Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. V* Search for Six reaches four Spielberg hasn’t confirmed; Powell on hold because of crisis BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK The Search for Six’s goal was to bring sip prominent figures to USC. Only four so far have con firmed speaking engagements. Buddhist monks are on campus this week, Pat Conroy spoke Monday night and Leeza Gibbons and Patch Adams have confirmed USC visits; Steven Spielberg and Colin Powell haven’t been confirmed yet. Patch Adams will speak at USC on Dec. 4 and plans to give a lec ture at the School of Medicine in the afternoon, followed by an all campus community lecture that evening. Gene Luna, co-chairman of the committee bringing Patch Adams to USC, is “terrifically excited” about Adam’s arrival. “As soon as we talked to him on the phone, he agreed,” he said. “We always just anticipated that we’d be able to per suade him to come. We were opti mistic that he was the kind of per son that would respond to this idea.” “We worked in progression,” committee member Kelley Fink said. “We had one of our commit tee members take photos around campus with people wearing red clown noses and mailed the photos to him with simple messages.” The committee also sent a letter to Adams and called him. USC was initially asked to do nate $15,000 to Adam’s charity, the Gesundheit Institute. “We’re in the process still of raising those funds,” Fink said. The committee has sent letters to medical profes sionals asking for donations. “We’re trying to organize a special dinner for participants donating $500 or more that Patch Adams will be present at.” U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is on hold because of the Afghanistan crisis. Steven' Spielberg’s visit re mains a distant possibility. Novella Beskid of the entertain ment and arts committee is opti mistic: “We are not ready to say that this is not going to happen.” The committee has worked to research Spielberg’s interests and what ties he might have to South Carolina. “We began contacting in dividuals that had contact with him with the idea of the six points of connection. We have not stopped our search,” Beskid said. Students aren’t overly hopeful for the big names. “USC isn’t ex actly known for being a bastion of film studies,” fourth-year student Matthew Cox said. First-year student Justin Cooper said, “It’s a really good idea, but I think the committees should have focused more on people who would realistically show up.” The six degrees of separation theory is based on work in social psychology and isn’t a perfect sci ence. Barry Markovsky, head of the sociology department, said: “The study’s kind of gotten dis torted and confused over the years. The main point of it is that people are more densely intercon nected. You are linked through more indirect social ties than you realize.” Problems arise when one tries to use the theory effectively. “Unless the connections are strong and direct, there probably isn’t going to be much influence,” Markovsky said. “Just because I know somebody who knows President Bush doesn’t mean I have any influence over President Bush. And if it’s a matter of some one being four or five or six, the influence is even weaker.” “The most important thing about the Search for Six is that we have recognized six individuals during our bicentennial who have embodied the Carolinian creed,” said Sally T. McKay, Bicentennial Celebration executive director. “Getting them here is what we want, but the process of getting them here, of recognizing them, that’s the real important part. That’s what’s meaningful.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Adams Gibbons Conroy Dalai Lama Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Acrossfrom State House Sunday Worship 7:45, 9 & 11:30 a.m.—Cathedral 11:30 a.m.& 6:00p.m.— Keenan Chapel Weekday Eucharist in Keenan Chapel , 771-7300 www.trinityepiscopalcathedral.org Dutch Fork Christian Church Wednesday Supper 6:00 Cost: $3.00 Casual Bible Study 7:00 pin Sunday Worship Sunday School 9:00 am Contemporary Worship 10:15 am Rev. Jeff Stapleton 90 North Royal Tower Irmo, SC 781-2211 www.dutchfbrk.com 9:00 & 11:15am - Worship Services : 10:00am - LifeLine Contemporary Service % 10:00 & 11:15am - Sunday School j 3407 Devine St. |-1 256-83fl3~~|—-—|www.Shandon-umc.org| Columbia - Five Points (behind Harper’s) Proclaiming Christ through the Scriptures and Sacraments Adult Bible Claw 9:30am ■ Holy Communion 10:30am Member Pariah - Lutheran Church Mi^urijsynodj St. Thomas More Catholic Center Rev. Tim Lijewski Mass Schedule Sacrament of Penance Chaplin Saturday 4:30 pm Saturday 3:00 pm-4:00 pm Sunday 11 am, 7:30 pm or by appointment Sr. Julienne Guy OSU Director of Christian Formation Newman Club Tuesday 7:00 pm 1610 Greene St. 799-5870 (Across from School of Nursing) Conroy Writer tells students to make life into art CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Prince of Tides, The Lords of Discipline and The Water is Wide. The speech was part of a pro gram sponsored by the Division of Student and Alumni Services and the Search for Six. The program’s objective was to find six people who most embody the Carolinian Creed in celebration of USC’s bi centennial year. Last year, stu dents voted on the individuals from a list of 69 nominees, and committees have been working to bring the six winners to USC. Six disciplines will be represented. Conroy was chosen to exemplify the creed through literature. He was the first of the winners to speak at USC. “The thing that gives me the greatest pleasure is that this was a student-designed program, a stu dent-run program, and that [Pat Conroy] was convinced that this was a worthwhile occasion,” Student and Alumni Services Vice President Dennis Pruitt said. He said the university would like to establish a distinguished lec ture series that would bring peo ple "who have great ideas and who have done great works to come to this campus, this mar ketplace of free ideas, to stimulate our students and to challenge their ideas.” Bacealaureus major John Howell served on the committee that persuaded Conroy to speak on campus. “[Conroy’s speech] showed his Southern grace,” Howell said. “He’s always an en tertainer and always funny.” Howell said getting Conroy to speak at USC was a long, tiring process, but has been “well worth it... his whole life is just an em bodiment of this creed.” Conroy, who is most noted for writing novels set in South Carolina, said, “I have written about South Carolina because I find it more beautiful than any oth er state, and I find it more interest ing than any other state.” He said, “I still have 10,000 stories about South Carolina that I haven’t used.” His advice to college students is important, he said. “Since Sept. 11, you live in the most exciting times in American history. I would look closely at my life, and I would make my life count for something, and I would make my life a work of art.” Conroy, who lives in Fripp Island, S.C., is promoting his latest novel, My Losing Season, sched uled to be released in June. