4
Friday, April 3,1998
Carrboro Town Commons to host local artists’ fair
BY MATT LECLERCQ
STAFF WRITER
Local artists have called Carrboro the
“Paris of the Piedmont,” but the lack of
a Louvre has made it bard for artists to
reach the public.
But Monnda Welch said all that
would change when her organization,
Grass Roots Arts Inc., stages the first
arts-and-crafts market at the Carrboro
Town Commons on Sunday. Grass
Roots Arts is a nonprofit organization
founded in 1995 to promote local artists.
From painters to potters, jewelry
makers to tye-dyers, 38 local artists will
display their wares from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
in what will become a regular monthly
event. Welch said the market should
FDA approves stronger
low-calorie sweetener
■ The additive, sucralose,
is a derivative of sugar that
is 600 times sweeter.
BY JESSICA LUGINBUHL
STAFF WRITER
Anew product approved Thursday
by the Food and Drug Administration
might offer consumers the greatest sugar
high yet.
The additive, called sucralose or
“splenda,” is a derivative of sugar but
600 times sweeter.
“This substance was discovered in
1976 by our partner Tate & Lyle based
in the U.K.,” said Leslie Steiner, director
of International Marketing for Johnson
& Johnson. “Canada was die first coun
try to use it in 1991. Australia and
Mexico were next, and it eventually was
used in 27 countries.”
It took the United States seven years
longer than Canada to allow sucralose
into the market.
“The FDA was given the petition 11
years ago in 1987,” said Arthur
Whitmore, the spokesman for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition at the
FDA. “We performed 110 toxicity stud
ies on animals and humans. There was
no carcinoginity or reproductive effect,
and it is fine for diabetes."
Sucralose is the only low-calorie
sweetener made from real sugar.
Now Available
Errata
An Examined Life
George Steiner
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS $25.00
“This ingriguing and thoughtful book is, and is not,
Steiner’s autobiography. Writing about his ideas comes
more naturally to him than writing about his lived
experience”. —Victoria Glendinning, The Telegraph
“A profoundly beautiful autobiographical work which is
all the more enlightening for its notes of humility and its
deference to ideas and cultural landmarks in lieu of the
customary chronicle of career and comapny.” —Brian
Phillips, Literary Review
Bull’s Head Bookshop
UNC Student Stores • 962-5060
http://www.store.unc.edu/bullshead
Tooßtnyto g£ ' Youl love their convenient
hBVe **andquaKyeenrtce!
attract art-lovers and, most importantly,
potential buyers.
“It’s a wonderful way for folks just
starting out with their art and also for
established artists,” said Welch, who
spent the past three years putting the
idea for an arts market together.
“It’s really expensive to travel to
shows, and it takes a long time to refine
art to make it sellable and so that the
community will like it,” she said.
Welch said she founded Grass Roots
Arts to provide a forum for the active
but unrecognized artistic community.
“I started it to give the local artist in
the area a way to present art to the peo
ple who live here,” she said. “We already
have a vibrant art community, but peo
ple don’t know it’s here,” she said.
Researchers changed the sugar mole
cules to intensify the sweetness. With
this change in molecules, the body fails
to recognize die substance, and it simply
passes directly through the body.
Because it is 600 times sweeter, a lit
tle bit of sucralose goes a long way.
Johnson & Johnson added dextrin and
dextrose to create bulk to the strong sub
stance and only a few extra calories.
Sucralose can replace sugar in many
different types of processed foods, like
gum and cookies. Unlike other low-calo
rie sweeteners, sucralose is easier to use
in high- temperature cooking and has a
longer shelf life.
“At very high doses of sucralose,
feeding studies showed that rats lost
weight,” Whitmore said. “But further
studies showed that at less higher doses,
but higher than those that humans
would ever get, it showed no effect.”
