Page 4
The Blue Banner
September 14,2000
Features
Sept
"Headwaters” at Malapropos Optical illusions d
PHOTO BY PATRICK BRASWELL
Headwaters contributors from UNCA's faculty and student body presented at Malaprop's
on Thursday, Oct. 7.
John Locke
Staff Writer
On Thursday, Oct. 7, “Headwa
ters”, the literary and creative arts
magazine of UNCA, held a reading
at Malaprop’s Bookstore.
The reading featured UNCA stu
dents Eric Oelschlaeger, Dale Neal,
Reed Wood and Ann Barrett. In
structors Lori Horvitz, Stephen
Kirbach and David Hopes also read
their works.
Oelschlaeger opened the reading
with his poem “At the Waffle
House,” a morbidly hilarious fan
tasy about the author’s inadvertent
involvement in a World War II re
enactment at a Waffle House. This
was one of my favorite works of the
evenmg, as it was unpretentious
but expertly written.
Horvitz read “The Last Days of
Disco Donut,” one of the best
fiction pieces in the most recent
“Headwaters”. This story, a funny
but clear-eyed look at AIDS,
works well through its combina
tion of tragedy in the generalities
and humor in the particulars,
which is basically what life is
about. I liked the fact that the
AIDS victim in Horvitz’s story
contracted the
HIV virus
through intrave
nous drug use,
not through sex,
which is usually
the gateway to sentimentalism in
most stories about AIDS.
Reed Wood read some very strong
poems, including “America
Review
Dream,” included in the most re
cent “Headwaters” publication,
which came out last spring. He was
a confident reader, and he signaled
the abrupt end of one poem by
commanding the audience, “clap!”
Stephen Kirbach read his poems,
“Evolution and the Origin of Lit
eracy” and “Make it Nude,” an ode
to the opium poppy, which started
with the lines “Shopping for drugs
is usually/ a dull activity.”
One common element to all of the
faculty readers,
with the exception
of Hopes, was nos
talgia for high
times among the
low life in their
earlier years. Kirbach also read sev
eral excellent poems by UNCA stu
dent Ann Turner, who sat in the
audience looking surprised.
Barrett’s poetry worked with some
very powerful images in poems such
as “Special Ed. At the YMCA,” and
“Vernal Equinox.” The latter,
about her father’s recovery from an
illness, contained effective phrases
like “he lay superannuated,” and
“matinal meridian.”
Hopes, the de facto poet laureate
of Asheville, read last. Hopes has
recently been nominated for both
the Pulitzer Prize and the National
Book Award, and he continued to
shine in the rough of largely un
even poetry.
Hearing Hopes read aloud is essen
tial to his poetry; it has a sonorous
immediacy that makes it beautiful.
Its sound and its meaning can be
taken individually, with perfect fis-
sility.
“Headwaters” is UNCA’s only
venue for both literary and visual
arts. First published in 1929 under
the name “Bluets” at Asheville-
Biltmore College, the magazine has
won 11 awards in the Columbia
Scholastic Press Association.
It has undergone several name
changes in its 71-year history,
more recently publishing undei
names such as “The Rag and Bone
Shop” and “Locust Post.” The
first issue entitled “Headwaters”
was published in 1997.
“Headwaters” comes out with
one issue per year. The magazine
is currently accepting submissions
for its next issue, which will come
out in the spring. Fiction, poetry,
and personal narrative pieces may
be submitted by email, on disk or
on good old paper. Artwork sub
missions may be represented by a
photo, slide or print. For more
detailed information about sub
mission guidelines, pick up a sub
mission form at the “Headwaters”
office in 213 Karpen Hall.
The French Window on Broadway
The taste of the French countryside in Asheville
Kristina Elliott
Staff Writer
The French Window, a small
creperie, has brought the flavor of
the French countryside to down
town Asheville. It is located on
Broadway, adjacent to Scoops ice
cream parlor.
This quaint eatery is primarily an
a la carte establishment. The two
owners, Stephane Diaz and Francois
Manavit, are both natives of France.
You can order crepes to go from the
small window that opens to the
sidewalk, and they have seating in
side as well.
It is worth the time to go inside
and sit down to enjoy the crepes.
There is a lot of personality packed
into the small interior. The decor
and architecture are reminiscent of
a European countryside. The walls
are a collage of original artwork,
including hand-painted tile mosa
ics that were crafted by Manavit
himself
The small wooden
tables with brass in
lays are adorned with
fresh flowers. They are
accompanied by vin
tage metal chairs that
do not quite match, but they add to
the charm. The entrance to the
cooking area is a swinging wooden
door so you can watch Diaz or
Manavit at work. There was French
music in the background to accen-
. tuate the atmosphere.
There are not many options on
the menu, but what they do offer is
spectacular. They make two fo.vms
of the French pancake, galletes and
crepes. Galletes are made with buck
wheat and are usually filled with
cheese and vegetables. Crepes are
made with whole wheat and they
are usually served with fruit or other
dessert fillings.
The French Window has daily
specials and regular menu items. I
opted for one of the specials. La
Forestiere. It was a gallete filled
with fresh shiitake and button
mushrooms over a bed of mozza
rella cheese with chopped tomatoes
and a garlic parsley sauce. It was
served with a salad with a mandarin
vinaigrette dressing.
