Page 6
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My Fair Lady
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2001-2002 SEASON 2^
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MAIN STAGE
RED, WHITE AND TUNA
September 8 & 9
RAGTIME
October 23 & 24
MARK O'CONNOR with
Boston's METAMORPHOSEN
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
November 3
MY FAIR LADY
January 25 & 26
GRIGOROVICH BALLET COMPANY
SWAN LAKE February 21
SPARTACUS February 22-23
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
February 26
PORGY AND BESS
March 19 & 20
GARTH FAGAN DANCE
April 6
Student
tickets
only $ 10!
WOVEN HARMONY
October 19
Support
provided by:
OH HOLY NIGHT
December 1
OUR SINATRA
January 24
WAYANAY INKA
March 5
IWnsoN
OTaH:
4JR.
FOR THE YOUNG AT ARTI
Tickets
only
$6.50!
READING RAINBOW
October 7
ST. GEORGE and the DRAGON
Houston Grand Opera's
Opera Td Go
November 17
THE BOXCAR CHILDREN
February 2
MICHEL LAUZIERE
March 3 support by:
The OPAS Guild
Generously
1 by:
Supporting the arts since 1973.
2001 - 2002 SEASON
MEDIA PARTNERS
MIS jrW
^HTAIV
?620
Due to pending
contract negotiations,
all programs subject
to change.
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NEWS
Wednesday. I
THE BATTALION
American-grow
rice invades Jap
TOKYO (AP) — Boxed hot lunches went on
sale in 'Ibkyo on Tuesday packed with rice, natu
rally grown vegetables, organic chicken, beef and
salmon — all from the United States.
But the ingredient raising the hottest emotions
here is the rice, long the symbol of Japan’s closed
markets as well as of the nation’s cultural roots.
“Farmers just can’t accept this,” said Yuzo
Nakamura of the Central Union of Agricultural
Cooperatives as he yelled protests at a train sta
tion and handed out free packs of Japanese rice to
passers-by. “Japanese rice a must for packed lunch
es,” said the banner on his van.
Nakamura and other farmers say the latest inva
sion of American rice, which is consistendy cheap
er dian Japanese rice, is die last thing they need.
Japan’s rice market was closed until 1993, when
the government finally gave in to foreign pressures
and lifted the ban on foreign rice. Under an in
ternational trade agreement, Japan is now re
quired to import 8 percent of the annual rice con
sumption, or 770,000 tons of rice a year.
With rice consumption falling recently as
youngsters turn to bread and pasta and away from
the traditional staple, fanners have been forced to
cut back production, leaving 37 percent of their
rice fields idle or growing other crops.
Rice cultivation is a religious/ite in Japan, and
tradition says a spirit dwells in-the rice plant. Com
munity festivals are centered on prayers for boun
tiful harvests, and children used to be taught to
never waste a grain of rice and to always give
thanks to the farmers.
But such sentiments are fading with the times.
Amid an economic slowdown that has dragged on
for more than a decade, affordability is growing
increasingly critical in this nation notorious for
high prices.
The imported “O-bento” — which means
“packed lunch” but has the big “O” for “organ
ic”— sells for $4.76 and $2.63 for a smaller ver
sion, a bargain for train-station lunches. AJapan-
ese eel bento, for example, costs $8.77.
Tbkuharu Tano, a 58-year-old worker at a
truck-sale company, bought four packs of O-ben-
to for a golf outing with his buddies on the bullet
train. And he could not care less the rice was made
in America.
“It was cheap,” he said after eating,
licious.”
O-bento has managed to skirt thehei
up to $2.33 per 2.2 pounds
on rice
ting categorized as processed food. Ep
The rice is grown in California byLSv
Family Farms, which supplies health-fa.‘ ^ Cl
Campi
Two killed at
baseball game
using Japanese seedlings of Akita Koir. by ma<
brand. T he lunches are topped withcooki _ ac.n/i l
en and other items, then frozen before be:BS a va j |
aged and shipped to Japan. Ruidance col
Shizuka Yasui, a spokeswoman fo: dforthg Kaplan
Restaurant Enterprise Co., which makes:® Catalog 2(
O-bento, said choosing an AmericangroRurveyed frorr
the best way to get organic rice. Her :ted public ai
hopes to sell 10,000 O-bento a day. B named Al
The new lunch is striking a raw nem B schools offeri
other reason as well. •!| dollar. .
It is being sold at Tokyo train stations:® 1 , 6 s V K r ^ e ^ wi
er nearby outlets by a subsidiary ofJREtt(B ) 1,1 WSN ^f e
a part of the fomter government-run nikM,, be availabk
Some fanners see O-bento as tneultmuB
ir.n .il In (Ik- government. Ir.un limcheslHiBljstS cho:
ci.tlh been .i u.n l<>i loeal growers to Cent<
their delicacies.
Japan, a mountainous island-nation,i "hlee finalists
most efficient place to grow rice. Japane; jsqn for the g
ers acknowledge they cannot beat theprB 6 !^ of the T
America’s large-scale farmers. But theya;, B Sil
which imports more than half of its food f _ . J
try to remain self-sufficient in f <HKi P n,i: - j>rf a te dean for
\t Japanese supermarkets, ricefrornGfiB at the Emori
sells for about $14 for an 11-pound tool of Medicine!
