THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, March 4, 2002 7
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Reading with Rachel
BY ERIC SUTTON
THE OAMEGOCJC
So, what is it like to be
South Carolina’s first lady? It’s
busy. Rachel Hodges does
more things for the state than
one might think. Of course,
there is her radio show,
"Reading With Rachel.” There
is a television show. Then
there is the Spoleto Festival
USA board and the South
Carolina Commission for the
Arts. And how about being
the honorary chair of the
Scholastic Press Publishing’s
Read for 2002, the South
Carolina Governor's School
for Science and Mathematics,
the Governor's School for the
Arts, and the Columbia
Museum of Art? The list goes
on.
Hodges began the “Reading
With Rachel” program in
April 1999 "with the simple
goal of exciting everyone —
children, parents, communi
ty members, business leaders
— ajxrnt the joy and power of
reading.”
i ne program serves South
Carolina in several ways.
Besides the weekly radio
show, there is a monthly tele
vision show broadcast to
schools on South Carolina
Educational Television. There
are visits to the Governor’s
Mansion, as well as school vis
its by readers.
“Reading With Rachel” airs
on South Carolina
Educational Radio every
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. On the
show, Hodges reads children’s
books and gives advice about
improving literacy. The show
came about when renovations
to the Governor’s Mansion
. curtailed schoolchildren’s
trips there.
“I was really surprised at
the level of interest from pub
Promoting
literacy in
S.G. schools
lishers and teachers when the
radio show began,” Hodges
said.
Fifteen publishers had
enough interest to sponsor the
program. They have sent their
authors to the Governor’s
Mansion to read their books
and speak to children. They
also distribute copies of their
books to schools across the
state.
The program's aim is to
make more children interest
ed in reading by entertaining
them with stories. It also
shows parents how much fun
their kids can have learning
to read and being read to. The
U.S. Education Department
says on the program's Web
site: “The single most impor
tant activity for building the
knowledge required for even
tual success in reading is
reading aloud to children.”
The Best Center at USC
plays an important role in
“Reading with Rachel.”
Parents, educators and stu
dents review newly published
material there. This is also
where training takes place for
Rachel’s Readers. Rachel’s
Readers are volunteers who
go to schools around the state
and bringbooks to read to the
youngsters. Several of the
readers are students at USC.
Heading up South
Carolina's involvement
in the international
Scholastic Press’ Read
for 2002 has been a great
success for Hodges. The
idea was to get people to
stop and read for 2002
seconds last year on Dec.
14. The Hodges, along
with S.C. Teacher of the
Year Traci Cooper, par
ticipated at A.C. Moore
Elementary School,
where Cooper teaches.
A.C. Moore held one of
3,070 reading events tak
ing place in the state that
day. Hodges donated
copies of “Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone”
to the school.
“South Carolina had
more participants than
any other state in the
country and any other
country in the world,”
Hodges said. “I am proud
of our students and teach
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their commitment to read
ing."
Hodges, a Hartsville native,
graduated from Columbia
College with a degree in psy
chology. She says she had a lot
of friends at USC but chose
Columbia College because "it
is smaller, more in keeping
with what I was looking for.”
After graduating and before
becoming first lady, Hodges
worked for Springs Industries
as a customer service manag
er and later as marketing and
community relations director
at Springs Memorial Hospital.
She decided to stay at home to
raise her family after the birth
of her youngest child. The
governor and first lady have
two children: Luke, 8, and
Sam, 6. Her favorite local del
icacy is country-fried steak,
and her favorite beach in
South Carolina is Pawley's
Island.
For more information about
“Reading with Rachel,” visit
www.readingwithrachel.org.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
South Carolina’s first lady, Rachel Hodges, Is the founder of
“Reading with Rachel,”a program that promotes reading
enjoyment among children.
“South Carolina had more participants than any other state in the country and any other country in the world. I am proud
of our students and teachers for demonstrating their commitment to reading.”
RACHEL HODGES
SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST LADY
MOVIE REVIEW
Cliches weigh down otherwise well-craftedfilm
WE WERE SOLDIERS
Starring Mel Gibson
★★★★ out of
BY BROOK BRISTOW
the gamecock
“We Were Soldiers” is a grand homage
to the brave heroes who fought in the con
flict around Landing Zone X-Ray in the la
Drang Valley, the first major conflict of
the Vietnam War in 1965.
Based on the book “We Were Soldiers
Once... And Young,” co-written by Lt. Gen.
Hal Moore and war correspondent Joseph
Galloway, the film concentrates on the hor
rifying four-day battle. The focus of the sto
ry is on the actual soldiers and not the poli
tics or the media or the public's perception
of the situation.
Mel Gibson, a well-decorated cinemat
ic war hero from films such as “Mad
Max” and “Braveheart,” takes on the
daunting task of portraying Moore.
Moore is a devoted family man, an officer
and a gentleman who the Army picks to
lead 400 soldiers into “the valley of death”
and fight nearly 2,000 North Vietnamese
soldiers.
The homefront and the battlefield re
ceive about equal attention in the film,
and that’s about as far as the plot goes.