Sucralose could cause serious cost
competition among the other artificial
sweeteners, such as Nutrasweet and
Sweet ’N Low. A spokeswoman from
Sweet ’N Low refused to comment on
whether the product would suffer
because of the new competition.
Not everyone believes Sucralose is
such a splendid idea.
“I’m personally a proponent of nat
ural substances,” said Kylin Lee a fresh
man from Winston-Salem. “I think in
the long run natural substances are bet
ter for your body rather than something
that is engineered.’’
The Adventures of a Wrecked Car in need of Body Repair...
■■■ n-y— —mrmu- * _
BATTEN COLLISION & PAINT CENTER • 919 Harvest Dr., Durham • 683-8360
“This brings people together,
supports the local artist and
gives the community the
involvement with arts that it
wouldn’t have without this,”
■OMMNELCI
Founder of Grass Roots Arts Inc.
Several artists who will participate in
the market held a similar opinion, say
ing it was sometimes hard to find outlets
for their work.
Painter and sculptor Joe Gardner,
who has lived in Chapel Hill for three
years, said he preferred dealing directly
Lab! aims for strike with comedy
BY JIM MARTIN
ARTS 6 DIVERSIONS EDITOR
One of the last shows of the year for
the Lab! Theatre will take on one of the
hottest, most heartfelt topics ever imag
ined for today’s college students
bowling.
Well, bowling might not be thought
of as one of the
most influential
events of some
one’s life at UNC,
but the characters
and actors of
“More Fun Than
Bowling” would
beg to differ. And
they use the ele
ment of uproari
"More Fun Than
Bowling"
Saturday - 8 pm.
Sunday. Monday—
-4 pm, 8 pm
Tuesday-S pm.
Basement of Graham
Memorial Hal
Free admission
ous comedy to do so.
Written by Stephen Dietz, the play
recounts the tumultuous lives of the
Tomlinson family that works at the Dust
Bowl, a bowling alley set in the
Midwest.
Their lives, and all the events therein,
are related in some hilariously convolut
ed way to the bowling alley.
Fattier and daughter, Jake and Molly,
have been through a lot together. When
it comes to married life, Jake has been
throwing gutterballs. Both of his wives
FOOD
FROM PAGE 3
“Burgundy ala Carte Culinary
Traditions and Tradents,” a cultural and
historical treatment of the cuisine of
three leading French chefs.
Since so much of the class material,
as well as his research, takes place in
France, Ferguson has arranged for the
fall 1997 class to take a fully financed
summer trip to France, a weeklong
extension of the class. A grant from the
Arts and Sciences Foundation is financ
ing the trip.
“There are certain courses that make
more sense when in the immediate cul
ture,” he said. “I think this is one of
them.”
Ferguson said the trip was a field test
to decide if it should become a regular
part of the class.
Ferguson already has the trip planned
to the last detail. He and the 15 women
class members will fly to Paris the day
after graduation and spend seven days
touring the Burgundy province, includ
ing Vezaly, Toumus, Dijon and Roanne.
The group will tour chateaus, vine
yards, monasteries and cheese and
chocolate factories.
The students said they were shocked
when Ferguson announced they were
going to France.
: \m£mnw
- UW Captivating Clothing for the
| Contemporary Woman
Pre-Easter &
A t* Sale!
! | 1 APRIL 4-11
i — |H Vt , 20% OFF All Spring
K\ i Merchandise!
\j§ Come duck out our Bargain Tablet
I 171 e. franklin street
chapel hill • 929-0803
i — r I I I
NEWS
with the public.
“There are fairly few venues to show
here,” said Gardner, who makes Carts
for the dark” copper city skyline
sculptures with twinkling, colored lights.
“I lived in Mexico for 15 years, and I
would sell at weekly markets where I
would do my best business," he said.
“You avoid the middle-man.”
Chapel Hill resident Vicki Rhine, an
artist who makes wreaths and folk-art
figures out of freeze-dried flowers, said
buyers would pay less money for art
when it was bought directly at a market.
