The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, September 15, 19923
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Author of 'Dutchman'
slated to speak at UNC
Celebrated author and poet Imamu
Amiri Baraka will speak at 7 p.m. Mon
day in the Great Hall of the Student
Union.
Baraka's address, "Sterling Brown:
Blues, Poetry and History," will be a
tribute to Brown, a major 20th century
scholar, folklorist, poet, critic and pro
fessor at Harvard University.
Brown, along with Langston Hughes,
Jean Toomer and Claude McKay, helped
spark the Harlem Renaissance literary
movement of the early 1920s.
Brown was the inspiration for many
world-renowned authors and poets, in
cluding Baraka, who under his former
name of Leroi Jones produced such
well-known works as Dutchman, which
won an Obie Award in 1964.
The lecture will be coupled with the
Sterling Brown exhibit, a set of 1 2 pho
tographic portraits of Brown by Roy
Lewis. The photos show Brown with
other literary greats, including Maya
Angelou, Haiti Madhabuti, Gwendolyn
Brooks and Bemice Reagan. They will
be on display in the upper lounge of the
Student Union from Monday through
Oct. 12.
The tribute to Brown is being pre
sented by the Black Student Movement,
the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Cen
ter and the Carolina Union Critical Is
sues Committee. Admission is free, and
the event is open to the public.
GPSF establishes Green
grad writing awards
To honor excellence in graduate and
professional student writing and to fur
ther the discussion of University issues,
the UNC Graduate and Professional
Student Federation has established the
Fletcher M. Green Graduate Writing
Awards.
Named for Green, a distinguished
historian and teacher who served as a
mentor to more than 200 graduate stu
dents during his 30-year tenure at UNC,
the awards cany $250 scholarships for
essays judged best on each of the fol
lowing topics:
As the University prepares to enter
its third century, describe the greatest
challenge it faces, and tell what it must
do to meet it.
Should the University allow the
construction of a free-standing black
cultural center?
Essays will be judged by a selection
committee appointed by the GPSF Con
gress and should be submitted anony
mously, identified only by the author's
student identification and telephone
numbers. Any full- or part-time gradu
ate or professional student is eligible.
All essays must be turned in by S p.m.
Oct. 19 at the GPSF office.
CAA to sponsor chat
with Anson Dorrance
UNC students will have a chance to
talk with another University varsity
coach Thursday.
The Carolina Athletic Association
will sponsor a "Chat with the Coach"
appearance by UNC women's soccer
coach Anson Dorrance at noon Thurs
day in the Pit. Students then will have an
opportunity to ask questions of UNC's
nationally renowned soccer coach. The
program is expected to last about 30
minutes. For further information, call
the CAA office at 962-4300.
Student candidate
petitions due today
Any students interested in running
for one of the eight open Student Con
gress seats should submit a petition
with at least 25 signatures to the Elec
tions Board office by 5 p.m. today. No
late petitions will be accepted.
Seats are open in districts 2, 5, 1 1 , 15,
20, 24, 25 and 26. Voting will take place
from 1 0 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Pit.
To vote, students must present their
current registration card and ID.
Questions should be directed to Ron
Barnes, Elections Board chairman, at
962-5201. All necessary information is
posted outside the Elections Board of
fice in Suite A.
Journalist to discuss
history of University
William Snider, a retired editor of
the Greensboro News and Record, will
discuss his experiences writing "Light
on the Hill: A History of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill," at
5:30 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Wilson Library
Assembly Room.
Snider, a 1941 UNC graduate and
recipient of the University's distin
guished alumnus award, will discuss
"Carolina Through 200 Years: Writing
a History of UNC" during the free pub
lic program.
Snider' s history of the University,
commissioned in conjunction with the
Bicentennial Celebration, was published
earlier this year by the UNC Press.
Materials from the UNC archives
and the N.C. Collection will be on dis
play before the program. The program
is sponsored by the Friends of the Li
brary. Refreshments will be served at 5
p.m.
Humt yow to Mpport
education, economy
By Rebec ah Moore
State and National Editor
Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Jim Hunt, who spoke to a decked-out
crowd of approximately 200 Orange
County Democrats Monday, said he
was prepared to turn the state's economy
and education system around.
Hunt, who is running against Repub
lican Lt. Gov. Jim Gardner, said UNC
and Orange County were his home.
"It really is wonderful to come home,"
Hunt said. "I came to have a real under
standing about what it is all about here."
