The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 19, 2001, Page 5, Image 5
This Week in USC History
Feb. 18, 1991 — Captain Dale Thomas Cormier, 30,
became South Carolina’s first Gulf War casualty when
his F-16 crashed in Saudi Arabia.
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■ Students choose to build
houses for impoverished as
alternative to spring break
T O & YOUTH
PROGRAMS
Special to The Gamecock
College students participating in Habitat for Humanity project.
by Amanda Silva
The Gamecock
USC students are trying to recruit
volunteers to spend their spring break
making a positive impact on society by
helping those in need.
This spring break, thousands of college
students are taking a different approach to
their vacations by volunteering for Habitat
for Humanity International’s Collegiate
Challenge: Spring Break 2001.
“We are trying to make people aware of
our organization and of our goal for next fall.
We need all the help we can get to make this
thing a reality,” said Kristin Crookes, a
second-year student in the School of
Nursing.
A record 9,000 students from more than
400 colleges and universities are traveling
to more than 175 sites across the U.S. to
build decent housing for needy families,
according to Heather Dees, a member of
Habitat for Humanity International’s
Communications Divison.
“Basically, we are trying to rally the
student body to help us build a student
sponsored house,” Crookes said. “We are
trying to capture the community spirit of
the Bicentennial.”
According to Crookes, it costs $50,000
to build a house.
USC students are planning to build a
house during homecoming.
“We are working out the details of where
the build will take place, but our goal is to
build it on campus and move it to the lot af
terwards. Every year, Clemson does a
similar thing, and we can’t be beaten by
them,” Crookes said.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary,
Habitat for Humanity International is an
ecumenical Christian ministry aimed at
eliminating poverty housing.
Since its foundation by Millard Fuller
and his wife Linda, Habitat for Humanity
has built and sold more than 100,000 homes
to partner families with no-profit, zero
interest mortgages.
“I learned that poverty does not
discriminate,” said Krista Formo from
Concordia College about her Collegiate
Challenge experience.
“Working with Habitat throughout
college has given me the motivation and
desire to dedicate a section of my life — for
the rest of my life — to volunteerism.”
Though most volunteer opportunities
take place during the height of the spring
break season, Collegiate Challenge is a
year-round program featuring volunteer
activities from late February to mid-April.
The spotlight desk can be reached at
gamecockspotligtTt@hotinail.com
Habitat FAQs
■ How can I volunteer at
Columbia’s Habitat?
Phone 252-3570 or visit 209 S.
Sumter St.
■ How much does it cost to build
a Habitat house? Anywhere from
$800 in underdeveloped nations to
$46,600 in the United States.
■ Where does Habitat operate
worldwide?
There are more than 1,900 active
affiliates in 64 countries and all 50
states.
■ How are Habitat families
selected?
They apply to local Habitat affiliates.
Homeowners are chosen based on
need and ability to eventually repay
the no-interest home loan.
. Special to The Gamecock
Eugene Levy as Keyes, Chris Rock as Lance Baron and Chazz Palminteri as King (left to right) star
in Paramount Pictures’ comedy Down to Earth.
Rock’s comedy unable
to save Down to Earth
by brook Bristow
The Gamecock
~ | R E V I E W
MOVIE: Down to Earth
STARRING: Chris Rock,
Eugene Levy, Chazz
Palminteri
GRADE: ☆☆ out of ☆☆☆☆
There’s good news and bad news.
The good news is that Chris Rock
will survive his first attempt at being
a leading actor.
The bad news is that the audience
might not.
Down to Earth is a remake of
Heaven Can Wait, a late-1970s
Warren Beatty hit about a football
player who dies prematurely because
of a heavenly mistake.
Heaven Can Wait is also a remake
of 1941 s Here Conies Mr. Jordan
which dealt with a boxer being taken
too soon.
This time the story plays to
modern-day audiences by playing the
race card with Chris Rock, who plays
Lance Barton, a struggling stand-up
comic who is taken to heaven before
his time by an angel (Eugene Levy).
To make everything square, Mr.
King (Chazz Palminteri), the
“manager” of Heaven, decides to let
Lance go back to Earth.
Because of a lack of suitable
bodies, his soul is temporarily housed
in the body of an old, rich businessman
named Charles Wellington.
Wellington is the victim of a
deadly scheme by his young wife and
his press secretary, who are having an
affair.
Lance takes the body as a “loaner,”
but decides to stick it out while he tries
to use his newfound financial success
to help him woo a community radical
(Regina King) and perfect his
comedy routine.
To get her, Lance changes
Wellington’s ways, and everyone
notices a difference when this old white
man is getting down to “Rough Riders”
by DMX and watching BET.
The idea of a wise-guy young black
man being trapped in the body of a
50-year-old white man with loads of
money seems like it would be fun.
And it is, to a point.
The problem with this movie is that
the redundancy of the joke is too much
to handle.
The screenplay isn’t worth much,
either.
Co-directors Chris Weitz and Paul
Weitz (American Pie) don’t seem to
have put much into this one.
Rock continues to improve his
acting skills.
He is a great comic who excels at
reaction, but he isn’t ready to be the
leading man just yet.
The movie is pretty much
paint-by-numbers and isn’t as funny as
we would expect.