“I always did well at the Apple Chill,”
she said. “But I think the market idea is
terrific because there are a lot of artists
who don’t know where to go with their
art.”
have lost their fives in strange incidents
involving bowling, which is where the
play get its name. Could death really be
more fun than bowling?
Director Guy Olivieri, a junior dra
matic art major from Carrboro, said the
show could be tremendously funny but
that it also had deeper elements which
were true to life that any audience mem
ber could relate with.
“The first couple times I ran through
the script I couldn’t stop laughing,”
Olivieri said. “But when you get past all
the humor, there is a lot of family con
flict”
Olivieri said the play was perfect for
the “black box” layout of the Lab!
Theatre’s performance area in the base
ment of Graham Memorial Hall. The
ability of the performance area to dras
tically change makes it the perfect venue
for this nonchronological play.
Assistant director Melanie Ragan, a
sophomore dramatic art major from
Greensboro, agreed but added that the
play would grab the audience.
“It will definitely touch you,” Ragan
said. “No one will feel empty when they
leave.”
For Olivieri, “More Fun than
Bowling” marks the first time he has
ever directed, though he has acted in
numerous plays for Lab! and for other
“This is the most wonderful opportu
nity that has ever come out of one of my
classes at UNC,” said Kristin Lyman, a
sophomore from Boca Raton, Fla.
Sophomore Lindsay Mack of Lenoir
said the trip would be her first to
Europe.
“I never expected anything of this
sort when I signed up for the course,”
she said. “It’s the best class I have ever
taken.”
The class also takes a much smaller
field trip during the semester to appreci
ate North Carolina’s regional cuisine.
Ferguson takes the students to the
Weaver Street Market and on a tour of a
goat farm in Chatham County.
“In an area with regional cuisine like
this one, it is simply tragic not to learn
about available resources and exploit
them,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson will offer “Eats 101” again
in the upcoming fall semester and possi
bly in the spring. The 15-student semi
nar has a waiting list of 28 people.
Ferguson said one thing that made
his class distinctive was his student
focused teaching philosophy, inspired by
former UNC-system president Bill
Friday.
“I feel like Dean Smith,” he said.
“My role is to sit on the bench and call
the plays. The students are the real play
ers in this class.”
Wood-crafter John Ducker of Hurdle
Mills said Sunday’s market was one of
the few outlets he had for his tables and
cutting boards.
“I really enjoy getting out there and
talking to people,” Ducker said. “It’s
nice to have them ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over
my tables even if they don’t buy.”
Welch said the art market, like
Carrboro’s Farmers Market, would ben
efit the town as much as the merchants.
“This brings people together, sup
ports the local artist and gives the com
munity the involvement with arts that it
wouldn’t have without this,” she said.
To sell at the market, artists must live
within 50 miles of Carrboro, pay an
annual fee and be selected by Grass
Roots Arts, Welch said.
“The first couple times I ran
through the script I couldn’t
stop laughing. But when you
get past all the humor, there
is a lot of family conflict. ”
GUY OLIVIERI
Director
campus groups like the UNC Pauper
Players.
Olivieri said it was his past experience
as an actor something he said he
would still pursue heavily that pre
pared him for the tough task of directing
a show.
“For me (past acting experience) has
helped solidifying my acting methods,”
he said. “Directing is probably 10 times
more creative than acting.”
The strong cast, his faith in the qual
ity of the script, its author and a little
something extra he calls “perfect
Southern charm” are all qualities that
Olivieri said would make the show take
off for every audience member in the
usually packed “black box” of the Lab!
Theatre’s stage.
“This show called out to me that it
had to be done.”
Although fall 1997 was the first “Eats
101” class, Ferguson has been planning
the course since 1991, when he first dis
cussed the idea with Honors Program
Dean Robert Allen.
