Meredith Herald
Volume XVI, Issue 23
Educating Women to Excel
March 29, 2000
On the
inside:
□ Senior art
exhibition is on
display now.
Page 3
□ Students get
down at the
spring formal.
Page 4
□ Meredith
prepares to
offer Arabic.
Page 5
□ Lucky 32 is
the place to eat.
Page 8
Meredith Herald
at
Mer^ith Callege
3800 Hillsborough St.
Ra!eigh, NC 27607
919) 760-2824
FAX (919) 760-2869
maxwelll@meredidi.edu
Women writers bring talent to Meredith
Playwright offers lines
Poet reads her works
Tracy Sumner
staff Writer
“Everyday, something has
tried to kill me and failed,”
quoted poet Lucille Cliflon
during her poetry reading on
Monday, Mar. 27. Reading
poems about topics from big
hips to child abuse, Clifton
spoke to both the Meredith
community and the area com
munity.
In addition to the reading,
Clifton attended an African-
American literature class with
poetry students on Monday
afternoon and shared lunch
with creative-writing students
on Tuesday.
After (he evening’s introduc
tion by junior Ayana Rhodes,
Cliflon, who referred to herself
as a “luxury-sized woman,”
began by reading her most pop
ular poem, “Homage to My
Hips.” In this humorous poem,
Clifton spoke about her “free,”
“mighty” and “magic” hips.
Clifton then moved to a
much more serious topic. She
read two poems about her bat
tles with first breast cancer and
then kidney failure, “Lumpec
tomy Eve" and “Dialysis.”
Clifton delighted the audience
with her humorous take on the
dialysis process and its
unpleasantness. She then spoke
about her kidney transplant,
which she received from her
youngest daughter of six chil
dren. She read a poem that
noted the irony in having her
daughter, whom she tried to
abort 30 years earlier, save her
life.
Next Clifton recited two
poems about her father. In
“Moonchild,” she expressed
her refusal to be a victim of her
father’s abuse. And in “What I
Think When I Ride the Train,”
Clifton told of her father’s job
as a “chipper,” or railroad con
structor.
Clifton then began to tell
about her mother, who was al.so
Please see
CLIFTON page 5
Leesha Austin
Staff Wrtlef
Wendy Wasserstein, award-
winning playwright and author,
spoke about “A Life in the The
ater” during a convocation held
at Meredith College at 3 p.m.
on Sunday, Mar. 26.
“I’ve always loved the the
ater, and I've always known I
was funny,” said Wa.sserstein.
Wasserstein displayed her
down-lo-earth personality, and
her wit kept the audience
laughing.
She explained that she
majored in history at Mount
Holyoke College and that had
planned on becoming a con
gressional intern, but she kept
falling asleep over the reading.
She took playwrighting at
Smith College and later
received an honorary degree
from Smith.
“I was influenced by a great
professor who told me that
playwrighting was finding
your own voice and telling a
story,” said Wasserstein.
Wasserstein explained that
she was very interested in
women's roles on stage, why
their voices were not being
heard and whose voice was
being heard. “It became an
obsession of mine,” she said.
According to Wasserstein,
she has used a lot of autobio
graphical information in her
plays.
“I applied to Yale Drama
School and Columbia Business
School and decided that 1
would go wherever I was
accepted and (hat's what 1
would do,” said Wasserstein.
She was accepted to both
and decided to go to Yale,
which she attended fbr three
years.
'There’s no assurance that
when you get out your life will
be any difTereni than when you
went in,” stated Wasserstein.
She explained that she want
ed to see her contemporaries on
Please see
WASSERSTEIN page 8
New speed bumps give students jolt
Nikki Norris
Staff Writer
Meredith students arrived
back on campus after spring
break to find that three new
speed bumps had been installed
on South Campus Drive
between the main gate and the
entrance to the Cate Center.
Campus Police Chief Frank
Strickland said that although
many people are complaining
about this new addition, the
speed bumps were installed for
the safety of the Meredith com
munity.
Strickland said that the
Meredith College Safety Com
mittee, which is comprised of
representatives from all depart
ments of the college including
students, raised the issue of
traffic safety at their quarterly
meeting. Strickland stated that
excessive speeding on campus
has been a top concern for the
committee.
Strickland also adds that a
light pole Of) South Campus
Drive has been knocked down
three times this semester due to
speeding traffic. “We have also
had a lot of joggers and walk
ers to report speeding,” he said.
Strickland acknowledged
that the speed bumps are an
inconvenience to drivers, but
he said that they were installed
in the best interest of the cam
pus. He said that if one acci
dent is prevented, the additions
are worth the inconvenience.
He also said that many stu
dents have complained that the
speed bumps wilt knock their
car out of alignment. However,
Strickland said that if drivers
will approach the bumps slow
ly, they will not harm their
vehicles. He added (hat
installing the new speed bumps
New speed bumps on South Campus Drive make drivers
stow down.
Photo rt Jsnnt Altiek
“was something we had to do
to ensure safety,”
Still, many people on cam
pus are annoyed with the addi
tional speed bumps; however,
they still realize the reasons fw
installing them.
Sophomore Melissa Ham-
berg said, “I understand why
(he speed bumps are there, but
(hey are still an aggravation.”
In response to the com
plaints about the new speed
bumps. Strickland said, “If
people would obey speed limits
and exercise due caution, there
would be no need for speed
bumps on campus.”
There is another change in
campus traffic. Because of
many incidents involving vehi
cles running over shrubbery in
the circle at the main gate, stop
signs are in the process of
being added at each of the three
entrances to the circle. The
roads are marked for drivers (o
stop, and yield signs will so(»)
be replaced by s(op signs.