Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Oct. 14, 1988, edition 1 / Page 3
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OCTOBER 14,1988 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3 Ruark delights audience with poetry By JOANNE GRAY Gibbons Ruark, distinguished poet and presently, visiting writer in residence at UNC-Greensboro, read in The Browsing Room for the li brary on Oct. 6. Professor of English at the Uni versity of Delaware, delighted his audience with a selection of his po etry on his third visit to North Caro lina Wesleyan College. The reading went on for at least an hour and never was devoid of Review content. Twelve poems were read, each not too long so that the pace kept moving. The subject for these poems were taken from Ruark’s life time exjjeriences and consequently gave an insight into the colorful life he has led. His first poem was entitled “Sing ing Hymns Late At Night For My Father.” By way of background Ruark explained that the poem has to do with his mother’s polio attack and how his father used to sing to raise money to help support his family. Two February poems followed: the first detailed on early anniversary of Ruark’s father’s death in “Weather Report To My Father;” the second dealt with his mother’s funeral in “At The Graves In Memory.” The next poem, “Lecturing My Daughters” again takes its subject from family life, relating how his daughters did not really get to know their grandfather before his death. Moving to his social life, the poem “Empty Lot” tells the story of a filmmaker who, revelling in his own art form stated “pwetry was dead; film was the new medium.” “La ment” was Ruark’s way of despair- , ing about things to come. ^Eponymous * album captures R,E,M. By MARK BRETT Usually, greatest hits albums are either a source of great enjoyment or great boredom to me. If I’m not familiar with the band a greatest hits album is, of course, a good way to get the feel for their music and I generally enjoy it. If, on the other hand, I am familiar with the band, a greatest hits album is usually old hat to me and I swiftly become bored with it. In the case of R.E.M. we have a band that I am very famiUar with. I have aU of R.E.M. ’s albums and vari- Review ous other recordings that include live versions of songs on those albums and other songs that are not on those albums. I know most of this material by heart, and pride myself on keeping my R.E.M. collection as complete as possible. StiU and all, when R.E.M. Trend worrisome Dear Editor: As a student, I am concerned over the increasing number of part-time instructors being used at Wesleyan. Have you noticed on the Fall Sched ule the number of classes being taught by “staff?” Even some of the “assigned” faculty have been re placed by part-time instructors. Have you ever needed to get in touch with one of these part-time in structors? Have you ever needed ex tra help or had a pnroblem and tried to locate one? Have you ever needed to have one of them sign a drop/add card? My questions are these: Why are there so many part-time faculty? How carefully are they selected and aren’t they, sometimes, last minute “fill-ins?” Is it a matter of econom ics? Is it less costly to the College to hire four part-time instructors than one full-time instructor? Oiu- tuition keeps increasing but I know, in some instances, I have not gotten the qual ity instruction I feel I’m paying for. I feel this is not a good practice to continue following for several rea sons: 1. These part-time instructors may have the expertise but this does not mean they can teach! 2. They are inaccessible to the students. 3. Because they are not full-time members of the Wesleyan commu nity, they do not have the same priori ties as our dedicated, full-time fac ulty, and this is understrindable. 4. They cannot serve as academic advisors, which certainly increases the number of advisees our full-time faculty have. Have you ever tried to see your advisor at pre-registration or registration when he has 50 plus ad visees? 5. Students are missing the conti nuity of p>ermanent faculty and “es tablished” departments. I do not want to imply that aU the part-time faculty I’ve had have been poor teachers because some of them have been excellent. I just see a precedent that concerns me! Name Withheld put out a greatest hits album recently, I bought it and have been listening to it nearly non-stop ever since. The album, titled “Eponymous” (a really obscure word that has to do with mythology and the naming of something,) is a very good mixture of music firom R.E.M. ’s career. “Epony mous” moves from the group’s first single, “Radio Free Europe,” to their most recent efforts, such as “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine,)” and it makes the trip pretty smoothly. Between the two songs mentioned above, we get such R.E.M. classics as “So Central Rain” (a song that once appeared on a “K-Tel” record be tween two Hall and Oates tunes...Go figure!), “Driver 8,” “Fall on Me” (the only song from the “Lifes Rich Pageant” album,) and last year’s “The One I Love” (the most twisted “love” song I’ve ever heard, and a top 40 hit that very few people actually listened to the lyrics of — something not aU that smprising, unfortunately.) We also get some wonderful bi zarre tunes, such as “Gardening at Night” and “Romance” (the only song on the album that I didn’t have, from the “Made in Heaven” sound track. The bizarre thing about it is that from the lyrics I’ve been