CAPTIMES, April 23, 1996 From the Desk of The Co-Editors As the first two Co-Editors of the Cap Times in a long history of Editors, we would like to thank the people who have supported us whole-heartedly through our year-long joint ven- Specifically, Dr. Beth Haller, Dr. William Mahar, Christine Brooks, Jody Jacobs, Dr. Linda Ross, Dr. Theodora Graham, Steve Hevner, Nancy Le ister, Miriam Turpack, Ann Mease, Kelley Thomas, Wendy Hess, Mary Angelo, Jim Miller, Duane Brooks, John Porter, and Frank Di vonzo Our special thanks to WPSH manager, Chris McCorkel, who offered us laughter and per spective in our darkest hours at 3 a.m. and escorts to our cars at any hour of the night. Last, but not least, we owe it to our faithful other halves, Cameron Hess and Michael Roth, for their understanding and continual support of our dream. Our dream was to resurrect the Cap Times and transform it back into a newspaper that the PSH community looked forward to reading. Despite our critics, we feel that we have achieved our goal. For every 1,500 copies that we printed, somebody picked up over 1,300 of them each month. This means a lot to us and to the entire PSH community- staff, faculty, students and the communications program. A student newspaper is essential to any college campus, without it there would be no student voice. Knowing that makes all of our production days beginning at 8 a.m. and almost always leading into 6 a.m. the next day worth it. The existence of the Cap Times gave us the invaluable opportunity of practicing every thing we learned in four years of college and teaching ourselves all the rest that will undoubt edly give us a tremendous advantage in the "real world." This opportunity should be a given part of every communication major's education at PSH. We would hope and pray and have done everything administratively possible to ensure that every future communication major is given the same opportunity. At the same time, we have to be honest and tell anyone who cares enough to read this that the fight we had to go through to demand our rights to produce a newspaper should not be a part of the college experience at a university as reputable as PSU. We paid a lot of money out of our own pockets to get a Penn State education. The practi - cal experience that a student newspaper offers cannot be replaced by any classroom learning. The time that we spent at SGA meetings last semester could have been much more effectively used to produce a newspaper. Many people take foregranted the time and dedication involved in putting out a newspa per. With each of us working at least 40 hours a week at internships and jobs, we still found over 20 hours each week to devote to the Cap Times. Even if nobody else can ever appreciate this effort, we have learned and grown from this experience in a way that nobody can ever take away from us. Part of our efforts have been rewarded by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers' Association Foundation. The Cap Times, Amy Fleagle (previous editor) and ourselves, won sec ond place, Best support of Freedom of Information issues. We must thank Dan Zackus for giving us the extra motivation to write the editorials that earned us this award. Although we had serious disagreements with Dan throughout the year, the controversy between us created a newspaper that a lot of people read. We would 1 ike to congratulate Dan and all the other dedicated club members who received awards at the PSH Awards Ceremony on April 19. All of those people made this col lege what it was for the last two years. The PSH community may not have always appreciated or agreed with everything those leaders did, but unless you speak out, your vice will never be heard. For all those people who have complained about PSH, we only have one thing to say - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Get involved.! Make a difference! You're paying for a Penn State education, so demand the best. Demand quality and quantity for your dollar. We can guarantee if you tell somebody, somebody who counts will 1 is - ten. That's why you're here and that's what you deserve. Hey, you only go through life once and college once, so regardless of your age, major or location - you matter. Without paying students, there would be no Penn State. Think about it! We wish the best of luck to the very qualified new editor, Jody Jacobs and her future staff. Look out PSH because she won't settle for an thing but the best ! I 'X I ` AAN ' j-Jl)k "Birdcage" highly recommended Homophobics may learn understanding and respect By Miriam Turpack Staff Reporter "The Birdcage" i s an American version of the movie "La Cage Aux Follies" an outrageous French comedy "The Birdcage" is a brilliant comedy which combines great talents such as Robin Williams (Armand Goldman) and Nathan Lane (Albert). These two characters are gay men sharing a long term relationship, which revolves around every aspect of their 1 ives and careers, including the raising of Armand's son Val (Dan Futterman). relationship is one that most of us would consider strong and loving. This relationship is then put through the test when Val announces that he is engaged and wants to get mar ried to the daughter of an ultra conservative U.S. Senator Meanwhile, Senator Keeley, played by Gene Hackman, is facing his own problems when one of his right-wing allies is found dead on top of an under age prostitute. His wife, played by Dianne Wiest, then suggests that maybe they should go visit their future in-laws and announce the wedding to the press and therefore taking the focus off the scandal However, the senator's daugh ter, played by Calista Flockhart, has not told her parents that the couple they are about to visit are actually gay men. She leaves them with the impression that they are a prestigious heterosexu al couple, telling them that one is a housewife and the other a Swiss ambassador. Because of the lies, Val asks his father to take all the statues of nude men out of the apartment and all the Their overdone furniture. He also asks his father if Albert could leave, just for one night while the senator is in town. However, that is easier said than done Albert, who has helped raise Val, is hurt by the request. He then tries to act I ike Val's uncle, but instead becomes his mother. The antics between Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are humorous and side splitting