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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 1997)
nursday • August 7, 1997 O The Battalion PINION ell out with me, oh yeah ... \frican-American actresses buy stardom with Dorothy Dandridge biography I0(B J lame, immortality and H money. These three ele ments pervade the Amer- iisociety in more ways than ■person can count. bh] \lthough it is the American am to live life to the lest, be successful and en tire fruits of hard labor, ioften this sentiment is gotten; it is turned into a Nw j re of power, dishonesty ] immoral life choices. But there is one place on this planet ere a person’s aspirations can be- nean elated dream come true i llywood. It is the place of glamour Iglitz; it is a region of starry-eyed in- iduals waiting to make their big akin show business, whether it be in ing, directing, singing or any of the ay other facets to investigate. ™ Hollywood is a society within itself, hike other materialistic entities, llywood also has a dark side; a place (aspiring actors and filmmakers do like to talk about — The Greed I.This is the place where people penjoying the art of making and rring in films. nstead, people begin to realize that yhave become icons of the Ameri- 1 'll society, powerful enough to take itrol of whatever new and uprising nt is taking place. bday, in what Hollywood insiders calling one of the biggest film fias- s, four African - American actresses vying for the title role in the upcom- film depiction of the life of Dorothy dridge, the first African-American man to receive an Oscar nomination. Most noted for her leading role in RS, rmen Jones, Dandridge even has a ton the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (her life wasn’t always filled with moments of making movies and xing with famous crowds. Dandridge daproblem with alcohol and severe pression, both which became a seri- isdetriment to her life as her career ileganto dwindle. Other tragic occur- { aces, such as the collapse of her mar- only added to the pressure of try- ifftoremain popular in the public eye. Like many other film stars of her ne,Dandridge suffered a career imp. During this time, she turned to nking heavily and misusing her pre- ribed anti-depressant medications, edropped out of the high-society Opinion Editor James Francis Junior English major scene and went back to singing in clubs; she also had to leave her home and move into one that was a bit less ex pensive for her budget. Dandridge also saw many tremendous and horrific changes during her time. In February 1965, Dandridge learned that a good friend of hers, Nat King Cole, had died of cancer. Afterwards, Dandridge began a road of recovery. She cut back on her alcohol intake, began using her anti-depres sant medication somewhat more un der control and she even had secured a show at the New York club Basin Street East. She was scheduled to per form on Sept. 10. Two days before her appearance, Dandridge was found dead in the bathroom of her apartment. One re port said Dandridge died because of an embolism: a blood clot in her right foot, caused by a fracture. A later re port said she died of a drug overdose from her anti-depressants. Whatever the truth behind her death, Dandridge lived a life full of hopes and lost dreams. She was a pioneer for African- American female entertainers. Dandridge’s life recently has been chronicled in a biography titled “Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography” by Donald Hogle. The down side of this biography is that Hollywood now plans to create a film about her life; the battle for the role being shared by four of America’s “most respected and talented African-American actresses,” as Serena Altchul of MTV News said. It’s great that this woman’s story is go ing to be told, but the actresses in question —Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, ITalle Berry and Vanessa Williams — are not nearly in the right mentality or accomplished enough in their careers to play such a role. Houston is not a great actress; her success comes from grabbing the coat tails of more prominent Hollywood fig ures such as Kevin Costner, Angela Bas sett and Denzel Washington. Janet Jackson’s highest acting achievement has been with her late co-star Tupac Shakur in Poetic Justice. As far as Berry and Williams, both have more com bined acting talent in their fingers than Houston or Jackson, but they still are not as accomplished as someone should be to play the role of Dandridge. But once again, The Greed Pool rears its ugly head in the twisted plot of this scam for each of the actresses to garner the role. Berry already has been chosen as executive producer and star of a Dandridge film that is in the works for HBO. Houston, more deviously, has purchased the movie rights for the bi ography. Although the chance to por tray Dandridge is a great opportunity, her life should be treated as more than just a way to gain fame or prestige in the big loom of Hollywood. America’s greed always has been around, but never so much as it has been in this case. A celebrated film ac tress and songstress such as Dandridge deserves more than power-hungry en tertainers attempting to achieve status as pioneer actresses. Every woman up for the part in the film should have to audition; this is the way filmmaking is supposed to be done. Hogle, the biog raphy’s author, should choose the per son he feels is best suited to play the part. In essence, he has the power, but it would seem the batting eyelashes and beautiful faces of a few “respected” and “talented” actresses have won him over in the long run. Dorothy Dandridge died at the age of 42, a great loss to film and enter tainment for America