The meal was exquisite. The
unique blend of flavors will defi
nitely bring me back to this small
eatery. My dinner companion or
dered La Pesto, the other daily spe
cial. It was a savory mix of pesto,
fresh tomatoes, Parmesan and pars
ley. It was equally delectable.
The salad and the vegetables tasted
like they were freshly picked. I usu
ally skip out on salads when I dine
out, but this one looked too appe
tizing to miss out on. The manda
rin vinaigrette was the perfect
complement.
The, regular
menu items in
clude ham, egg,
and cheese
galletes, and the
Popeye, which is
made with spin
ach, cheese, sour cream and nut
meg. The dessert crepes offer top
pings such as honey, marmalade
jam, chocolate, banana or walnuts.
The French Window is a great
option for vegetarians in particular
because the daily specials usually do
not contain any kind of meat. They
do occasionally include salmon in
their daily specials though.
Perhaps the fresh ingredients are
the reason for the extraordinary
taste. They stone grind organic
I
k
Review
sweetness.
PHOTO BY SARAH LACY
The French Window offers the taste of the French crepes
in downtowm Asheville.
grains for the batter every morning
on the premises.
According to Diaz, their use of
Celtic sea salt makes the difference.
It is hand-harvested in Brittany,
which is in the northwestern region
of France. They use this salt in the
batter and while cooking.
The crept dessert special of the
evening was an apple crepe with a
raspberry jam, whipped cream,
chocolate sauce and confectionery
sugar. I had thought that it would
be a litde bit too rich, but it turned
out to be just the right amount of
The only thing that I could possi
bly think of to complain about is
the fact that you cannot buy drinks
there. Currently, you have to get a
drink from the adjoining ice cream
parlor, but according to Diaz, this
is soon to change.
They plan to apply for a license to
serve wine and beer. They will ap
ply for the license next week, and
will offer drinks as soon as possible.
See FRENCH page 6
Rebecca Travers
Staff Writer
The work of Julian Stanczak hangs
in Gallery Six at the Asheville Art
museum.
Stanczak’s work embodies the idea
that reality is not only personal, but
also fleeting.
Stanczak’s exhibit, entitled “The
Art of Optical Perception,” will be
visiting Asheville until Sept. 24.
His work conjures up heavy ques
tions, such as, “Is what I am seeing
really there?”
Only after serious thought, was I
able to connect Stanczak’s art to
philosophy.
At first, the physical effects of the
exhibit set in.
While sitting on the community
bench in the middle of the gallery,
Maryana Hicks, a student from
Western University, joined the ex
hibit.
“It makes my head hurt,” she said.
She spoke my mind.
The paintings, which are all large
canvas and acrylic pieces, re
minded me of the mid-90s when
people thought it was cool to stare
at the 3-D posters found in every
local mall.
Still, Stanczak deserves all the
credit for the “Op Art” craze, be
cause he is, in fact, the one who
invented the medium in the early
1970s.
Putting my age and adolescent
memories aside, Stanczak’s art is
innovative, and therefore worthy
of some creative praise.
The Polish-born artist uses various
colors and patterns to play tricks on
the viewer’s eyes.
A few of his works moved in a
wave-like pattern, if you were to
stand in the correct
spot and focus re
ally hard.
Out of the nine
paintings I evalu
ated, two impressed
e.
Windows to the Past, 2000” was
the largest work there, perhaps part
Review
of its appeal. The work consists of
two sets of 25 squares.
Inside each of the square panels
Stanczak painted overlapping squares
in different shapes and colors.
Thecombinationofcolorandshapes
creates incredible movement.
In fact, each time I looked at the
work, I was reminded of a static-
ridden TV screen. This work em
ploys the theory that our reality can
be deceived.
The painting was not moving, but
it certainly appeared that way.
Furthermore, the viewing experi
ence was completely personal.
Logic concludes that the painting is
not actually moving in real space and
time, yet to me it j umped all over the
place.
The second piece to catch me was
“Nymph, 1995”.
So simple in its composition, the
painting resembled an abstract ver
sion of the female body.
The black background superim
posed with vertical, wavy white
lines induced a soft movement
that imitated a woman dancing.
The other seven paintings were
boring and lacked aesthetic ap
peal.
A lot of Stanczak’s work is done
in neon colors, reminding me of
computer-generated artwork.
People entering the gallery of
fered a slightly different take on
Stanczak’s art.
Words such as, “nice,” “weird” and
“interesting” were the common ad
jectives used.
The viewers seemed to be at a loss for
words.
Stanczak does accomplish visual
manipulation in a few of his works,
but many of them simply look like
squares and circles resting on a can
vas.
The best thing about this exhibit
is that it makes you think about
reality. If art conjures up new ques
tions, it must be do-
ingalittlesomething
right. Stanczak
does succeed in rais
ing new questions
while using art as his
channel.
If only his art was more enjoyable to
Mediation Training at the
Friends iVieeting House be-
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gins Oct. 5 . Formore infor-
■nation contact The IVIediation
Center at 251-6089.
$t (t (t b
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SOCIAL LIFE TASK FORCE,
2000-2001, WEEKEND EVENT
FUNDING AVAILABLE!
Any Student Organization or Campus Depart
ment may apply for funds to enhance weekend
activities!
Applications are available in HC 27 through
September 22nd.
The first meeting of the Social Life Task Force
will take place on Tuesday September 26th to
determine the placement of funds.
Apply now for GREAT on-campus weekend
activities this fall!
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