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Lethem s vibrancy
enlivens ‘Cartoons’
BY PHILIP MCFEE
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Oh, to be a kid again.
Halloween has just passed,
Christmas is on the way, and people
just want to go back.
But it’s painfully obvious you can’t.
You’ve been assigned, assessed and
otherwise assisted into adulthood
youth isn’t an option anymore.
Nostalgia: It’s a way of life.
New York novelist Jonathan
Lethem is one of a school of writ
ers who have recently achieved suc
cess via reversion. Michael Chabon,
Dave Eggers and
Lethem have all
recently departed
from literary high
mindedness to
embrace graphic
novels, genre fic-
REQUIRED
READING
A bi-monthly series
spotlighting new
literary releases
and industry trends
byA&E Editor
Philip McFee
tion and fun in general. It’s good to
see that fella again.
The once-everyman Eggers has
embraced the awkward pretense
that once drove him, launching him
into the atmosphere of literary acces
sibility. Chabon’s efforts fluctuate
between penning quips for superhe
roes and waxing intellectual on the
high-falutin’ aspects of comics.
Lethem stands at a point in his
career where his prose has become
mature, yet his energies are still
raw and uncommitted. “Motherless
Brooklyn” put him on the stage, and
his follow-up, “Fortress of Solitude,”
was one hell of a solo.
So, when a young writer from the
world’s most varied, neurotic city
throws his ample imagination in
reverse, the results are gold.
His latest, “Men and Cartoons”
(Doubleday, $19.95), is a slim col
lection of left-field stories on topics
ranging from superhero emulators
to fatalist talking sheep.
“The Vision,” his inaugural story,
concerns the exploits of a man in his
neighbor’s brownstone in the Big
Apple. His neighbor, a childhood
New E. coli cases prompt
concerns from officials
BY JORGE TELLEZ
STAFF WRITER .
I\vo more people in Mecklenburg
County who have been diagnosed
with E. coli bacteria have called
into question the supposition that
the outbreak originated at the N.C.
State Fair’s petting zoo.
As of Thursday, the state
Department of Health and Human
Services had confirmed 24 cases of
E. coli across the state, most of them
in people who had attended the fair.
“We have no confirmation that
these cases have been originated
at the State Fair,” said Brian Long,
public affairs director for the N.C.
Department of Agriculture. “All the
animals at the fair are checked by
certified veterinarians.”
But Long recognizes that the
animals could have been infected
with E. coli before they displayed
any signs of being sick.
“We have hand-sanitizing sta
tions at the petting zoos or where
people could have contact with
animals. We try to educate people
about the hygiene at the fair.”
Jeff Engel, state epidemiologist,
said there is not much the state can
do if the bacterial infection origi
nated at the State Fair. More than
836,000 people attended the event
from Oct. 15 to Oct. 24.
Dr. Mary Covington, UNC
Student Health Services medical
director, said there have been no
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BOOKREVIEW
JONATHAN LETHEM
MEN AND CARTOONS
acquaintance of his, once masquer
aded around as a comic book char
acter. Just wait
In “The Dystopianist, Thinking of
His Rival, Is Interrupted by a Knock
on the Door,” Lethem paints a para
noid scene that comes to climax with
the aforementioned suicidal ewe.
His stories, carefully restrained
in their zaniness, run the gamut of
subject materials —a return to his
fantasy roots in “Access Fantasy,” a
comic artist coping with his memory
in “Planet Big Zero.”
Lethem’s deadpan lends a distinct
humanity to his oddball subjects, as
in “Super Goat Man,” a tale of a medi
ocre superhero's faltering. Lethem’s
touch is light, blending conventional
prose with the inherent absurdity of
fantasy writing “My junior year at
Corcoran College, in Corcoran, New
Hampshire, Super Goat Man was
brought in to fill the Walt Whitman
Chair in the Humanities.”
For a brief collection, Lethem
holds up his end, lending his ironic
eye and emotional acuity to each
piece. It’s a slight offering, but it’s
been a year of variety, from William
Vollmann’s 3,000-plus page “Rising
Up and Rising Down” to Nicholson
Baker’s sneeze “Checkpoint.”
Lethem should be commended,
though, for switching gears from
urban epic to light but fashionable
short fiction.
His pieces are, as promised, about
“Men and Cartoons,” where the
absurd comes home for dinner and
mania mixes with mundanity.
And they’re fun —and, for a hot
author with a hot subject, a little
guilt-free pleasure is the best you
can ask for.
Contact theA&E Editor
at artsdesk@ unc.edu.
reports of E. coli in Orange County.
“Anyone can get it, but the dis
ease affects children and elderly
the most,” she said.
E. coli is a highly contagious
disease transmitted, hy-consuming
contaminated food or having con
tact with infected animal feces. The
symptoms include bloody diarrhea,
sometimes accompanied by abdom
inal cramps, nausea and vomiting.
North Carolina usually sees less
than 100 cases of E. coli per year.
But in November 2001, Robeson
County experienced a large E. coli
outbreak, with more than 200 cases
reported. Investigations concluded
that the outbreak was caused by
butter made for a school fair.
Experts recommend that when
symptoms are detected on children,
parents should not send them to
school or day care in order to pre
vent the spread of the disease.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk @ unc.edu.
11 1,11111111,1
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Historic drama premieres today
‘Forest’ centers on
Romanian strife
BY JIM WALSH
ASSISTANT ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Combining a range of under
graduate students and faculty
from different disciplines, a play
opening today in the Center for
Dramatic Art sheds new light on
educational drama
“Mad Forest,” written by British
playwright Caryl Churchill,
explores the lives of two families
living during the Romanian revo
lution 0f1989.
Director Julie Fishell, who is also
a faculty adviser in the Department
of Dramatic Art, said the cast talk
ed about the history of the revolu
tion throughout the project.
