The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 30, 1995, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    The Battalion
hursday
ovember 30, 1995
Aggielife
3
at
iinners]
'e outiii,
?S
— Stoj
Wic still
away it
ongressi
? first on
f a ceit,
5aid lies
lire I
y wo
s are, lit
fluencei
persuai
arancli,
)f years |
'tifiablyl
re cans?
ons/’sj
i, who sir,
hangesj
assed il
no lonji
gress ist
id dined.
asyli
The Unil?
asylum;:
umbers:
say reflec
hat hum
eer tow
an attorns
Antoni
’nitiontk
;er."
rials doi
pie beii
are
Mexica:
'EN r
»vera{<
to mud
Pliisivas
srwteta
ofWal
. and I
lot full
of the:
they®
itenad
rofessn
iresente
vhy tk
o ch
es.
man bf
uncoil’
eve i
econi
isaid.
i to at
,o thosi
nselve!'
not al
her na
ons.
.S.h
ring tk
a cris
TOR
-OR
Iditoii
Editos
TOR
allowai
j, XM
New holiday
compilations lack
Christmas spirit
Libe
Goad
Columnist
[is the Christ
mas season, a
holiday that
in the past was a time
to celebrate the birth
of Jesus and give gifts
in memory of that
birth but is now just
another money-mak
ing opportunity.
It is not a new story. As far back as I can re
member, the nightmare before Christmas haunted
shoppers in mid-October. Storekeepers remove
pumpkins and witches that have been on display
since August and fill the emptied spaces with jolly
Santas, Christmas trees and mice wearing little
red Santa hats. Old merchandise gets updated witH*
red bows and more little red Santa hats.
There is something interesting about Christmas
decor. No matter how ugly or impractical some
thing may be, Christmas packaging makes it a hot
commodity for the stressed-out holiday shopper.
I guess that is why people give fruitcakes to
their friends. One look at the holiday scene on the
tin container, and they are hooked. Food unfit for
most palates suddenly makes a great gift. My
mother once called this the fruitcake phenomenon.
The phenomenon applies to other Christmas
merchandise, especially to the host of musical
Christmas compilations that have flooded music
stores over the last five years.
There are the usual John Denver albums, jazz
albums and classic caroling songs.
But this year, things have gotten out of control.
In the tradition of rock and Christmas combina
tions found on A Very Special Christmas and A
Very Special Christmas, Vol II, this musical holi
day season is filled with overrated rock-Christmas
compilation albums.
Unfortunately, the new music does not do much
more for Christmas than the Very Special albums.
Maybe it has to do with the sound of thrashing gui
tars on “Silent Night.” Or it’s the combination of
great musicians like Sinead O’Connor with the
likes of Michael Bolton. Bad music stifles the
Christmas spirit, and buying it is a definite symp
tom of the fruitcake phenomenon.
The albums can speak for themselves.
From the alternative-rock vein comes You Sleigh
Me, a compilation featuring the talent of Tori Amos^
and Juliana Hatfield. The album appears promis
ing, but it’s not. The other artists leave great holes
that Amos and Hatfield cannot fill.
The same for The Edge of Christmas, an alterna^
tive Christmas compilation with an odd combina
tion of artists such as Queen, the Ramones and Pat
Benetar. It sounds like it would make a great al
bum any other time of the year, but Queen singing
Christmas songs? No sir.
My favorite of these was Punk Rock Christmas,
an album that sports a cover of Santa carrying a
bag with D.O.A. printed on it.
Funny, Christmas used to be a happy time of
the year.
Speaking of laughter, the Most Creative New Al<
bum award goes to Tales from the Crypt: Have
Yourself a Scary Little Christmas. The television
show, a Twilight Zone take-off, joined in the spirit
and released its unique collection of Christmas car
ols. On the cover, the corroding crypt keeper dons a
Santa hat and John Lennon-esque sunglasses.
Is this what Christmas has become, a decaying
skeleton instead of a pleasantly plump Santa?
