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Aggidife
The Battalion • Page 3
Amy Browning / The Battalion
Courtney Rhoads and Bill Spalthoff examine information on job opportunities at the Career Center.
Career center helping
seniors for real world
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Haley Stavinoha
The Battalion
S eniors graduating in December are get
ting nervous, anxious and frustrated
with the uncertainty of the “real world.”
Well, the place to go for help on campus is
Texas A&M’s Career and Placement Center.
Before the semester started, the center was
busy getting December graduates ready for
the life after college.
Pat Alexander, associate director of career
education,
said students
will find the
career center
to be benefi
cial and devel
opmental.
“While it
^maybe work,
v it might take
off the stress
1 of finding a
job that would be there if you were doing it by
yourself,” Alexander said.
The center offers workshops on carder ex
ploration, resume preparation, interviewing
skills, workplace realities and job search
strategies.
To go through the placement office, there
are several important steps to take.
First, register by setting up a personal disc
"While it may be work, it might take off the
stress of finding a job that would be there if
you were doing it by yourself."
— Pat Alexander
associate director of career education
resume. Then you will go through the process
of on-campus interviews.
Mary Ferguson, an accounting major, gradu
ated in August and found the placement center
to be extremely worthwhile.
“I’m getting exposed to companies I did not
know were looking to fill positions,” Ferguson
said.
Alexander said the center has a career re
sources library that offers information on careers
and employment opportunities with over 2,000
company information files and employment trend
materials.
Alexander
said employers
come to A&M
to find a certain
caliber of stu
dents.
Melanie Pi
lar, a journal
ism major and
December grad
uate, said she
welcomed assistance from the center.
"Any help I can get is better than none,”
she said.
Alexander said the career center is accessi
ble, so students should take advantage of it.
Alexander advises that students register
three semesters before their graduation date
and said someone is always at the center to
help with any concerns or questions.
Queensryche takes slow
journey to 'Promised Land'
By Katherine Arnold
Thh Battalion
Queensryche
“Promised Land”
EMI Records
★ 1/2 (out of five)
Queensryche’s latest,
“Promised Land,” should come
with a warning label: if easily
depressed do not buy this
album.
The band uses “Promised
Land” to tackle emotional and
social problems. Unfortunate
ly, the deep lyrics often ruin
great music.
Queensryche’s hit it big with
their album, “Operation: Mind-
crime.” And the band’s last al
bum, “Empire,” went triple
platinum.
Queensryche has had
success with album’s fo
cusing on a single con
cept. “Promised Land”
is no exception.
Songwriter Chris De-
Garmo said in a press
release that the album
was a release for him.
“All of us are from
what you’d call dysfunc
tional families,” he said.
“And that stuff, a lot of
it’s painful. It stirs up
the emotions. But it’s
so enticing to try and
tap as an artist.”
“Promised Land”
starts off with a mind
tripping instrumental,
leading into the album’s
punchy second track. “I
am I” is a good head-
banger, but is the only
one on the album.
The rest of the songs
are much slower, drag
ging the album down
with them.
The album takes a
deep look at one’s inner
self with songs like “I
am I,” “Damaged,” “One
More Time,” and “Some
one Else.”
Reflective words
work well in some
songs, but Queensryche
may have tried a bit to
hard at it.
“Damaged” might be
the first rock song in
history to include the
word “psychoanalyze.”
“Silent Lucidity,” the hit
song from the “Empire” album,
finds its equivalent on this al
bum in the song “Out of Mind.”
The ballad takes a look at soci
ety’s treatment of the mentally
ill. Combined with slow but
melodic music, the song
promises to be a hit.
“Bridge” deals with
father/son relationships. De-
Garmo’s lyrics make it power
ful with such words as “You’re
begging me for a brand new
start / trying to mend a bridge
that’s been blown apart / but
you know you never built
it Dad.”
But from there, “Promised
Land” takes a downhill slide.
The title track discusses the in
formation highway, which puts
it out of place from the rest of
the songs.
The last song, “Someone
Else?” is set solely to the music
of a piano, and rescues the end
of the album.
Contrasting the rest of
“Promised Land,” this song
draws the listener in and pro
vides a thoughtful ending to
Queensryche’s latest concept
album.
Queensryche is still looking
for more hits despite an 11-
year recording history.
But this album is in the
“pretty decent” category, and is
one you will blow the dust off of
every once in a while to listen
to those few good songs.
Queensryche returns with “Promised Land.
N
lion editor
’hoto editor
arts editor
'ife editor
mie Dube, Amanda
iri Whitley
iffany Moore, Stacy
on, Blake Griggs,
Stavinoha
lewart Doreen and
Henderson, Erin Hill,
Nasr, Elizabeth Preston,
leson
day during the fall
ier sessions (except
cond class postage
Donald Building,
as A&M University
urnalism. Editorial
I .TAMU.EDU.
endorsement by
1845-2696. For
eed McDonald and
)78.
students to pick up a
er semester, $40 pet
iscover or American
Mosquitoes making nasty mark on College Station
fy Margaret Claughton
The Battalion
C ollege Station is under siege by the terror
of bloodsuckers.
Actually, they’re millions of little ter
rors—mosquitoes.
