remember
the last day he wasn't stoned.
Now he has graduated from col
lege, is off drugs and is helping
his mom out."
From Chitward Bound's
British beginnings, the program
has expanded to include 36
countries, with over 275,000 U.S.
graduates.
"Adventure education works
for these kids," Pommier said.
"If it is done right, everyone
benefits."
‘The Artificial Jungle’
Comic play has timing, snap
By JENNY MAGEE
The Battalion
"The Artificial Jungle"
Starring Christina Vela,
Jack Bathke and Sam
Levassar
Directed by Robert Wenck
Playing at Rudder Forum
The Aggie Players' impressive produc
tion "The Artificial Jungle" is a rip-roar
ing comedy that swings from one punch
line to the next.
This play works because of one main
element - comic timing. "The Artificial
Jungle" is replete with tactics that came
straight out of "The Actor's Guide: 101
Comic Rules To Act By."
Fortunately for us, the Aggie Players
read the introduction of this imaginary
book, which tells the actor if you are go
ing to fill your production with stylized
comic maneuvers, you'd better be crisp
and clean.
"Crisp and clean" is the foundation of
Christina Vela's hilarious portrayal of
Roxanne Nurdiger. Vela easily shimmies
right into the exaggerated lust that con
trols her character and, in fact, the entite
plot.
Roxanne is the anything-but-loving
wife of Chester Nurdiger (Jack Bathke),
the owner of the pet shop called The Arti
ficial Jungle.
Endless days of nothing but slimy little
reptiles, mute parrots, and piranhas have
driven Roxanne to contemplate ways of
turning that plaid-wearing husband of
hers into a big fat life insurance claim.
The opportunity to make this plan a re
ality walks through the door in the form
of Zachary Slade (Sam Levassar). Driven
by the rather explicit hot and heavy pas
sion he has for Roxanne, Zach's job to
"help with the disgusting stuff" in the op
eration of the pet shop takes on a whole
new meaning - knocking off Chester.
The interaction between Zach and Rox
anne is an example of fine-tuned comic
skill. With each facial expression and sex
ual innuendo one character conveniently
sets the other up to take a prat-fall that
buys the laughter of the audience with
ease.
The costume designs, by Vela and
Erriestb Maldonado, intensified the suc
cess with which the over-dramatized
characters fulfilled their stereotypes be
cause they were as eccentric and exagger
ated as the characters.
Chris Rogers as Chester's sweet nerdy
little Mother Nurdiger personified the
outrageous nature of this production.
Having a man play a nice old woman is
an example of the bizarre tight-rope walk
that the Aggie Players took with their
stylized interpretation of this play. It
could have easily failed, but the meticu
lous regard for comic timing preserved
the success of every slap-stick aspect of
"The Artificial Jungle."
"The Artificial Jungle" is full of steamy
lust and murderous intentions. But most
of all this off-the-wall, hilariously risque
farce is a wonderful diversion from the
real jungle of life.
"The Artificial Jungle" is playing in the
Rudder Forum April 21-23 At 8:00 P.M.
and April 24 at 2:00 P.M. All tickets are $5.
BILLY MORAN/The Battalion
Chris Rogers plays Mother Nurdiger and Jack Bathke plays doomed pet shop owner
Chester Nurdiger in'The Artificial Jungle.'
Keen to sing at Muster barbecue
Former student and country
singer Robert Earl Keen will per
form at the Muster Barbecue in
front of the Academic Building on
Wednesday.
The barbecue, sponsored by
the Aggie Muster Committee and
the Texas A&M Department of
Food Services, will be held from
10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The Com
mons, Sbisa and Duncan dining
halls will close for the barbecue
but will be open until 10:15 a.m.
to sell tickets for $5 in Aggie
Bucks. Only meal plans, tickets
and cash will be accepted at the
barbecue.
Keen, Class of 78, will perform
at 1 p.m. Former Miss Texas A&M
Jill McClure, barbershop quartet
the Aggienizers, country act Ex
ception to the Rule and Keith
Chapman will also perform.
Dallas fans, bland bands
drag down Earth Concert
By MIKE McMAHAN
The Battalion
The Earth Concert brought nine
bands to Dallas' Starplex Amphithe
ater on Sunday in what wa ; sup
posed to be an alternative" festival.
In fact, it was anything but "alter
native."
The diverse lineup of performers
(Gumball, Dinosaur Jr, Pop Poppins,
Tragically Hip, Gene Loves Jezebel,
Belly, Jellyfish, dada and 808 State)
held some promise, but the day was
filled with cliched behavior from
both the bands and the fans.
Gene Loves Jezebel's music,
which is laden with sexual innuen
do, is nothing more than hair metal.
They try to compensate for this by
using words like "metaphysical,"
but they fail. Their set was also
marred by the traditional Starplex
cup fight, in which much of the au
dience throws their plastic drink
cups in the air for aoout twenty
minutes.
Jellyfish was a close second for
most unoriginal performers of the
day. Their bland and annoying pop
music sounded similar to former
arena rock mainstays Queen, only
without the sense of experimenta
tion. Their happy harmonies were
humorously offset by the threaten
ing tone tney took with audience
members who pelted them (and
other performers) with cups.
It's likely that part of the reason
the cup fights occurred was that
fans grew bored during the lengthy
set changes.
Perhaps fans were spoiled by fes
tivals like Lollapalooza, which fea
ture longer sets and much, much
shorter set changes.
Believe it or not, there were two
shining lights in the midst of this
disaster: Dinosaur Jr and Belly.
Dinosaur Jr's brief set highlight
ed songs from their newest release
"Where You Been."
Guitarist/vocalist J Mascis did a
good job of keeping the songs
sounding full, even though he
couldn't possibly play all of the gui
tar parts from songs like "Out
There" and "Get Me" himself.
His high-volume playing more
than compensated for any missing
ieces of the recorded arrangements
ut buried his vocals under the
sheer weight of the sound.
Belly's singer/guitarist Tanya
Donnelly showed that she is truly
what many of the other performers
wanted to be: an artist. She used the
recorded versions of her songs as a
framework, rendering each a differ-
entpiece live.
The title track from the band's de
but album, "Star," was transformed
from its soft, slow recorded version
into a tune as powerful as their faster
songs like "Angel" or "Dusted."
Bassist Gail Greenwood, who
joined the band after the recording
of their album, was but a blur on
stage, adding intensity to the band.
Belly will be back in Texas this
weekend, with a performance at
Austin's Liberty Lunch on Friday,
April 23.
Dinosaur Jr will not be back until
late this summer when they come
back through the state as part of the
traveling festival Lollapalooza III.