Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THEY SAID IT LEARNED HAND: “Ifweareto keep our democracy, there must Story ideas? Questions? Comments? be one commandment: Write us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ‘Thou shalt not ration justice.’” One thing MEN won’t confess They will watch “chick flicks, ’’cry, even wear women’s clothes, but will not admit to watching soaps BY KRISTEN THOMAS THE GAMECOCK Editor’s note: The Gamecock sent reporter Kristen Thomas out to talk to guys who watch soap operas because, well, it just sounded like a good feature story. None of the guys she or I know, of course, watch soap operas, so we found our sources through friends offriends. They were willing to talk to Kristen, but they refused to be quoted, so real names weren't used. They’ll admit to dressing as women when they were children. They’ll admit to watching “chick flicks.” They’ll even admit to crying. But if there’s one thing a guy won’t confess to doing, it’s watching soap operas. Even though society is more tolerant than it used to be, guys are still afraid to admit they, too, enjoy the sugary sweet story lines, unrealistic characters and undying suspense of soap operas. Why don’t they admit to this obsession? They say they think it’s “a girl thing.” If that’s so, what makes these macho men turn on the television every afternoon to see what Victor’s up to or whether Reba has once again returned from the dead? “After you watch it once, you have to see what’s going to happen next,” said Dennis Simmons, a first-year journalism major. “It’s like you can’t stop once you start.” All the guys agreed the daily cliff hangers are the reason they keep tuning in; they say they can’t wait to find out who the killer is or who fathered someone’s baby. According to Curt Rydell, a third year business major, soap operas are about subjects only girls get senti mental about. If a guy did care about those things, he says, he’d never admit it. Rydell says soaps are nothing but gossip, and they all have the same story line: girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl leaves boy for boy’s brother (or father), boy retaliates and sleeps with girl’s best friend. Not exactly what we call real life. But for those guys who do watch soaps, their overall favorite is NBC’s Passions — the soap with the most: the most unbelievable story lines, the most overdramatic characters and the most suspenseful cliffhangers. They say Passions proves just how crazy soaps are. They say it shows how females are too sentimental. They say nothing about Passions is interesting or realistic. They will, however, admit that one episode made them curious enough to watch it again... and again ... and again. Did these guys actually admit to watching soaps by their own choice? Of course not, they blamed a woman. Whether it was a mother, a sister or a girlfriend, the guys credited a female for their own obsessions. According to these guys, they only watched because the television was already tuned to The Young and the Restless. And they just couldn’t change the channel. Every day at 12:30 these guys just happened to walk into a room where The Young and the Restless was on, and, of course, it would be disrespectful to change the channel. So, they got hooked. Even after they left home to start new lives, they still remembered to acciden-tally turn the television on to watch their favorite soaps. Hey, guys, it’s 2:00. Isn’t it time for Passions? i ’ PROFESSOR PICKS DANIEL LITTLEFIELD Professor of U.S. History 5 FAVORITE BOOKS The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien A Stillness at Appomattox Bruce Catton The Middle Ground Richard White Invisible Man Ralph Ellison The Big Sea: An Autobiography Langston Hughes 5 BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ France and England in North America Francis Parkman Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps William Dusinberre Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-:877 Eric Foner ' Soap star speaks about Baha’i faith BY KAMILLE BOSTICK THE GAMECOCK Soap star Geoffrey Ewing will tell you he’s not an authority on the Baha’i Faith. But Ewing, who considers himself “a Baha’i first, then an actor and then a writer,” came to USC on Sept. 7 to share his thoughts on the faith, race relations and the power of love in a “fireside” sponsored by the USC Baha’i Campus Club. During a fireside, a Baha’i speaks on the principles of the religion and provides hospi tality to others who want to learn more about the Baha’i faith. In a room full of inquirers and fellow believers of all races, ethnicities and back grounds, Ewing intertwined his passion for acting with his message of love and unity. “I am doing this for God,” Ewing said. “It’s all about service.” Ewing, who has performed on such television shows as All My Children, Guiding Light and Law and Order, performed scenes from an introspective piece he wrote, starred in and produced based on the life and struggles of Muhammed Ali. Quoting author George Bernard Shaw and Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i faith, Ewing spoke about the challenges the world faces and what it means to be a champion. Of the scenes selected from “The Spiritual Journey of a True Champion,” compiled from Ewing’s one-man show, Ali, the most poignant were the ones illustrating the racial prejudices Ali faced and the transformation he went through because of them. “What’s most important is to admit we are all a part of the problem, victims of propa ganda,” Ewing said. “Race relations is a world sickness.” Ewing said the solution Geoffrey Ewing speaks at USC. photo by micheue williams requires a two-pronged attack, both spiritual and intellectual, to combat separation and misunderstanding among the races. “It’s important for blacks to see what blacks have done and whites to see what blacks have done as well. Education leads to respect,” Ewing said. ♦ BAHA’I, SEE PAGE 8 * CD REVIEW Stereolab presents offbeat sounds SOUND-DUST Stereolab ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆* BY JUSTIN BAJAN THE GAMECOCK The cryptic handwriting scribbled across the liner notes is just as jumbled as this album is. Titled Sound-Dust, particles of all forms of music are found scattered among the tranquil backgrounds of this album. The vocalists offer the beautiful sounds of the French language, an added bonus that entrances the listener. The.CD begins with eerie sounds that remind the listener of a score to a Tim Burton movie. “Black Ants in Sound,” the first track, could easily be the entrance music for any of the villains from the Batman series. It combines an underlying operatic chorus with flighty chimes and a prevailing alarm noise. “Captain Easychord,” the first single, is driven by the chords of the piano, which complement the soothing, bilingual lyrics. The lead singer seems to draw inspiration from the melodra matic poetry of John Keats with lines such as “Let live, die must die, Birth comes with a death... The plants in my garden flourish, seed and perish.” Stereolab accentuates its offbeat sound with upbeat rhythms and vocals, as eviden ced on “Hallucinex.” The singer lists her wishes about life in three stanzas, each ending with onomatopoeia— BOOM, BANG, WOOAY — with samples mimicking each word. On average, each song runs more than five minutes, allowing the arrangements to undergo a series of movements much like a symphony. With pulsating background vocals and time changes, one could argue that Stereolab is a modem ♦ STEREOLAB, SEE PAGE 8 Film festival postponed BY JUSTIN BAJAN THE GAMECOCK The Colossal Film Crawl, slated for last Thursday, has been rescheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 20. because of the recent national tragedy. One change of venue has been made; films that were to be shown at the Nickelodeon will be shown instead at Gervais and Vine. Amy Singmaster of The Free Times, which sponsors the annual event, said it would be “more fair to filmmakers” to postpone the film crawl. She said it would have been hard for people to fully enjoy the festival last week. There has also been one change in the line-up. The first showing of Parallel will be 7:35 p.m.,not 8:35. Replacing the film crawl last Thursday was an open forum at the Nickelodeon where people discussed healing and peace. natidL