The "Java Jive for Jim Hunt," spon
sored by Orange County Citizens for
Jim Hunt, was held at the Europa Center
Atrium in Chapel Hill. Supporters of
the former governor gathered to talk
politics and hear what he had to offer
voters in the upcoming campaign.
Hunt said North Carolina needed a
change in government, not only on the
state level, but also on a national level.
"The race for governor is important,
and it is also critically important that we
elect a new president Bill Clinton,"
he said.
Volunteer Center celebrates
a year of community service
Opportunities available for students with time to share
By Chad Merritt
Staff Writer
Volunteerism continues to play an
increasingly important role in Chapel
Hill as the Volunteer Center of Orange
County celebrates its first anniversary.
The Volunteer Center, a service of
the United Way, was set up to match
prospective volunteers with volunteer
organizations.
The center recruits and refers volun
teers to more than 1 60 community orga
nizations. Lynn Wareh, the Volunteer Center's
director since its opening last Septem
ber, said she was impressed and encour
aged by the expansion of the center
from "zero to 365 days."
The center constantly updates a bank
of information on volunteer agencies,
Wareh said. The information is readily
accessible to the public, she said.
Sue Mattem, co-chairwoman of the
task force that created the Volunteer
Center, said she was very pleased with
the growth of the center.
Futuristic game system invades Chapel Hill
The Parlor and eager players welcome first virtual reality entertainment machines to N.Gi:
By Howard Thompson
Staff Writer
A shot explodes to your left. Spin
ning around quickly, you stare into your
enemy's eyes. You run sluggishly
through gravity five times the normal
force, dodging fire to duck behind an
obstacle.
Suddenly, your green warning light
flashes. You search the sky frantically.
An enormous, streaking pterodactyl
swoops down towards you. You aim
and fire. Missed.
It only takes two short seconds to
reload, but it is already too late. Caught
in the dactyl's claws, you stare as the
playing field disappears beneath you.
Abruptly, it drops you to fall helplessly,
down, down, down ....
Is this Captain Kirk's latest adven
ture? A futuristic shootout at the OK
Corral? A second-rate science fiction
novel? World War UJ? Registration at
Woollen Gym revisited?
Welcome to the world of virtual real
ity, where artificial environments and
situations replace the mundane experi
ences we have been trapped in through
out history.
But don't think it is exclusively the
realm of the future. Ask anyone who
wandered into The Parlor Billiards and
Pub at 205 E. Franklin St. this weekend
to see the opening of the first virtual
reality entertainment system available
to the public in North Carolina.
The two Virtu ality 1000CS machines,
designed by W Industries of Leicester,
England, with their graceful curves,
flashing lights and equipment straight
from "Star Wars," probably looked more
like some bizarre torture device to the
innocent passerby.
But that did not stop the curious.
Tommy Byrd, owner of The Parlor,
estimated that 60 people came in to play
on Thursday night, a day before the
advertised opening. "The machines have
been a tremendous success everywhere
they have been," he said.
But beyond the flashing lights,
gloomy music and threatening sound
effects, there is serious technological
study.
Jim Chung, a computer science gradu
ate student who has done work on vir
tual reality, describes it as "the illusion
of being somewhere you are not, where
Labeling UNC
as the "finest pub
lic university in
America," Hunt
said he would
strive to bring
funds and recog
nition to the Uni
versity. "I'm go
ing to make sure
we have the
funds," he said.
Hunt stressed
Jim Hunt
education as a key issue in the fall
campaign.
"I want to change public schools . . .
give teachers more voice," he said.
With the state economy in the dol
drums, Hunt said he would concentrate
on creating high-skill, high-paying jobs
to stimulate economic stability and
worker esteem.
"We can't be satisfied with low-skill,
low-wage jobs," he said. "Let's have a
high-skill economy."
Hunt said a firm educational back
ground was necessary to ensure a state
economic turnaround.
"The absolute foundation for (a bet
Mattem added that she was impressed
with the role Wareh had played in the
center's development.
"She is a major contribution to the
volunteers of Orange County," Mattem
said.
A primary goal of the center contin
ues to be involving the youth popula
tion of Chapel Hill and the Orange
County area, she said.
Youth were targeted because most
volunteer opportunities are open for
college students and the elderly, the
largest demographic groups in the area,
Wareh said.
Opportunities at the center are avail
able for college students, especially as
volunteer counselors, she said. Intern
ships and volunteer positions also are
available in communications and ad
ministration capacities.
Wareh added that next summer the
center would work on providing ongo
ing programs with agencies for middle
school and high school students. She
said she hoped that these programs
would provide opportunities for leader
the space around you changes as you
change position."