Japanese rice sells for about $19. :key, interim dl
Still, foreign rice remains a toughk lleqe of Medicir
Japanese tend to favor homegrown and B r - John C. Bal
that foreign rice is tin. t.istdcss ;hhIloadt■rtmouth Med
chemicals ./ r ° vo f
Most of Japan s imported rice does note: sai a , ina
J . 1 . . • , slew president \j
up on store shelves and is instead usee eenc j ^ Septem
“miso” soy paste, liquor and pastries.
O-bento was the choice for YukariMH
36-year-old housewife, who wantedoigE 111 takes HO
for her two children during a train ride iarr <
sort area. ‘
“It’s a good price,” she said. “But Ibour : At TIN (AP) —
lor myself.” f Texas officials sa
is not needec
fassodate profe
News
la while workinc
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ten-year-old Matthew Tbland loved see
ing his father come to watch him play baseball, often keeping a
hug and smile ready for his dad.
Matthew Toland Sr. came to the park Monday night, but there
was no warm greeting, no embrace. Police say he used a pistol to
fatally wound his estranged wife Carmen Anderson, the boy’s
mother, and then turned the gun on Matthew, who died in his
black-and-gold baseball uniform.
After the outburst that sent other players and parents scram
bling for cover, the elder Toland drove off. Police found him 10
miles away in a Cadillac parked on a freeway’s shoulder, dead from
a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Both parents were in their 30s.
Police did not immediately offer a potential motive. Friends
and acquaintances were stunned.
“It’s disbelief, horror,” said Jacqueline Turnage, chief of the pri
vate school Matthew attended as an honor student. “We loved both
parents, and especially my baby, my young man, a very special
young man.” *
The boy’s death, which came in front of at least three class
mates who were on the team, also rattled investigators.
“It’s a tragedy, and it’s tough for our officers to take a look at a
young boy in a baseball uniform laying here dead, shot multiple
times,” said police Chief Joe Mokwa.
Anderson was watching Matthew from a car at Penrose Park
when she saw her husband approaching, police said. She
screamed for Matthew to hurry into the car, but he did not make
it off the field before Toland opened fire.
“We heard gunshots and we looked up and we saw him down
and saw the mother’s windshield shattered, and she was gone and
he was gone,” said Warren Scott, the boy’s Little League coach.
Girl escapesfronhiversity.
padlocked bedrock 1 y ice P resicJ( :
Jh Juan Sanch.
HUTCHINS, Texas (A'U American-Std
15-year-old girl was kept: j cid | s a | ready ^
locked in her bedroomim lter j a | involving
her mother said wasanf l0 came to ^f-, e /
to combat an eatingdisofs|ast fall.
T he 15-year-oldgirlsirm nc f- iez p|
er said her daughter ha« uct j ng an ir
eating disorder and wasl«| yy h as offered
in her 10-by-10-foot roo Rjjggj ero jyyppj
night after meals to predion in a June
her making herself vomit notifying UT of
Police Chief G.E. Griffin, ‘accusations the
The girl told policeshcjri at Harvard,
caped from her family'sis| been a n assista
ed, 65-acre property Safce 1996.
and sought refuge withne|
bors, who turryed herovfBCA to Crl
authorities Sunday. jmes of Qt
An affidavit by the I
Child Protective Ser DALLAS (AP)—
agency said workersatthf Metropolitan D
pital where she was tied to change :
found no signs of an e«o|ps'names to 1
disorder. The agency saidfrincesses inste;
weighed 96 pounds; shrides and Indian
later released from the hosft response to
Griffin said the family'iced by Amen
deeply religious and tbups.
sought medical treaW'About 15,000 i
They belong to a groupt-sir fathers partii
Believer's Fellowship, 'alias area, amon
encourages its followeitncentrations of
have many children, hCinpesses in the c
The girl's mother toldf
she has 11 other children,
2 to 18.
Strikes
Continued from Page 3
That bein said, how can Selig
be the keeper of the game’s in
tegrity when he requires um
pires to act against their better
judgement? Two years ago,
baseball was in an uproar over
the “wide strike” given to pitch
ers like Maddux and Tom
Glavine. Those strikes were a
farce and gave an unfair com
petitive advantage to pitchers
that “qualified” for a broader
strike zone. Now Selig wants
such strikes to return?
The stringent use of the true
strike zone, as well as the en
forcement of rules that are al
ready on the books, would help
baseball games move more
quickly. Batters are limited to 25
seconds out of the box, and are
only allowed to have one leg
leave the batting area. Pitchers
are supposed to pitch within 30
seconds of making contact with
die pitching rubber. These rules
have never been adhered to.
If Selig wishes for the game to
go faster, he could always speed
up the time between innings by
lessening the number of com
mercials shown during televised
games. Or baseball could get rid
of the designated hitter. Forcing
American League pitchers to try
to hit would speed up the early
innings, as they have no clue
what that rounded stick of wood
is supposed to do.
The integrity of Major
League Baseball has already
been called into question with
juiced balls, corked bats and
glorified T-ball parks such as
Enron Field being endorsed as
the wave of the future. 11-9
games invariably go much
longer than games wM
pitcher might throw 130w
es. Giving pitchers an unfi
vantage by making uffl
“hunt for strikes” will tur'l
fans far faster than gamesj
run three hours and five!
utes and adhere to the:
the game. Fans will not £
about the length of gaud
they are well played.
Selig and his associatesshi
reconsider this course of a®
at once. They cause true!
the game to wonder whats
they are watching, if the; !
watching at all. Then againl
is the same man who, attltf j
Star Game, proved he i
know the difference ben
“home runs” and “runs I
in” during his scripted pr
Ripken.
Perhaps Selig needs tor
the rule book.