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serving the students of the University of North Carolina at Asheville
Volume 1, Number 3
Thursday, Sept. 23, 1982 |
Andrade appointed
advisor to Ecuador
By Elise Henshaw
Dr. Marcel Andrade, associate
professor o^ Spanish, has been ap
pointed advisor to the government
of Ecuador. Dr. Claudio Malo,
Minister of Education for Ecuador,
made the announcement Aug 9,
1982.
As Assessor for International
Cultural Matters, Andrade will ad
vise Malo, who serves as minister of
education, culture and sports. An
drade describes Malo as “very
enlightened and dynamic.”
Malo is currently conducting
research on the theory of humor,
specifically the folk humor of the dif
ferent regions of Ecuador. Andrade
is assisting in the research of the
special bibliographies which this
book will contain. “The resources
are not as complete there [in
Ecuador],” he said.
Andrade explained that a literacy
campaign holds top priority in
Ecuador today. At the same time,
“there has been a rebirth in cultural
endeavors. The standard of living
has been raised by money from oil
which was discovered in Ecuador,”
he said. Andrade noted that
“Ecuador has always been a fairly
stable country,” in regard to its
economy and standard of living.
Andrade said that he will advise
the minister on “suggestions and
proposals for projects related to
cultural anthropology and other
areas within my field.” Working
with a $5000 grant, Andrade is
presently heading a reseach project
in Hispanic body language.
Andrade has written four books.
The most widely circulated of these.
Cultural Contrasts: Hispanic - North
American, is used widely as a text
book and manual. The official
publication of the U.S. Office of Per
sonnel Management characterizes
the book as “a delightful publication
which contrasts the basic cultural
differences between Hispanic and
non-Hispanic North Americans.”
Andrade describes his book as a
“simple, basic, down-to-earth, easy
to understand presentation, not a
scholarly work.” He collected
material for the book over a 20-year
period.
After coming to the United States
he “began to take notice of the
cultural differences between
Hispanics and non-Hispanic North
Americans.” He narrowed a collec
tion of 300 differences to 50, and by
careful research determined which
were common to all Hispanics.
These provided the subject of his
book. . - o
continued on page a
Dr. Marcel Andrade, pictured, shows his adaptation of El Cid, for in-^
termediate Spanish students.P/ioto by David Pickett
Alarms unheeded
By Sara Orozco
And the shepherd boy cried,
“Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!” or was that,
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”?
Most UNCA students, like the
villagers who no longer reacted to
the cry of wolf, largely ignore fire
alarm warnings.
“I’ve been living on campus for two
years now and I don’t think I’ve
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ever seen anyone take an alarm war
ning seriously,” says Kelly Distl, a
UNCA student.
The new high-rise building recent
ly experienced its fifth false alarm.
“The first time everyone took it
seriously. The second time only
about two-thirds of the people
evacuated, and by the third time in
that same night hardly anyone
cooperated!” says Juhe Thompson,
a freshman living in the high-rise
building.
Sam Ledford says that, as a resi
dent assistant [RA], he is responsi
ble for getting everyone out of the
building and making sure all of the
windows and doors are shut. The
hardest part is trying to get
everyone to evacuate, especially
those in the fifth, sixth, and seventh
floors, three times in the same night,
or at such odd hours as 4 a.m., 7
a.m., or 11 p.m.!”
The fire ^arm system in the new
high-rise building consists of four
smoke detectors per floor; two on
each wing. There are also special
telephone plugs on each floor which
provide firefighters with a means of
communication among themselves
during an emergency.
When the alarm system goes off
the elevators automatically stop
working and go to the bottom floor.
The housing director gives evacua
tion instructions over the public ad
dress system. Each person exits to
the stairway at the end of his hall.
The stairway offers some protec
tion from both fire and smoke. At
the top of each stairway is an
automatic fan which should prevent
smoke from entering the stairway.
continued on page 6