“As an educator I felt a mission
to connect story telling and story
tellers,” she said.
The play part fact, part his
torical fiction is divided into
three sections. In one, the actors
recreate interviews with Romanian
citizens, employing native dialects
and diction.
“The dialect has been kind of
hard to learn,” said senior Tim
Matson, who, like the rest of the
cast, plays multiple characters in the
show. “Speaking Romanian is hard
because we have no basis for it”
To aid in rehearsing the lan
guage, the cast enlisted the help
of native Romanian Nicolae
Harsanyi, gifts and exchanges spe
cialist at Davis Library. Harsanyi
recorded pronunciation guides
for students and spoke with them
about his firsthand knowledge of
Scholarship organization to hold fund-raiser
BYALI GRAY
STAFF WRITER
Attending high school might
seem natural to students in Chapel
Hill, but to those in many less for
tunate countries, that concept
would be completely foreign with
out financial support.
To make education a reality for
these children, a group of UNC stu
dents banded together nine years
ago to form Students for Students
International, a completely student
run scholarship organization.
In the past six years, the group
has paid for 67 deserving scholars
m Zimbabwe to attend top board
ing schools because of the country’s
lack of public education.
At 7 p.m. tonight, S4SI will host
its first annual dinner auction at
the Carolina Club in the George
Watts Hill Alumni Center to raise
money for its scholars.
“Everybody’s working together
for the auction,” said senior Claire
Shoolin, co-director of the Tanzania
Education Project for S4SI.
“We tend to be a pretty collabora
tive group.”
Woody Durham will serve as
the emcee for the auction, which
—M—
THIS WEEKEND AT CAROLINA
Saturday, November 6
Football vs. Virginia Tech
Noon - Kenan Stadium
Only Students Admitted FREE w/ID!
Men’s & Women’s Swimming vs. Virginia Tech
1 lam - Koury Natatorium
Students & Faculty Admitted FREE w/ID!
Men’s Swimming vs. Minnesota
spm - Koury Natatorium
Students & Faculty Admitted FREE w/ID!
Women’s Tennis
UNC Kitty Harrison Invitational
All Day - Cone Kenfield Tennis Center
Students & Faculty Admitted FREE w/ID!
Sunday, November 7
Women’s Tennis
UNC Kitty Harrison Invitational
All Day - Cone Kenfield Tennis Center
Students & Faculty Admitted FREE w/ID!
SPORTS SHORTS
News
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DTH/BRADY NASH
Members of the cast of Studio 3's "Mad Forest" perform during a dress rehearsal in the Center for Dramatic Arts
on Thursday night. The play explores the lives of two families living during the Romanian revolution of 1989.
the conflict
“I was out in the streets,” he said.
“I was one of the revolutionaries.
Watching their performances in the
rehearsals, it was not an unpleas
ant experience. It brought me back
into a historical moment.”
Robert Jenkins, director of the
Center for Slavic, Eurasian and
East European Studies, also served
as an adviser for the production,
providing the cast with more his-
will also feature an appearance
by UNC men’s basketball coach
Roy Williams and performances
by campus a cappella groups. The
event is expected to attract between
120 and 150 people.
“We hope to raise $50,000,” said
sophomore Maile Lesica, co-direc
tor of fund raising. “Hopefully, it
will be even bigger next year.”
The 60 items on the auction block
include LASIKeye surgery, trips to
New York City and Los Angeles, a
puppy and children’s clinics with
varsity athletes. Tickets are S4O per
person or $75 per couple.
“I’m just so passionate about
this cause,” said senior Candice
Woodcock, S4SI executive director.
After spending a summer
doing service projects in Kenya,
Woodcock said she was inspired to
become involved in the program.
“That experience changed my life,”
she said. “I saw how important (edu
cation) was and how it could really
change someone’s position in life.”
When the program started, the
students focused on Zimbabwe
and chose recipients based on
financial need and merit. Because
of recent political unrest in
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2004
torical background.
The collaborative elements
allowed actors to combine exten
sive knowledge of the historical
situation with their own realities,
said senior Katie Cunningham, who
produced and acted in the show.
“There is an experience that takes
place between us as we act and the
museum that takes place,” she said.
“Mad Forest” examines an event
that is still fresh in many minds.
Zimbabwe, the group decided to
implement new scholarships for
girls in Tanzania.
“We decided to choose only
girls because Tanzania is 99.9 per
cent Muslim, and only one in 13
high school graduates is female,”
Woodcock said.
Tanzania is also subject to polyg
amy and patriarchy. Woodcock
said if a family cannot afford to
educate all of their children, the
parents only will educate the boys
because of limited funds.
Several group members spent
their summers traveling and inter
viewing applicants in Tanzania as
part of the selection process for
scholarship recipients.
“Many countries in Africa are in
such a bad state, but the students
we talk to are so eager,” Shoolin
said. “We’re looking for women who
have the power to change things.”
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Fishell said the story, little more
than a decade old, had personal
significance for her. She said stu
dents will learn from the story
because of the human nature of
the performance.
“Geographically it’s really
far removed,” Matson said.
“Chronologically it’s really close.”
Contact thcA&E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
To raise money for scholarships,
the organization holds events such
as charity nights at Top of the Hill
restaurant, a pillow fight in the Pit
and the Adopt-a-Scholar program.
S4SI members are focused on
growth within the program. Lesica
said they are hoping to make the
auction an annual event that will
add significantly to their ability to
fund students around the world.
They also are working to spread
the program to other universities
within the United States. Plans
are being made to expand to Duke
University and Harvard University
with hopes to start scholarships in
Latin America, Lesica said.
“Hopefully in the next five to 10
years, we’ll really get the organiza
tion to be a global thing.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
7