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_EtCetera__ Navy Brothers from page A6 ter had put off the letter: Some of the boys didn’t like the idea of saluting one brother who had been promoted. “M) mother was crying and on her knees, praying in gratitude,’ Agnes Martin said. So the Martins’ story wasn’t “Saving Private Ryan,” the recent film that capitalized on the notion of sending broth ers as brothers-in-arms into battle. But James Forrestal, ther secretary of the Navy, did laud the sons’ patriotism in a let ter to the family. After the war, the brothers came home, started fami lies and spread throughout the New York area. Charles be came a cook in Brooklyn and later, like some of his broth ers, an engineer. After retiring, he volunteered at the Brook lyn School for Special Children, where one of his sons had been educated. Although the Martins talked little about those years of service, their children knew that they never forgot them. “They were... proud of it, too — not of the six thing — but that they did their duty,” said Elizabeth Egan, Charles Martin’s daughter. “They felt it was their obligation as Unit ed States citizens to do that.” But Agnes Martin recalled another family tradition that may have had some impact. Their mother was a tal ented seamstress who outfitted her first sons in sailor suits. Those hand-me-downs still provoke a chuckle. “We always thought it was so ironic,” said Agnes Martin. “It was almost a premonition.” CDC reports racial disparities in health habits of Americans by Justin Bachman The Associated Press Atlanta - They might live in the dairy state, but Wisconsin • residents have a thirst for alcohol - enough to lead the na tion when it comes to drinkers per capita and imbibers who admit to binge drinking. More say they don’t use a seat belt when they drive. These findings come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which last Thursday released a sur vey of health behavior broken (town by race and ethnic groups for each state and Puerto Rico. The numbers, compiled from 1997 telephone interviews with 134,000 people, highlight continuing disparities between whites and other racial groups when it comes to factors such as high blood pressure, obesity and lack of access to medical care. The report, which contains data on 20 health topics, is the first time the CDC has put together such a wide range of in formation for each state on a comparative basis, said the re port’s author, Julie Bolen of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “This is the first time we’ve put it all under one cover to compare states." she said. “It’s a good chance for people across the country to see how they’re doing.” The report is intended to help state health departments compare prevention activities and see which are successful. The Clinton administration wants to eliminate racial and eth nic health disparities by 2010 in six areas: cancer, cardiovas cular disease, diabetes, HIV and .AIDS, immunization and in fant mortality. Bolen said the report should help advance that goal, es pecially as non-whites are projected to make up nearly half the U.S. population by 2050. The survey topics included Pap tests, seat belt use and cig arette smoking. Wisconsin’s per capita drinking rate of 70.4 percent was ahead of all the states; Puerto Ricans drank the least, 26.6 per cent, followed closely by Utah and Tennessee. When drinking was defined as having a drink in the past month, Utah and Puerto Rico reported the smallest figures. In Maryland, only 6.3 percent admitted to binge drinking, or having five or more drinks on a single occasion. That was the lowest binge-drinking rate in the nation. Texas led the nation in the percentage of uninsured resi dents; nearly half of the state’s Hispanics - 44.9 percent - said they had no health insurance. Only 6.1 percent of Hawaiians said they had no insurance. Hie report found bad news concerning colorectal can cer screening. Fewer than one-third of adults over 50 reported having completed a home blood-stool test, with 18 percent the me dian response. Maine led the country in such screening, with 28.5 percent Only 9.3 percent of Mississippi residents had performed such a test. Women in Georgia reported the highest rate of having a Pap test within the preceding three years - 92 percent - while Puerto Ricans were the lowest at 71.8 percent. Georgians admitted to being the least physically active, with more than 51 percent reporting no leisure-time physi cal activity in the past month. Utah had the highest activity rate, with only 17.2 percent reporting no physical activity. The CDC said socioeconomic factors and education lev els are believed to be responsible for the differences among the groups. People with more education generally have high er-paying jobs and are then more likely to be in better health. Rates were calculated based on how tall and heavy people de scribed themselves. Reanae McNeal is a dynamic playwrite and performing artist whose critically acclaimed shows have received national attention and awards. Reanae seeks to preserve and share the finest traditions of African and African American storytelling, song, and dramatic presentations. As griottes (storyteller), she is considered the keeper of the culture. Reanae will be performing her play, “Don’t Speak My Mother’s Name in Vain’’. This play uses interconnected vignettes, dance, and song to trace the experiences of African-American Women through a wide range of "herstorical’’ contexts, linked by the thread of interpersonal and institutional violence. Through this play, Reanae tells her own story of being a rape/sexual assault survivor when she was in college. We welcome her as our keynote speaker for the 2000 Clothesline Project: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 7:00 p.m. Russell House Ballroom "I have learned in my life to realize there are traumatic things that happen that are really hurtful and painful, r but even in the trauma, the hurt and the pain, beauty can be birthed out of that.” See the Clothesline Grand Display Wednesday, March 29,2000 (Rain Date: Thursday, March 30, 2000) 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Greene Street T-Shirts are color-coded as follows: White for those who have died from violence Yellow for those who have been battered/assaulted Pink for those who have been sexually assaulted Blue for survivors of incest or child sexual abuse Purple for those attacked because of their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation ^ This event is sponsored by: Association for African American Students * Multicultural Student Affairs Residence Hall Association * SHARE * Sorority Council * Women’s Student Association Women’s Student Services * Women’s Studies Sexual Health Programs & Sexual Assault Services — Student HealtlvServices * Department-of Student Development * Division of Strident and Alumni Services Idiot's Guide' tries to bring lofty religious topics-down to earth by Allison Kennedy College Press Exchange When you think of the millions of Jews who were killed in concentration camps, you probably don't feel like laughing. But Rabbi Benjamin Blech - echoing Freud's senti ments - says humor is a natural response to the tragedies of life. “I just read a book about humor in the concentration camps,” said Blech, a lOth-generation Orthodox rabbi. “Jews have had so many terrible events in our history that we've had to develop humor to survive.” Which is partly why his light-hearted “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judaism” was almost a nat ural to write. “It just kind of flowed,” Blech said in an interview re cently from his home in Manhattan. “I learned long ago that a good sermon should have some humor in it and that the most complicated idea can be heard, accepted and un derstood.” Blech's book in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide” series is the second of three he has written for Alpha Books, a division of Macmillan. His first was “The Complete Id iot’s Guide to Jewish History and Culture,” released in 1998. “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yiddish” - the lan guage of Eastern European Jews and their descendants - was released earlier this month. Though recent sales figures for the titles were not avail able, the rabbi said his second book has fared better in sales than “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex.” “You can't get much better than that,” he said. Blech and his publishers have apparently hit on something: a market that doesn't know that much about religion but wants to leant in easy-to-understand ways - and with hu mor. But some aren't completely sold. The Rev. John Durden, academic dean at Beacon Col lege in Columbus, Ga., and interim pastor of Rose Hill Baptist Church, said he hopes the books offer balance be tween humor and substantive material. Durden acknowledges he hasn’t seen or read the books, but says there’s a general danger of “dumbing down” a re ligious message through this medium. “Critical thinking gets left out,” Durden said, ” and people say, ‘Please don't bother me with the facts. Just entertain me.’” But Blech thinks a writer can do both, offering sub stance in an easy-to-understand and fun way. For instance, the “Understanding Judaism” book contains light “info boxes” in each chapter such as “Ask the Rabbi” and ’’Schmoozing.” (Schmoozing is a Yiddish word that means talking with somebody; but more than talking, schmooz ing conveys warmth and friendliness between the con versants.) In Chapter 13, “Feasting and Fasting,” a Schmoozing box reads: “On Purim it is a man's duty to inebriate him self to the point that he is unable to distinguish between the phrases ‘Cursed be Haman’ and ‘Blessed be Morde cai.’” And it’s true; it’s written in the Talmud, a collec tion of writings that contains Jewish civil and religious law. Blech just found a humorous way to illustrate this lit tle-known fact. In addition to Blech's books, there are also “Idiot’s Guides” to religions online, the Bible and prayer, among others. Stan Campbell, who lives near Chicago, co-authored “The Idiot’s Guide tp the Bible” with Jim Bell. Campbell, a former youth director, is a free-lance writer specializ ing in Bible curricula. Bell is editorial director of Moody Press. “The Bible” is 348 pages of Bible trivia, cartoons and easy-to-read graphics. Chapter titles include “Joseph: Not Your Average Joe” and “You've Got Mail!”, about the Apostle Paul's letters found in the Christian New Testa ment. In an interview from his home in Woodbridge, 111., Campbell said that ’’having worked with kids, the book was a natural. It was the same (humorous) tone but a dif ferent audience.” Campbell, 46, said the response has been mostly fa vorable. “People say that it helps to see the common threads through the Bible and how the Old and New testaments make sense together,” he said. “In Sunday school and church, we just get the bits and pieces.” According to Campbell, a challenge for the two au thors was to steer clear of controversy - particularly with the book of Revelation, the last book in the Christian Bible. The authors report it is by far the hardest book in thfe Bible to understand. “Everybody's got a basis for what they believe, so we didn't want to say something that would step on some body’s toes,” Campbell said. . Test they be outdone, IDG Books - the publisher who brought out the Similar “For Dummies” guides and boasts 60 million books in print - has gotten religion, too. Breaking away from the original line of “Dummies” com puter manuals, “Meditation for Dummies” debuted last April, written by California psychotherapist Stephan Bodian. Marketed as “a reference for the rest of us,” the 348 page New Age book has chapters with such titles as “Open ing Your Heart: Tove, Compassion and Forgiveness” and “Cultivating Spirituality.” There are pictures to teach readers how to meditate, and in the correct posture. In an interview from California, Bodian said he wanted to make the “Dummies” book - his first for IDG - “accessible to all. “In Zen, we talk about the concept of the beginner's mind, an empty mind,” said Bodian, who was a Zen Bud dhist monk for 10 years. “In that sense, everyone's a dum my, so the book fit that quite nicely.” 7-0 PA*Ps.£s LAt-EC(? We celebrate pots every pay of the weel. We Also CELEBRATE MUGS, POG PISHES ANP 200 CITHER ITEMS. Xt's ceramics with A twist! ThurspAy Nights Are USC NIGHTS - STAFF ANP STUPENTS RECEIVE 1/2 PRICE PAINTING TIME W USC TV. The Map Flatter Faint your own pottery stupio 3(0! Mtllwoop Avenue Columbia, SC 20205 803.11! .8080 MApPlAtter@Aol.com ___—---1 Dobson Volunteer Service Program Internships Now Available ARE YOU INTERESTED IN COMMUNITY SERVICE? DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE ACADEMIC CREDIT WHILE SERVING OTHERS IN NEED? CAN YOU MAKE AN IMPACT AND CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE? Through a generous gift from Mr. Robert Dobson, HI, The Office of Community Service Programs is proud to sponsor the Dobson Volunteer Service Program, a Capstone Community Service Experience for USC students. Applications are Available in THE CAMPUS ACTIVITIES CENTER. APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2000. * Questions? Contact the Office of Community Service Programs @ 777-6688._