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Monks create sand4 painting at USC BY SEAN WALLER THE GAMECOCK Tibetan monks from the Namgyal Monastery in New York have come to USC to build a Mandala sand painting that will represent Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Infinite Compassion. USC and Gallery 701 are spon soring the event. The Mandala is created by ar ranging colored sand in an in tricate pattern.This is a long process and will take the monks an estimated four days to finish. The monks began building the Mandala on Monday on the sec ond floor of the Russell House and have been working from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. They will con tinue this schedule until Thursday, when they are ex pected to finish. me ivianaata represents peace and compassion. The spe cific design represents the teach ing of a particular tantra or method of spiritual peace. The Mandala is the deity’s divine en vironment, a visual representa tion of the Buddhist path from beginning to complete enlight enment. Everything in the Mandala is a symbolic repre sentation, with multiple levels of meaning, of some aspect of the deity and the deity’s universe, with four gateways for love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. The Mandala’s four walls each are composed of five translucent colors: white, yellow, red, green and blue. The deity in the middle of the Mandala symbolizes the Bud dhist’s goal, which is the achievement of Buddhahood. Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Infinite Compassion, which means one who looks witn an unwavering eye,” is the deity represented in the Mandala’s center. “This is an event that will reflect the art work, the re ligious symbolism and call at tention to this whole idea of compassion and appreciating individual difference” said Larry Salters, a Search for Six committee member and Career Center director. The Search for Six commit tee finished the nomination process last fall. Students then voted on who would best repre sent each of the six categories. Students overwhelmingly vot ed for the Dalai Lama to be the religion, leadership and advo cacy for peace representative. Pat Conroy was voted for edu cation, literature and media arts; Steven Speilberg for art, entertainment, pop culture and sports; Patch Adams for busi ness, industry, science, tech The procession will then move to the Congaree River in Granby Park in Olympia for a ceremony in which they will pour the sand into the flowing water. “When it’s put in the wa ter of flowing river it releases energy,” Salters said. They will then bless the water to bring out the compassion. It “symbolizes . the impermanence, that it’s " beautiful and it took a lot of work and doesn’t last forever just like our lives” Gerstner said. The monks will give out small amounts of the sand used in the Mandala. To get some of the sand, be at the Russell House on Friday during the closing ceremony at noon. “They give a little bit out if wanted, to keep as a blessing” Gerstner said. President John Palms will receive some of the sand as a blessing to the uni versity. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. I ' ^ —I— » ■■■1111 ||| No one told you the hardest part of being an engineer would be finding your first job. Of course, it’s still possible to get the high-tech work you want by joining the U.S. Air Force. You can leverage your degree immediately and get hands-on experience with some of the most sophisticated technology on earth.To find out how to get your career off the ground, call 1 -800-423-USAF or visit our Web site at airforce.com. U.S. AIR FORCE nology and medicine; Leeza Gibbons for alumni; and Colin Powell for politics, law, world figures and government. The university has been try ing to bring each of the six to speak at USC. Pat Conroy spoke on Monday night. Patch Adams has agreed to speak but dates haven’t formally been an nounced. This week, the monks are representing the Dalai Lama, who was officially invited in July 2000. The closing cere mony will start on Friday at noon, when the monks will ( break the Mandala apart and sweep it into special ceremonial vases. “They draw lines through it so to break the energy,” said Jack Gerstner, Gallery 701 ex ecutive director. After will be a ceremonial procession to Gallery 701, where the monks will bless the building. S.C. Anthrax Lab hasn’t yet found anthrax CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Despite the long workdays for the six staff members analyzing the threats of anthrax, Hodges said the staff had some equipment is sues but no specific requests for additional staff. The lab has reviewed more than 100 potential cases of anthrax with out finding the bacterium already found in New York, Washington,4 D.C., and Florida. The study of one suspected sample costs the state be tween $300 and $350. “The specimens have come from anything a person can find a powdery substance on,” Dowda said. The governor is quick to point out that, though there haven’t been any anthrax cases in the state, people shouldn’t ignore un usual powdery substances. “Anytime they see something suspicious, they should call lo cal law enforcement,” Hodges said. North Carolina and Georgia haven’t requested help from DHEC, Dowda said. The depart-1 ment had received a request from' New York for assistance, but labs closer to the state later filled the request. Dowda said that, because the last case of a South Carolina res ident getting anthrax was an iso lated incident in the early 1970s, the state has gone years at a time without having to test for anthrax. “It’s an extremely im portant part of what we do, but a small volume of what we do,” he said. Comments on this story? E-rtfail gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com.