Virtual reality has been used for years
by the U.S. Air Force and major airlines
in flight simulators. Used to train pilots,
state of the art simulators can take up
entire rooms and cost millions of dol
lars. "Only now have we developed the
computers cheap enough and powerful
enough to do virtual reality for average
people instead of just those that have
money to spend," Chung said.
Chung estimated virtual reality tech
nology could be as big and significant
as television. "Virtuality reality now is
comparable to the TV in 1 940," he said.
While things like the holodecks made
famous by Star Trek are conceivable,
Chung said near term applications will
be fairly mundane. "The computers now
are not good enough to make the user
forget the images are really comput
ers," he said.
Chung said many everyday items
would change. For instance, he de
scribed the telephone of the future. "In
stead of picking up a headset, you would
put on goggles and communicate in 3-D
somehow."
Other areas of science also would see
advances due to virtual reality technol
ogy, Chung said.
In medicine, it can assist in cancer
and reconstructive surgery. In chemis
try, molecular graphics can help the
study of atomic structure. And in archi
tecture, building designs can be experi
enced before they are built, allow people
to "walk into" a blueprint
"Architects are trained to be able to
do it with just a two-dimensional blue
print, but their clients don't have that
ability," Chung said.
And then, of course, there are the
games. The system at The Parlor can
run several different games: Hero, where
the player carries an ax to defend against
lurking medieval dangers; Beach, where
opponents fire rocket-propelled stars at
each other; and Dactyl Nightmare, the
game that is currently loaded on the
system.
In Dactyl Nightmare, players duel
each other or the computer on platforms
suspended in space while pterodactyls
threaten from above.
To play, the opponents stand on raised
platforms inside machine-generated
ter economy) has to be education," he
said. "It is time we had a governor in this
state again that knows our university
system is what makes us special."
The Hamlet disaster emphasized a
need for better worker safety regula
tions, said Hunt, who visited the town
Thursday.
"My opponent thinks we went too far
for the working people, and I think he's
wrong," Hunt said.
"We've got to (win the election) this
year. I'm not saying a word about what
the alternative is you already know
that," he said.
Bill Leuchtenburg, a UNC history
professor introduced Hunt. Leuch
tenburg said Hunt was "truly an educa
tional governor."
Pattie Mclntyre, a Chapel Hill resi
dent who attended the fund-raiser, said
the choice for Orange County voters
was clear.
"In the 1960s, Jim Gardner was our
Orange County congressman, and that
was enough," she said. "Gardner comes
across to some people, but I think it
would be tragic for North Carolina to
have Jim Gardner as governor."
ship training and increased community
involvement among teenagers.
The center provides many different
services for volunteer groups, includ
ing technical assistance to volunteer
managers.
The center also has organized a track
ing system of volunteers, an agency
newsletter and training sessions, Wareh
said.
The Volunteer Center also helps to
organize Trianglewide projects. The
Holiday Wish List is a program that
matches many one-time volunteers to
projects that provide an immediate need
to the community, such as distributing
toys and food.
The Summer Youth Volunteer Di
rectory was instituted by the center to
develop a directory of middle school
and high school volunteers.
This year's directory included more
than 200 youth and 40 volunteer agen
cies. Wareh said she encouraged any pro
spective student volunteers to contact
her at the Volunteer Center.
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Elvis Herstein tackles Dactyl Nightmare on a Virtuality 1000CS machine at The Parlor
magnetic fields. A magnetic tracking The headgear, which looks like some
belt monitors the player's position and thing Darth Vader wears, produces
a hand-held joystick controls move- three-dimensional liquid crystal graph
ment and weapon fire. ics that respond to the player's position.
Student groups get
more voice in 1992
Homecoming choice
By Gary Rosertzweig
Staff Writer
, In an effort to include other student
organizations in the Homecoming
queen selection process, the Carolina
Athletic Association has implemented
a new plan for this year's competition.
The CAA has sent applications to
various student organizations and in
vitations have been sent to students,
faculty and staff to sit on review boards.
CAA President Tracy Kirincich said
the policy was created to avoid prob
lems that arose last year over initial
selections made by the review board.
Last year, the CAA allowed two
candidates back into the competition
after they were cut in the first stage of
the selection process. CAA officials
reviewed four applications after re
ceiving inquiries from groups claim
ing their candidates' contributions
were not fully considered. The Black
Student Movement, whose candidate
won the competition, was one of the
groups that asked about the process.
