Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Oct. 7, 1992, edition 1 / Page 8
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Campus Extras Less filling, reads great-- try Crash Diet CRASH DIET By Jill McCorkle. June 1992. Chapel Hill: Algonquin. 253 pages. $16.95 “Kenneth left me on a Monday before I’d evenhad a chance to mousse my hair, and I just stood there at the picture window with the drapes swung back and watched him get into that flashy, red Mazda, which I didn’t want him to get anyway, and drive away down Marnier Street and make a right onto Seagrams. That’s another thing I didn’t want, to live in a subdivision where all the streets are named after some kind of liquor.” Jill McCorkle’s Cru5/i Diet opens with this story of a woman watching her man speed away into the arms of another. In fact, each of the el&ven short stories treats the topic of women— women falling in love, women losing a loved one, women wishing they could find someone to love. With the variety of experiences, McCorkle’s tales connect with practi cally every female reader. McCorkle humorously explores the psychology of women and their actions in her simple, conversational style. Passages tracing the charac ters’ streams of consciousness have the ability to make the reader laugh aloud. In “Comparison Shopping,” Norlina recalls thinking that she could “overlook the fact the Jack Crawford wore platform shoes and had bad breath.” Details of the characters’ everyday thoughts like this one make Crash Diet a plea sure to read. Not only are the stories comi cal, but they are also believable. The characters seem real. Take for instance Maureen Drummer, a bored bank teller in “First Union Blues,” and Anna Craven, a widow in “Departures” who hangs out in ”... airports, shopping malls, fairs, political rallies, any place she can be surrounded by people without having to interact with them.” Both are common, small-town women who lead fairly normal lives. Their experiences aren’t bizarre happen ings, but instead, familiar occurrences that anyone can relate to. McCorkle possesses that same talent that we ve seen in the works of Lee Smith— the ability to take the simplest episode and create an immensely enjoyable story. Crash Diet is a book for locals. As a resident of Durham, North Caro lina, McCorkle writes what she knows best—Carolinians. An outsider may still like the book, but delight comes from not only reading, but under standing. References to places like Ocean Drive at Myrtle Beach, the pickle business of Mt. Olive, and the community library of Fuquay can be best appreciated by the native reader. Most stories run about ten to fifteen pages and can be easily read in one sitting. It is the type of effort less reading that one wants to do in a porch swing on a lazy summer after noon. The light-heartedness and fa miliarity of McCorkle’s writing leave the reader with a sense of pleasure and a smile. Meredith Performs dazzles with Tintypes by Frances Pate Every year Meredith Performs entertains the community with a vari ety of cultural events ranging from musicals to dance concerts. This sea son looks as promising as ever, judg ing from the success of the season’s opener, Tintypes. The playwright, Mary Kyte, cleverly intertwined many songs from the Vaudeville Era (1890-1920$) with a lot of very cute, funny scenes. With such favorites as “The Yankee Doodle flOPfil Laura McCabe and Truly Ager file photo ttmtd in Tintypes. Boy,” “Stars and Stripes Forever,” “Shortnin’ Bread,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” Kyte created a phenomenal musical review. The cast consisted of five characters: Charlie (Gary Wil liams), T.R. (David Bartlett), Susannah (Tina Morris), and two Meredith shirts. Truly Ager who played the part of Anna and Laura McCabe who played Emma. Each actor played a role that was repre sentative of a certain class of people during the turn of the century. The acting was superb and the singing voices were outstand ing. Each character was “spot lighted” at least once and the audi ence got a true taste of each character’s personality. One par ticularly outstanding number was the show-stopping “Nobody,” per- formedbyTinaMorris. Other high lights included “What It Takes To Make Me Love You-You’ve Got It” performed by Laura McCabe and David Bartlett and ‘Toyland” performed by Truly Ager. Catherine Rodgers did an excellent job directing the show. Nancy Bennett and Cindy Hoban worked well together as musical director and choreographer. There were many dance numbers which involved quite a lot of intricate foot work. The result was amaz ing. Billy Murray was respon sible for the set and costume de signs.' Again, the results were wonderfiil. The costumes depicted the time well and were very pretty. The sets were breathtaking. As the main curtain opened we saw a backdrop that was beautifully decorated with a bald eagle. At another point in the play we saw slides of years past projected onto another backdrop. The images added to the overall effect of the play. Kirt Landry’s lighting and sound expertise also added to the success of the show. Word of mouth brought a lot of people to the show last week end. All of the crowds seemed to enjoy the performances, and as one man said during intermission, “It’s the kind of entertainment everyone can enjoy.” If you aren’t Southern and fe male— the most appropriate audi ence for this book— you may still want to give Crash Diet a try. The glimpse into the minds of hard-to- understand women may make read ing the book worthwhile. Career Connections Graduate Education Fair— Wednesday, Oct. 7 - 9:00 a.m.- loon. Fireside Lounge, Cate Cen- ;er. (Grad School representatives ivailable for information ex- :hange, drop-in basis). Chance to attend Business and Professional Women’s Con ference in exchange for assisting with hosting responsibilities at this state-wide business women’s con ference, 5 Meredith students will lave an opportunity to attend this jxcellent professional develop- uent and networking event free If charge ($55 value). Saturday, Dct. 17, 8:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., ^orth Raleigh Hilton. Contact evenings): Stacie Cronin, 704/ 533-1957 or Valerie James, 919/ S72-3716. Application deadline: Dct. 9. Attention Freshmen and Sophomores. Are you undecided about choosing a major? Come to lie Choosing Your Major Work shop, Friday, Oct. 23,10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.. Career Resource loom. For additional informa- ion on majors offered at Meredith, Jon’t miss the Choosing Your Major Fair Monday, Oct. 26, 10:00 a.m. -12:00 noon. Fireside ^unge. Dropbytotalktorepre- :entatives from all majors. (Both jvents will be held on 2nd floor of he Cate Center).
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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Oct. 7, 1992, edition 1
8
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