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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1997)
7,19 The Battalion Puesday • October 7, 1997 Recuting between the lines aziness plagues students who have forsaken popular literature ml- Chris Martin columnist M£ ■ OhlS lAOlhiE' CAhJ , .1 CATE areful, col lege student - you’re wading right now. Well, probably kimming, and if ve have anything common, you re waiting for class o begin, praying hat your prof does- | ft call on you to [liscuss a book you irere supposed to ave completed two weeks ago. For me, reading was actually fun at |ne point in life. I could barely control yself the first time those weird squig- ;les in my Little Lulu comic book made ense. I could read Bible stories on my wn and not just guess what was going nin those bizarre Precious Moments ietas. I even made a habit of reading y mom’s 1962 encyclopedias every ight. "By 1980, scientists predict that a ajority of middle class Americans will ommute to the moon for work each ay,” the ‘“cyclopedia” would say. I an’t wait. The library was a boundless source fwonder at that age. I would shuffle iver to the kid’s section, which always lad inspiring posters of C-3PO or Miss 5 iggy saying “Reading is Fun!” Even television encouraged this new- ound obsession. My all-time ultimate ;oal was to be one of those kids on the nd of Reading Rainbow, warbling on md on about how great the new Madeleine L’Engle book was. Then for some reason reading got less exciting. One reason was my Aunt Linda. As an English teacher, she was required by federal law to give me books every Christmas and birthday. “Hey! A present from Aunt Linda! What could it be?” Shake, shake -— thwunk. The sound of a heavy hardcover book vrapped up with tissue inside a white cardboard box was unmistakably hor rendous, unlike the joyous sound of a million pirate Leggo pieces. Avast. So like eating hominy, taking baths and not sitting in the car honking the horn all afternoon, reading became a forced activity, and ergo, an object of rebellion. Zoom forward to college, where re bellion often becomes a moot point in the absence of direct parental supervi sion. Luckily, we have nice authoritari an instructors who delight in taking the force-feeding mantle to new heights. “Class, read the first 800 pages of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene in your fifth-generation Xeroxed class packet for Monday. By the way, it’s set in old English type and the s’s look like f’s and the u’s are v’s so you may want to tran scribe the whole thing out before you read it. Have a good weekend.” So off we shuffle to the library, where there are no posters of C-3PO or Miss Piggy, to read. The library has graciously banned all traces of food or nourish ment from the premises in an academic attempt to make you concentrate on reading about the many methods of sta tistical gathering instead of reading about the intricate odds and details of the Twist-a-Pepper contest. The real brain power in college be longs to those who figure out how to learn all the information without the cumbersome burden of reading. Some people control their own slack destiny with Cliff’s Notes. Frankly, I don’t un derstand why people think Cliff’s Notes are like manna from heaven, because you still have to read them. One solution I tried was to get pre highlighted books, and only read what was highlighted. This master plan has its kinks, however, especially when your book has been highlighted so much, the pages look like clown vomit. There should also be a mandatory posting of the previous owner’s grade on the in side cover. That would save a lot of heartache. As much as I would love to read about the battle of Midway, it’s just im possible when the cast of “Eight is Enough” is locked in mortal combat against the cast of “Love Boat” on a re run of the “Family Feud” on the Game Show Network. Man, America sure knew how to treat its stars back in the early ‘80s. We could all look forward to seeing Cathy Lee Crosby walk across broken glass in the Circus of the Stars, or see Leroy from “Fame” pull some Bloopers and Practical Jokes on Debi Allen. But I digress. The biggest victim of bibliocide is the innocent trade paperback. Forced read ing is like Orwell’s two minutes of hate, brazenly conditioning the victim to re coil at anything remotely resembling a textbook. Say you have a certain personality quirk from deep inside your marrow that transcends any label made avail able by the English language, and to simplify conversations you sum up your realm of consciousness with one artifi cial word like, for instance, “smarmy.” Suddenly a deep and swirling indigo ocean of emotion and purpose has been distilled down into blase puddle of brown hot dog juice. Reading, like storytelling, may die in the face of new communication ad vances. By 2080, scientists predict that a majority of middle class Americans will absorb the great classics from a literacy pill. I can’t wait. Chris Martin is a senior journalism major. Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group Texas A&M University Graduating Seniors: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group invites you to attend a presentation and reception focusing on the position of Systems Analyst Thursday, October 9 from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm 504 Rudder Conference Center BANA, Computer Science and Engineering majors encouraged to attend, GPAs of 3.5 and higher preferred RSVP (800) 877-4725 ext 7622 Business Casual YOU DEMAND POWER, SPEED, AND MOBILITY. cash back* Power Macintoshr 6500/250 32/4GB/i2XCD/Multiple Scan 15AV L2/Zip Drive/Ethernet/Kbd Now $2,352 (or $4s/month)** before rebate $200 cash back* PowerBook* i^oocs/133 16AGB/8XCD/L2/11.3” DSTN display Now $2,015 (°r $38/month)** before rebate $100 CQ O Power Macintosh* 4400/200 Small Business 32/2GB/i2XCD/Multiple Scan 15AV/L2 33.6 Modem/Microsoft Office/Kbd Now $1,848 (or $35/month)** before rebate cash back* Fi Save another $50 cash back* Color StyleWriter 4100 NOW $225** BEFORE REBATE << CD c+ •-o WANT SOME CASH TO GO WITH THAT? Now is the right time to get an Apple Power Macintosh or PowerBook. Because in addition to getting the computer that lets you do more than you can imagine, you can save big time. For a limited time, students are eligible for special cash rebates. *This is a limited time rebate coupon offer. See your Apple campus reseller today for complete details. Microcomputer Center Located in the Texas A&M Bookstore Monday - Friday Bam - 5pm 409/845-4081 http://mccnettamu.edu/ Offer expires October 10, 1997. No payment of interest will be required for 90 days. Interest accruing during the 90-day period will be fdded to thej)rinclpal^and wj 11^ bearJnteres^t, vill be included in the repayment schedule. For example, the month of May 5. 1 which will be included in the repayment schedule. For example, the month of May 5, 1997. had an interest rate of 12.40% with an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 1 3*82%. A month ly payment of $44.22 for the Power Macintosh 6500/250 system is an estimate based on a total loan amount of * 2 .553.i9. which includes a sample purchase price of $2,352 and a 6% loan origination fee. Interest is variable based on the Prime Rate as reported on the 5th business day of the month m The Wall Street Journal plus a spread of 3-9%-Jhe Apple Computer Loan has an 8-year loan term with no prepayment penalty and is subject to credit approval. Monthly payments may vaiy depending on actual computer system prices, total loan amounts, state and local sales taxes and a change in the monthly variable interest rate. O1997 Apple Computer Inc. All nghts reserved Apple, the Apple logo. Mac. Macintosh. PowerBook, Power Macintosh and StyleWriter are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. OneScanner and QuickTake are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple rnail-In rebate offer valid from July 12. 1997 through October 10. 1997, while supplies last and subject to availability. Void where prohibited by law. See participating reseller for further rules and details. All Macintosh computers are designed to be accessible to individuals with disability. To learn more (U.S. only), call 800-600-7808 or TTY 800-755-0601.