able to decipher, I can’t figure out why it’s called “Romance.”) R.E.M. is well- represented by this choice of songs, as well as by the songs I haven’t mentioned. The album is not without its faults, however. The biggest fault, in my mind, is the really atrocious “horn re-mix” version of the song “Finest Worksong.” The horns add nothing to the song (which wgrked just fine in its original version) and eventually become annoying. As I heard one fan say in a radio call-in interview with the band, “If I want to laugh. I’ll lis ten to the Dead Milkmen!” The other major fault, in my mind, is the inclusion of only one song from “Lifes Rich Pageant.” That album may be R.E.M.’s best, and we’re only given one song from it! The group, and the current album, would be much better off omitting “Finest Worksong” and including something like “Superman” or “I Believe,” or even “Swan Swan H.” Despite these faults, however, “Eponymous” is an excellent great est hits compilation. So, all that said, I obviously rec ommend “Eponymous” as a good album to consider buying. If you’re tired of being spoon-fed that Gerber’s for the mind Top 40 radio pushes and want some music that you can really sink your teeth into, this might be a good place to start. If you just want to hear some good alternative rock, this is also a good place to start. And if you’re a fan, you can listen and hear R.E.M. mature. Or you could buy it to hear some excellent music, in which case you can’t lose. A more gruesome note arrived during “Words Meant To Carry Over Water.” The poem described both how Ruark’s shirt was scorched from his back when he sat too near a fire place and how, at the same house, he impaled himself on a hanging meat hook while trying to literally drop in over a dance floor from a balcony. One love poem did seep into the reading although it began with the post poning of decorating a Christ mas tree until one day he found the spiders had already done a pretty neat job. Called “For The Pause Before We Decorate The Tree,” it actually became quite erotic. “Working the Rainshift At Flan- nigans” and “Veterans” are con cerned with Ruark’s experiences in Belfast, Ireland. The latter is a sonnet about a couple of World War One veterans. One is celebrating his 100th birthday with a message from the Queen of England and its Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the poem connects the greetings back to the Easter Rising of 1916 when not only were the Irish at war with Eng land over independence but many Irishmen were joining the British army to fight in WWI. Imagine the confusion and tug of loyalties a situ ation like that would arouse. To end Ruark read “Lost Letter To James Wright” concerning the death of an old friend and “Words For Unaccompanied Voice at Dun- morehead,” about a beautiful, remote spot at the furthest Western point of Ireland. Here he drew the blind and the evening closed with great ap plause. From all the events detailed in his poems we notice how he chronicles the sad parts of life each poem string ing together to reveal the story of his past. The poems were serious but not dull and were interspersed by witty comments and backgrounds to each poem. His writing is obviously a way in which he shows and perhaps alle viates the heartache of the events of his life which most easily come to mind. I found this to be a wholly entertaining evening especially since I often have difficulty just listening to poetry. 'The Limit' did well at Homecoming By JACK PENAFIEL and GLEN AMBROSE The Limit, a talented, exciting and jnergetic group originally from Maryland, performed for this year’s 1988 Homecoming outdoor concert at North Carolina Wesleyan CoUege, on Oct. 6. The band promptly began performing at 8 p.m. on the grounds in front of Edgecombe dorm. Despite the cold weather, students were not intimidated. They came pre pared for the occasion, wearing heavy articles of clothing such as- sweaters, jackets and blankets. The weather also did not affect the band’s performance in any way. Some of Wesleyan’s personnel, which included the Dean of Student Life, were there to enjoy the affair but also to enforce campus rules. They made sure to check everyone’s cup to be sure no one was having “too good of a time.” But this did not damper this student’s enthusiasm in any way. The Limit was booked by the school through Showtime, an agency which is located in Raleigh. Accord- ■ ing to Showtime’s brochure. “The Limit is perfect for the coUege circuit playing new, old and top 40 rock.” The band claimed that Wesleyan par- tied harder than the last college they played for. Auburn University in Alabama. A variety of music was played by the band. Among the songs were: “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard, “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi and “The Flame” by Cheap Trick. Other songs by groups such as Poison and REM were also performed. The group performed until 11 p.m. The concert proved to be a big >uccess. Not only was it entertaining, t was fun! From what was observed, veryone seemed to have had a good time. It gave Wesleyan students the opportunity to get together and have a great time. The band’s performance was okay, the beat was good and their style was acceptable. We hope 1989 Homecoming will be just as success ful.
North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper
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Oct. 14, 1988, edition 1
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