and its African- American citizens. Hollywood per sonae need to get their priorities straight and understand that acting is an art form, not a battle with the goal of receiving bragging rights. Graphic: Brad Graeber Church denominations send message of inconsistency ndividual churches have a re sponsibility to their respective denominations and members to exhibit denominational consistency. The cross and flame of Method ism. The symbol looks so simple, yet to Methodists, it means so much. A member of the denomina tion places a great deal of trust in such a symbol. Religious symbolism is by no means peculiar to the United Methodist Church. Catholics have similar symbols, as do Lutherans, Episcopalians, Muslims and Jews. Moons, stars, crosses — tvhat do they mean? They are more than a se ries of lines arranged in a particular way; they are more than a catchy design. These symbols give insight into what an individual believes. They are a representa tion of one’s faith, an interpretation of God. People become comfortable in how they worship their God. Affiliation with a church provides some one with a church group — for Methodists, a family within the Christian family. This fami ly has a specific set of beliefs in God, in wor ship and in ministry to others. A Methodist, therefore, should be able to visit any United Methodist Church with a good idea of what to expect in terms of worship. People with similar beliefs should theoreti cally be expected to worship in a similar fash ion. Methodist churches have an obligation to sing hymns, administer the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion and af firm members’ faiths in accordance to the Methodist Hymnal. This brings to mind the case of United Methodist churches in Bryan-College Station. First United Methodist Church of Bryan andA&M United Methodist Church exhibit this consistency, adhering closely to the Methodist Hymnal in the actual worship ser- Mce. Aldersgate United Methodist, however, •s a totally different story. The worship service is in no way consis- ient with either A&M or First Methodist. Take ! he 9 a.m. service of July 20, 1997: The service tasted one hour and 45 minutes to the other Guest Columnist David Recht Senior civil engineering major two churches’ hour. Musical selec tions were not from the Methodist Hymnal, but from transparencies projected onto a screen at the front of the church. During one of these hymns, members of the church started to dance. The minister called members of the congregation to the front of the church and asked them to “wit ness” to others about their faith. At one point in the service, a refer ence was made to the conversion of members of the Islamic faith. These five items of worship are unaccept able for a church affiliated with United Methodism. When a church affiliates itself with a particular denomination, it has a re sponsibility to that denomination to be like other churches in the family. This provides an important service to in dividual affiliates of that denomination. When a Methodist church is a Methodist church, a person is able to “judge a book by its cover.” This empowers the individual member to know what to expect in worship, thus ensuring he or she will enjoy and even be uplifted by worship. The members of Aldersgate, without a doubt, become uplifted by their worship. Calling the church Methodist, however, is un fair to fellow Methodists. The ultimate result of this is that visiting Methodists will be need lessly exposed to a worship service that is di vergent from their beliefs. Even worse, visitors to the church who know nothing about Methodism will have a tainted initial impression of the practice and worship of the United Methodist Church. The finger, surprisingly, should not neces sarily be pointed at Aldersgate. The United Methodist Church should be held account able for all churches that bear its name, and it should vigorously defend the idea of de nominational consistency not only in faith, but in worship. This argument can and should be carried out to other denominations. Individual churches must be representative of the de nominations they represent. Mail Call MSC advertisement clouds student’s mind * It is amazing to me how one indi vidual can twist an idea created by another. Did MSC Student Programs intend to alienate African Ameri cans? I don’t think so. To say “I sup pose African-Americans only are seen as entertainers and clowns by MSC Student Programs” is ignorant. From reading the letter you sub mitted, I draw the conclusion that you are an ignorant person in gen eral. Prairie View A&M was original ly established as a separate but equal college, but how many years ago was that? And how many years has it been since African-Americans were first admitted into this school? If you check admission records, you might find that the number of African-Americans has increased significantly since the school opened up to African-Americans. To say that the University is “slowly... deliberately and categori cally calculating” African-Ameri cans “out of the Aggie equation” is once again an ignorant statement. I am sorry that you hold the views that you do. I hope that you don’t believe that white students think that you and other African-Americans should be in the cotton fields at Prairie View. Your place is in a desk next to college students of all races in Col lege Station at Texas A&M. So before you go off on another tangent about how African-Ameri cans are not wanted at A&M, re member your own words, “Please think before you print.” Joe Barnes Class of’98 The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111. Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor. SooD NkjrnWGi spew illM