“This is my chance, 15 people at a
time, to intensify and broaden students’
awareness of food,” he said. “I was an
honors student at UNC and derived an
enormous amount from the program.
This is my chance to give back to the
program.”
Ferguson attended UNC for his bach
elor’s degree in psychology, his master’s
degree in sociology and his Ph.D. in
social psychology. He has taught at both
UNC and the University of Vermont.
But “Eats 101” is his first class since he
returned to teach after several years of
writing about food professionally.
Ferguson said he learned his appreci
ation for food from his father, a busy
publishing executive who took time out
to cook on the weekends.
Another major influence on Ferguson
has been his friend Julia Child. The two
met at Cambridge University in 1989
when they signed each other’s books
and have had a close friendship since.
“Julia is one of the main reasons I
created the course,” Ferguson said. “We
all have to carry on traditions. My goal,
much like hers, is to intensify and broad
en students’ awareness of food.”
Do you suffer with
canker sores
INSIDE your mouth?
If you now have, or frequently get, canker sores
inside your mouth, you may be eligible for a
PAID STUDY evaluating a
NEW TREATMENT. Participants must be over
18, healthy, and now have or expect to get a
painful mouth ulcer in the near future.
Call immediately for more information.
Call Susan at 996-0129.
University of North Carolina Hospitals
Baihj ®ar Brri
Companies
plan to offer
space travel
■ The cost of a space
vacation hovers around
the SIOO,OOO mark.
BY KIMBERLY GRABINER
STAFF WRITER
As technology brings the wave of the
future, weightlessness will become a
reality. For two to three minutes in
space, people can have the experience of
a lifetime.
A competition is underway among
businesses to see who will be the first to
send people into space. Two companies,
Incredible Adventures Inc. and Space
Voyages, have set Dec. 1, 2001, as the'
date for their first departures.
“One of the only destinations
remained unexplored by civilians is
space,” said Greg Gaxton, director of
sales at Incredible Adventures.
Both Incredible Adventures and
Space Voyages plan to use the same for
mula for their experiments.
The construction of space cruisers
has already begun, with each cruiser
made to hold up to six individuals. Two
pilots will be present, one as a com
mander and another as a gymnastics
leader during weightlessness who will
point out highlights throughout the trip.
Each individual will wear a flight suit
that includes padding and will receive
headgear containing virtual reality gog
gles. A camera in the headgear will
allow each person to have a personal
tape of his or her experience.
To prepare for this voyage, passen
gers will participate in a seven-day pro
gram. “It is kind of an abridged version *
of what astronauts go through,” said
Chris Ostendorf, manager of public
relations and marketing at Space
Voyages. Lectures, films and simulator
sessions are among the programs the
orientation will include.
The entire journey, during which the
plane reaches a height of 62 miles above
Earth, will take about 2 1/2 hours.
“You get out of your seat and experi
ence weightlessness,” Ostendorf said.
This once-in-a-lifetime experience
costs $98,000 per person. Individuals
might also choose the optional cancel
lation protection plan that tacks on a
non-refundable $4,000 to the price that
allows a person to receive his or her
money back within 48 hours.
People with the net worth of $1 mil
lion and up are looking into taking this
flight, Claxton said. Doctors, lawyers
and businesses have expressed interest.
“I think what you are going to see in
the next couple of years are the rich
folks and adventure-seekers,” said Eric
Stallmer, executive director at Space
Transportation Association.
The same people who were the first
to go out and buy CD players are basi
cally the same people who will pay right
now for this trip, he said.
Thirty passengers have already put
down Space Voyages’ $5,000 deposit,
Ostendorf said. NASA will not take
part in the program, but it did partici
pate in a study with the Space
Transportation Association.
The two organizations have studied
civilian space travel in the future, cover
ing issues such as technical and safety
issues. “It was endorsing the idea,”
Stallmer said.
Some risk is involved sending civil
ians into space, Stallmer added.
“I think it is why they are doing it
because a risk is involved.”