The album features twisted versions of tradition-^
al Christmas songs like, “We Wish You Would Burj
the Misses,” “Should Old Cadavers be Forgot,” and
the most grotesque of all, “Deck the Halls with
Parts of Charlie.”
Here are a few lyrics: “Stockings stuffed with
ears and fingers / Chopped from all those caroling
singers / Who needs mistletoe and holly, when we
can just dismember Wally?”
Maybe people think this is funny, but when I
picked the album, it reminded me what a consumer
nightmare the holiday has become.
Don’t be fooled. These albums aren’t worth the
money, and if you think so, you’re probably experi
encing the fruitcake phenomenon.
Instead, grab a cup of eggnog and a copy of Har
ry Connick Jr.’s Christmas album, and celebrate
the season with spirit and style.
; on
The 8 J| ’
,r class';
land
The Inkshed Press
Literary Journal
is here!
Pick one up (It’s FREE)
at Blocker, the MSC, or the Common’s.
Also, DON’T MISS our poetry reading
at Dead Lazio’s on Dead Day,
Wednesday, December 6, at 7:30 p.m.
The art of conversation
Students gain global
perspective through
class's partnerships
By Rachel Barry
The Battal ion
A restaurant booth has proven to be a
comfortable means of transportation for
students to travel the world.
Kathleen Ferrara, an associate professor
of linguistics, with several other professors
on campus, has given her students the
chance to visit with students from other
countries as part of a class requirement. The
Conversation Partner Project pairs a foreign
student who speaks little or no English with
an American student. Through weekly meet
ings, the partners discuss topics ranging
from local food to customs in other countries.
The most common meeting place for the stu
dents is area restaurants.
“It’s kind of a way to armchair travel,” Fer
rara said.
Ashley Jensen, a senior Spanish major,
had to take a linguistics class for her major
and thought this one sounded like fun.
Her partner, Teerawit Limtoongsakul, is
from Thailand.
Jensen said she has made herself avail
able to answer questions he has about the
United States, since he has only been here
for three months.
“The weather is the same in Thailand as
here — sticky and humid,” she said. “There’s
a lot of American influence over there, because
he recognizes American movie stars.”
The discussions often focus on a subject in
the class the students are taking, making the
lessons more tangible.
“They can ask questions they wouldn’t get
answered in a book,” Ferrara said.
Jensen said communication has not been a
problem, although she and her partner’s lan
guages are very different.
“Sometimes we both stare at each other
blankly, but he speaks English well,” she said.
Students are required to meet with their
partners for at least for an hour a week for
eight weeks. The students have to keep a jour
nal during the two months and write a re
search paper on their experience. The focus of
the paper is a topic the students choose from
their discussions with the foreign student.
“It’s a fun, open-ended topic,” Ferrara said.
“People can tailor it to their own interests.”
Ferrara said the discovery of cultural dif
ferences often serves as a mirror for Ameri-
Gwendolyn Struve, The Battalion
J.R. Guajardo and Ricky Chang meet in McDonald's for their bi-weekly visit to learn more
about one another's culture.
can students to find surprising traits in their
own culture.
“The foreign students get to learn our ways,
and we get to put our ways into perspective,”
she said.
The English Language Institute is respon
sible for pairing foreign and American stu
dents for the class. The ELI is an institution
on college campuses around the country and is
where foreign students first go when they ar
rive at A&M. They are placed in intense Eng
lish classes to help prepare them for classes
they will be taking.
“Listening skills are taught, as well
as reading, writing and translating,” Fer
rara said.
Jensen said the experience helped her un
derstand what A&M students from other
countries must feel like.
“I can see how it would be difficult for
someone who’s never been here to adjust to
culture shock,” she said.
Finding a place to fit in on campus can be
difficult for a newcomer from another country.
Ferrara said the program helps foreign stu
dents adjust.
“Breaking out of your own encampment is
not an easy thing,” she said.
She said that after spending eight hours
with each other, the students are able to be
come closer friends.
“You become kind of a part of someone’s
life,” she said. “You get to see them in a vari
ety of different relations.”