Bob Hole, supervisor of the city forestry de
partment, said the number of mosquitoes has in
cased sharply since the recent heavy rains in
e area.
“Even in this shop where the mosquito sprayer
es, we have mosquitoes,” he said.
According to Gerald Guillory, irrigation spe
cialist for the forestry department, the city has
'eceived a number of calls from citizens com-
ilaining about the recent outbreak of mosquitoes.
“We’re getting reports from all over the city,”
he said.
Hole said the bugs probably laid eggs prior to
the rainfall and were just waiting for the mois
ture before they could hatch.
Dr. Jim Olson, a Texas A&M professor and
medical entomologist, said the breed of mosqui
toes attacking College Station is known as a
l water mosquito. Olsen said this species
lay eggs in depressions such as footprints or
knots in trees and wait for severe rainfall.
Once the water arrives, the eggs hatch in 20
minutes. After five to six days the larvae ma
ture and emerge to feed.
“That’s when you get a whole waft of them all
at once,” he said.
Olsen said there are 1,000 times more mos
quitoes now than prior to the flood.
He said the bugs are at their worst right after
sunset until about 11 p.m.
“I suggest you get the latest addition of TV
Guide, shut yourself up in the house and don’t
go outside during those hours,” Olsen said.
But College Station is much better off than
other areas of Texas. Olsen said in places
around Houston, Port Arthur and Beaumont,
people are forced to wear bandannas over their
faces because of mosquitoes flying in in their
mouths and noses.
College Station city workers are working to
keep the local mosquito population under
control.
Guillory said when residents call the city will
send someone out to spray in that area.
Hole said it usually takes just one call for the
city to respond.
However, conditions have to be
just right or
spraying won’t
work.
“Our biggest
problem is the
wind,” he said. “If
the wind is over 8 miles
per hour, the spray is in- f BANZA.YYV
effective. Kinda like
spraying a can of Raid in a
hurricane.”
In addition to spraying, Guillory
said residents can take certain mea
sures to reduce the amount of mosqui
toes that breed around their homes.
“Make sure there are no open
containers around the house —
any place that could fill with
water and that mosquitoes
could breed in,” he said.
Guillory also said resi
dents should cut down on
watering their lawns.
“As far as any other
standing water, there is
not
much you can
do,” he said.
Hole said the rising number of
mosquitoes will continue as long as
moisture is prevalent.
“What we need is a good freeze,” he
said. “As it is right now, it is so tropical the
numbers of mosquitoes and other insects are not
coming down.”
Olsen said the surge will last for seven to 10
days after the'rain.
He added that there are no immediate health
concerns for humans as a result of the mosquitoes.
“The main thing we’ll suffer is a major mega
annoyance,” he said. “But it’s just temporary.”
Digable Planets fall prey to sophomore slump on 'ComW
Ladybug, Butterfly and Doodlebug of Digable Planets.
By Rob Clark
The Battalion
Digable Planets
“Blowout Comb”
Pendulum Recordings
*★1/2 (out of five)
Digable Planets is back, and
they’re still “Cool like Dat.”
The irresistible single “The Re
birth of Slick (Cool Like Dat),”
put the Planets on the map, and
their signature jazz samples sig
naled the rebirth of jazz into pop
ular black music along with fellow
rappers A Tribe Called Quest,
Guru of Gangstarr and US3.
DP’s 1992 debut album
“Reachin ... A Refutation of
Time and Space,” went gold and
“The Rebirth of Slick” earned the
group a Grammy award. And
this success means all eyes are
on the Planets’ latest effort,
“Blowout Comb.”
But Butterfly, Ladybug and
Doodlebug (yes, those are their
rap names) fall prey to the sopho
more slump on the new album.
The jazz is still there. And
the beats are once again of the
highest, coolest and funkiest
quality.
In fact, “Jettin,’” “Dog It” and
“Black Ego” are so funky, it’s al
most impossible to keep your
head from bobbing. So funky
you’ll have an ugly look on
your face.
But the group tries to escape
the flowery peace of “Reachin’”
and replace it with a sort of ur
ban militancy.
No, they haven’t gone gangs-
ta, but the change is an extreme
one.
But the album does have it’s
strong points. Doodlebug repre
sents black pride and indepen
dence on “Dial 7” with the lyrics
“Be that true black man that I
am / I stand in the oppression
with my sisters and my brothers
/No slippin,’ no half-steppin.’”
And Ladybug brings her classy
style to “Graffiti,” with a boast of
her own — “I got the concrete un
der my feet... I got the ease-back
style/Watch out world.”
But there is nothing on
“Blowout Comb” that is half as
catchy as on “Reachin.” Of
course, it’s hard to beat “Reach-
in’s” creative gems like “Where
I’m From,” “Time and Space” and
“Nickel Bags,” but not one new
cut can compare.
The production on the album
is impeccable, and every song
has the coolest of vibes.
And even at their worst, the
rappers in Digable Planets are
better than most rap stars. Any
thing new from such a team is
welcome, but that same magic
just isn’t there.
While Digable Planets is still
one of the most creative rap
groups around and their mark
on music is unmistakable,
“Blowout Comb” just doesn’t live
up to expectations.