The only funny parts of this movie
are when Chris is alone onstage, doing
what he does best.
Perhaps we should be watching
Rock’s comedy film and not a movie.
The only downer about the
stand-up routine is that it is toned down
to meet the PG-13 rating.
It’s somewhat enjoyable, but wait
to rent it.
The spotlight desk can be reached at
gamecockspotlight@hotniail.coni
i
Heart disease, AIDS,
cancer pose threats
to African-Americans
by Keita Alston
The Gamecock
As a part of Black History Month,
African-Americans must be aware of
certain issues that affect their health.
Heart Disease
In South Carolina, heart disease
is the leading cause of death among
black men and women. The number
is higher among black females, 29.3
percent, than males, 25 percent.
Marc Himes, a coordinator for
the Thomson Student Health and
Wellness Center, deals with
minority health issues, said one of the
reasons these numbers are so high is
because of unhealthy diets.
African-Americans tend to eat
foods high in sodium and the fried
foods like fried chicken,” Himes said.
Another reason for bad diets is
cultural influences. Himes said many
African-Americans eat “soul food,”
such as collard greens and cabbage.
“It’s not that we eat these foods,
wliich are healthy. However, it’s what
we add in them that makes it
unhealthy, like the fatback, pig’s feet
and oxtail,” Himes said.
Danielle Russell, a graduate
student at the Health Center, said
blacks weren’t allowed to enjoy the
better things in life during slavery
and were given scraps of what the
master ate.
She also said blacks in the
pre-Civil War period were able to
work off whatever foods they ate.
Yet in today’s industrial and
technological society, it’s become
more difficult to burn off the
calories.
“[Slaves] had to balance what they
The Thomson
Health and
Wellness Center
■ Most services are free.
■ Services include check-ups for
blood pressure and body fat.
■ From 12-5 p.m. Tuesdays, a
dietitian is available to speak one
on-one with students.
■ A cholesterol screening is
provided for $12. Information
is kept confidential.
ate with how much exercise they
got,” Russell said. “This generation
is all about working inside the office
and not doing th^ physical labor.
People are not getting their physical
exercise.”
This can also lead to possible
hypertension and high cholesterol.
Russell said there could be a
correlation between high cholesterol
and high blood pressure because
blacks tend to eat animal-product
based foods and more foods that have
fats and oils.
“It’s very important that they get
their cholesterol checked,” Russell
said. “If they can lower their
cholesterol, then they can prevent
a lot of other health risk factors.”
According to Himes, not enough
African-Americans are using the
facility.
The Wellness Center provides
cholesterol screening, which cost
$12. The results consist of the total
cholesterol level, HDL (high
density lipoproteins) and LDL (low
density lipoproteins).
HDLs contain only small amounts
of cholesterol, which is referred to
as “good” cholesterol. They help take
cholesterol away from artery walls.
Health Issues seepages
TOP TEN
Week of Feb. 16
□ Gotohelts — Rock 'N'
Roll America
SPropagandhi — Today's
Empires, Tomorrow’s
Tricky — Mission
Accomplished
Old 97’s — Turn the
Power On
BLow — Things We Lost
in the Fire
Frank Black and the
Catholics — Dog in the
Sand
El Dropkick Murphys
Sing Loud, Sing Proud
B*
Luna Live
Kleenex Girl Wonder
Why I Write Such- Good
1 Stephen Malkmus
- Stephen Malkmus
In The News
■ Warner Brothers
opens Potter site
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mug
gles, take note: Harry Potter has made
it to cyberspace.
Warner Bros, unveiled an Internet
site Friday featuring exclusive photos
and news from the upcoming movie
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Details of the fantasy-adventure,
from Home Alone director Chris
Columbus, have remained under tight
security during filming in the United
Kingdom.
The Web site includes quizzes,
games, production updates, trailers and
movie clips as they become available,
according to Warner Bros.
The site links to various fan-man
aged Harry Potter Web pages, accord
ing to Kevin Tsujihara, executive vice
president of \V&mer’s new media divi
sion.
“We want harrypotter.com to
reach and bring together fans of all
ages around the globe,” he said.
The film, based on the first of au
thor J. K. Rowling’s best-selling chil
dren’s novels, stars 11-year-old Daniel
Radcliffe as the child wizard and
Richard Harris as his mentor, Professor
Dumbledore.
In the story, Harry discovers he is
among a select group of wizards when
he is invited to a world kept secret
from non-magical people, known deri
sively as “muggles.”
The movie is set for release in No
vember.
■ Kevin Bacon hosts
rock series on A&E
LOS ANGELES (AP) — To make
it in rock ‘n’ roll, you need a hit. To
make it on Biography, you need a sto
ry.
Musician, actor and rock fan
Kevin Bacon will be the guest host of
the Hit Makers series Feb. 19-23 on
A&E’s Biography, paying tribute to
Rick Springfield, Patti LaBelle, Ted
Nugent, David Crosby and Jimi Hen
drix.
, “I grew up going to concerts. My
best friend’s father was a rock pro
moter, so you name ’em and I’ve
probably seen ’em live,” Bacon said.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve only been to
one show where the performer (Nu
gent) came out riding on a buffalo.”