Kirincich said involving other
groups in the process was important
because CAA members didn't always
understand the inner workings of ev
ery campus organization enough to
judge candidates' contributions.
The CAA reviewed suggestions
from other student organizations be
fore the policy was rewritten, Kirincich
said. "The new policy) is more de
fined," she said. "I've tried to spell
things out so there are no loopholes."
The first stage of the new selection
process begins when student organi
zations nominate seniors for the posi
Dollar calls for change
in Labor Department
By Anna Burdeshaw
Staff Writer
"A vote for Dollar makes good sense."
That was the message that Nelson
Dollar, Republican candidate for N.C.
labor commissioner, brought to the UNC
Young Republicans on Monday.
Dollar, a graduate of Appalachian
State University, has served as the per
sonnel director for the N.C. Department
of Economic and Community Develop
ment since 1989.
Dollar said that his campaign theme
was "working together for North Caro
lina," which he said was necessary if the
state was to compete in the new global
economy.
tion, Kirincich said
: ; Homecoming queen hopefuls musl
submit applications to the CAA by
Sept. 30. In the application, contcv
tants should detail their history of camC
pus and community involvement and
write essays, Kirincich said. ;
Another change in the selection
policy is that this year's queen will bt
required to complete a service project,
; Kirincich said. In the essay, appli?
cants must explain what project they
would choose and why they would
make that decision. Applications will
be reviewed by a board of student
: leaders from various organizations,
Kirincich said. Each application will
be scored from one to 10, after which
? thepanel will determine a cut-off point
: Information on the applications will
be checked by the review board,
Kirincich said. The amount of time
applicants spend working for student
organizations will be one of the things
that the board checks, she said.
Contestants who make it through
the application process will be inter
viewed by a panel of University fac
ulty and staff members, Kirincich said.
The panel will score the applicants'
interviews and decide on a cut-off
point. The remaining applicants will
make up the Homecoming Court
Students will vote to choose the
queen Oct 22. Students' votes will
count for two-thirds of the final deter
mination of who will be queen. Scores
for the application and interview will
count for one-sixth of the total each,
she said. The queen will be crowned
during halfume at the football game
vs. Georgia Tech Oct 24,
Much of the candidate's speech was
devoted to an attack on Labor Commis
sioner John Brooks, whom Dollar called
a "little dictator." Dollar also indicated
that under Brooks, the Department of
Labor had lacked the courage to address
specific problems.
"It's not a matter of knowing what
the problems are, it' s a question of hav
ing the political will to do something
about it," Dollar said.
Dollar specifically jated the 1991
disaster in Hamlet, N.C, in which work
ers were trapped inside a burning
chicken-processing plant. He said that
incident and similar health and safety
See DOLLAR, page 5
A quadraphonic sound system provides
eerie mood music, the sound of foot
steps and other effects such as the omi
nous declaration that starts every game,
"Time to die." x
The Parlor had to make a few adjust
ments to fit the machines. Its 9-foot
ceilings are the minimum height under
which they can operate. Byrd said; a
ceiling fan had to be removed and; a
neon sign in the window taken down
because it caused disturbance in the
system's magnetic field.
But wiring was not a problem. "It
uses less electricity than I thought about
the same as a normal PC," Byrd said.
If you would like one of your own,
Byrd said each unit goes for about
$65,000, compared to $10,000 for a
top-of-the-line, flat-screen video game.
A four-minute game will cost you $4.
The Parlor will keep the units for a
two-month trial period before deciding
whether to buy them. "It's definitely a
business proposition," Byrd said.
He also joked that the machines might
be detrimental to their other games.
Who would want to play pool when you
can run around space like Luke
Skywalker and shoot at pterodactyls?
"That might be a bad side effect," Byrd
said.
Byrd expects the games will be popu
lar despite the cost. They certainly re
ceived plenty of attention overthe week
end, both from people playing and from
crowds of curious onlookers.
"It's a lot of fun very different"
said Zinder Stephano, a graduate drama
student, after playing. "The music re
ally sets the mood, and the footsteps are
great," he said. ; ;
But Stephano also thought the tech
nology needed to be improved before it
truly looked real. "You are not in it per
se. You can still tell you just have a TV
attached to your face," he said.
Mike Reily and his neighbor Nathan
Zimet came from Hillsborough just to
play after hearing about it from a friend
who works in a video store. Both agreed
it was worth it.
"It's real fun," Reily said. "It feels
weird when you get off. You get used to
it, moving slow and holding your hand
out in front of you."
Reily added that the price was a prob
lem. "You can't afford to become an
expert."