Ferrara said the importance of the project
goes beyond leaning the technicalities of lan
guage and differences in cultures.
“This project is largely based with the
recognition that language and culture cannot
be extracted from each other,” she said.
Ferrara taught at the Koryiama campus in
Japan and said it taught her how to learn
about herself from other cultures.
“It strengthened my own beliefs by making
me reexamine them,” she said.
She said she wants to give that same op
portunity to her students.
“This allows people instant access to a
person from a different cultural back
ground,” she said.
Because the new marketplace is much
more global, she said students can gain the
ability to interact and better understand other
cultures through the project.
“It builds confidence so they can relate
across a cultural boundary,” she said.
Brooke sparks women's presence in rock
By Amy Uptmor
The Battalion
5'V
There’s not a lot of
room in women’s music
right now for yet anoth
er dynamic songstress.
Nevertheless, some
room needs to be
cleared for Jonatha
Brooke, who has made
her presence known with her de
but album, Plumb.
What is so amazing about
Brooke is that her style comes
from almost every genre of mu
sic. Folk, blues, jazz and rock are
all equally represented on
Plumb. The album even finishes
off with “Andrew Duffy’s Jig,” an
Irish jig.
Brooke’s voice is equally glob
al in its sound. Her voice most
strongly resembles Sarah
McLachlan, but “Where Were
You?” has the uncanny feel of a
Bonnie Raitt song. Both sounds,
as extremely different as they
are, work nicely together. The
end result is beautiful and full of
sincere emotion.
This incredible voice delivers
lyrics that are often nothing
short of pure genius. Brooke has
mastered the viewpoint of a
heartbroken lover so many song
writers have attempted to por-
Album
Jonatha Broolii
the Story
Plumb
GRP Records
**** (out of
tray in their music.
Many of Brooke’s songs read
like something Alanis Morrisette
would write after years of thera
py. She often sings of lost love
and emptiness, but the songs are
written with a refreshing pres
ence — inner strength. A perfect
example of this is “Nothing Sa
cred,” with lines like “I will turn
my back to the wind in your
wake, to the cold shards / Of the
lives strewn behind you.”
Even more powerful is “In
consolable,” the ultimate tale
of mourning over the prover
bial “one that got away.” But
this song is more cathartic
than sad. Brooke sings “And I
did think that you were the
one / But now I see what
you’ve become,” and issues the
warning that “There will be no
prayers on your return / And
there will be no party thrown.”
Such a viewpoint is a bit of a
novelty in women’s music, and
it’s long overdue presence
is more than welcomed.
By far, the high point of
this album is “Paris,” a
chillingly beautiful memoir
of a lover in Paris that took
away almost everything —
except her pride. Brooke
sings, “I walk with my head
held high and naked in the
sun / Claiming these streets
for myself, again.”
Brooke’s backup band.
The Story, should receive
equal credit for the power
of this album. The band of
fers elegant violins, classi
cal and folk guitar and a
bluesy piano that adds to
the mood Brooke is trying
to evoke. The Story’s music
is so soulful that listening
to some of the songs can
not help but bring forth
the image of Brooke
singing in a smoky piano
bar tucked away some
where deep in Manhattan. The
mood is strong, but then again,
so is the music.
Brooke may combine music
from almost every end of the
spectrum to create her sound
and style, yet she has created
something that is all her own. In
the end, no comparisons can re
ally be made. Brooke is a truly
Brooke
unique, talented singer who em
bodies the spirit of a classic,
soulful artist. Although she may
not be in a league of her own,
she is a standout. It is only ap
propriate that the picture on the
back cover of Plumb is one of
Brooke standing alone in a spot
light, because that is exactly
where she belongs.
Don’t
Worry
when an accident or
sudden illness occurs
CarePlus is open when you
need them 7 days a week
with affordable medical
care.
CarePlus^**!
Family Medical Center
2411 Texas Ave. and
Southwest Parkway
696-0683
10% A&M student discount
liGCilE NIGHT
Every Thursday
$1.99 Pitchers
with Student I.D.
SOO S. Texas, Bryan
823-4338