Much attention is given to Moore's
wife, Julie (Madeleine Stowe), and their
five children, who live on a military base
at Fort Benning, Ga. Also in focus is a
young married couple, 2nd Lt. Jack
Geoghegan (Chris Klein) and his wife,
Barbara (Keri Russell), who are awaiting
the birth of their first child.
Stowe does a marvelous job as the
homefront hero who informs wives of
their husbands' deaths. The government
coldheartedly delivery death notices by
taxi drivers, but Mrs. Moore tells the ner
vous cabbies to bring all the telegrams
“We Were
Soldiers”
portrays
action on
the
homefront
as well as
the
battlefield.
PHOTO
. SPECIAL TO
THE
GAMECOCK
to her door so she can take them to each
wife’s home and offer solace.
Gibson is great as Lt. Gen. Moore, al
though there does seem to be something
missing. It certainly isn't his
“Braveheart” performance; however,
Gibson's passion and “go get 'em” quality
make him a pretty good fit.
Klein and Russell are great as the
young couple whose lives change right be
fore our eyes, and Barry Pepper is eager
and tough as Galloway. Greg Kinnear also
delivers a fine performance amid the large
cast.
Writer-director Randall Wallace takes
a more old-fashioned approach to the film
by not allowing it to be as combat-based
as “Black Hawk Down,” which one can't
help thinking about while watching this
‘movie. There isn't a single cliche Wallace
doesn't embrace at least once, which is
the main problem of the movie.
In “Black Hawk Down,” director
Ridley Scott cut the usual cliches in fa
vor of a relentless, punishing focus on
combat. Characterizations were limited.
There was a realistic account of battle,
and the film made you feel the intensity
and astonishment of war in amazing de
tail.
“We Were Soldiers” doesn't have this
quality. It is well-done, and the scenes are
crafted well. But overall it lacks the
punch of “Black Hawk Down”or “Saving
Private Ryan,” both of which will be the
measuring sticks of war movies for a long
time.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Mel Gibson is Lt. Gen. Hal
Moore.
BOOK REVIEW
New book
explores
emotional
growth
NUMBER 6 FUMBLES
By Rachel Solar-Tuttle
out of-tf? ■£<•☆☆☆
BY CARRIE PHILLIPS
THE GAMECOCK
What happens to the football play
er who fumbles the ball? Does he
have a girlfriend to comfort him af
ter the game? Were his parents
watching? Are his friends sympa
thetic?
In the opening scene of Rachel
Solar-Tuttle’s “Number 6
Fumbles,“this question hits Rebecca
Lowe hard the night of the Penn
Cornell game, when a Penn player
wearing the number 6 fumbles the
ball at thb crucial moment. Rebecca,
“Beck,”to her friends, realizes the
pitiable state that Number 6 is in. Her
outlook on life quickly plummets,
and she goes through a search for
connection and meaning that results
in her achieving self-awareness.
Solar-Tuttle has created a tale of self
realization that is relevant, touching
and quirky, but which lacks the sub
stance to stand up to other novels
with its theme.
Beck is the total package as she en
ters her sophomore year at Penn. She
is pretty and popular, she makes
straight A’s and all the party plans,
and she is loved by friends and teach
ers alike. She is a completely normal,
well-adjusted student until Number 6
fumbles the ball—then she suddenly
can’t bear to be at the game with the
Sigma Chi guys, andcan’t stand to be
around the roaring crowd that will
never forgive Number 6. She leaves
the stadium with her friend Susan
and enters into a search for. herself
that covers days, papers, friends and
beds.
That search leads Beck to explore
her relationships with her friends
and her parents. Her roommates
and the fraternity boys that they
generally hang out with seem un
forgiving and uninterested about
her worries and self-doubt. Only her
friend Phoebe has the grace and un
derstanding to be Beck’s confidant
and help her through this time.
Though the dialogue is often sim
plistic and uninspired, it gets its
point across in a relatively unob
trusive way.
As she begins to fall deeper and
deeper into despair, Beck relives var
ious childhood memories — scarring
memories of her parents’ lack of rea
sonable parenting skills. The scenes
where she confronts them about
these memories have more power
than any other part of the book, par
ticularly her conversation with her
fathpr
Beck’s fall into depression lands
her in more than one bed. She is a
perpetual barfly, fake ID in hand. She
drinks herself into losing her virgin
ity to Ryan, who lies about his age
and never calls back. She begins to
seek connection through physical
contact with boys, but she never
finds what she is looking for.
This is an engaging story about
self-discovery, friendship and ad
justment. The whole book is writ
ten in first person and present
tense. Solar-Tuttle uses a stream-of
consciousness narrative style that
gives the book a momentum that
mimics Beck’s own spiral into in
stability and drives the reader for
ward into each new chapter. Her
stylistic abilities greatly outweigh
the story and make the book a pleas
ant read.
In general, the subject matter of
“Number 6 Fumbled”is nothing new.
Sylvia Plath tackled this in 1963
♦ NUMBER 6, SEEPAGES