funny. The gay ARTS & CULTURE housemaid Agador, (Hand Azaria), turns butler when the senator arrives. He is a very jocular character with lots of great one liners. This movie makes fun of our overly conservative society. It shows gay people as humans with much of the same problems we all face. However, they are forced to change in order to conform to what society deems as normal Their own sense of humanness is overruled and they are made to become something they are not to make total strangers happy. This is what our society expects from the gay commu nity. Society doesn't care what gays want to do as long as they keep it in the c loset. They don't want to see them nor hear their issues because many in society feel that they are not normal. This movie shows a happy and loving couple with a long lasting relationship. And, because it is comedy, this movie lets most homo- phobic people see gay men in a new light, maybe even in a more understanding light. Rita Moreno appeared locally promoting hope and perserverance By Miriam Turpack Staff Reporter An evening with Rita Moreno at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on March 21, proved to be a very eloquent and entertaining evening, but more importantly it was one that spoke of hope and perse- verance Moreno was born in Humacao, a small town in Puerto Rico. At the age of five, Moreno, then called Dolores Alverio, came to New York with her mother. She started dance lessons at the age of six and began her career in show business at the young age of 13. At the age of 17 a talent scout arranged for her to meet Louis B. Mayer where she s igned a contract with MGM that was quickly canceled later that year. Moreno said that this was the hardest thing that had ever happened to her. She felt that her life was over at the young age of 17. They just didn't know what to do with her, Moreno said. They tried to cast her in different parts, but couldn't quite fit her in because of her curly hair and olive colored skin; so after some months with MGM they let her go. Roles for Latinos have improved, but the door is still ajar form many Latinos, Moreno said. Roles are still very stereotyped, the Spanish maid with broken English, the Mexican refugee, the hot tem pered crazy Latin woman, or the Latin man portrayed as factory worker or field crop picker. She said television, is the worst culprit when per petuating these stereotypes. Why can't we be lawyers or Pop some microwave popcorn and start Copycat rolling on the VCR at home By Wendy Hess Contributor New on Video Copycat. Directed by Jon Arnie! Sigoumey Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, Harry Connick, Jr. 1993 123 min utes. Thriller, Warner (Distributor) Copycat is a thriller that turned me into one big scaredy.cat. Director Jon Amiel has gotten into the psyche of a mad-man who i s not only committing serial murders, but is modeling them after same of the most notorious mass murderers in history: the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer. Actually there are two sicko's in the movie, one who is committing the murders, played by Dermont Mulroney, and one who is orchestrating the madness from prison, Darryl Cullurn, played by real-1 ife crooner, Harry Connick Jr. Connick, better known for his handsome voice and face, steals the show and is doctors? Moreno said, we can be as duplicitous as any politician We, as a Hispanic community, should act as a unified force, Moreno said, and band these programs that insist on portraying Latin men and women in these stereo typical images. If we would all write a letter to these networks that produce these programs we would see a change, Moreno said. But our Latin commu- nity does not come together like the B lack community does. They have gotten results, Moreno said, because they have worked as one. We can not let those negative images determine who the rest of us are, she said. She knows that her light skin and anglo features helped her get into Hollywood, she said. But she also said that her diction and the way she presents herself to others have also helped. Language is very important Moreno said and we Latin people should learn the lan guage of the land. We can't expect to communicate in an intelligent way i f we can't understand each other, she said. Language i s a tool, Moreno said. It is an impor - tant and central part of our lives and we must learn how to utilize it properly. How we speak determines who we are, she said, and how others see you. She said that she is not saying that we should give up our own language, but that we should learn the language of the land so that we may better ourselves and commu nities. We must learn how to leave the past in the past, frighteningly believable as a bad guy with scuzz-ball drawl, prophylactic teeth and shock of red hair. His char- acter is incarcerated after trying to kill Sigourney Weaver's character, a special - ist in the field of serial killers after she gives a speech at a San Francisco col- lege. His attempt fails he gets caught, but never forgets how much he'd 1 ike to see her dead. After her ordeal, Weaver's character turns into an agoraphobic/ alcoholic/pill-popper, whose only contact with the world is through her e-mail buddies, one of whom turns out to be a disciple of Cullum's. She does get the papers of course, and suspects that Cullum is out of prison after seeing the recent barrage of murders, and calls the cops to tell them he's on the loose. Holly Hunter plays one of the cops who tries to convince Weaver's character Moreno said and 1 ive in the future. "Listen to good speak ers on tapes and increase your vocabulary because the moment we can't communicate is the moment we become frustrated and the fist then takes its place," Moreno said. "The end of language is the beginning of violence." The problem with today's society is that we al l want to be noticed, so we pull ourselves away from everyone else in order to be noticed. This is very dangerous, she said. By doing this we are pulling away from society and alienating ourselves. If we want race relations to better, we must pull together, Moreno said, and try to better under stand each other mutually. Pulling away will only create confusion and feelings of isolation which causes more frustration and anger, Moreno said. Only together can we make race no longer an issue. She said that having talent is not enough. To have longevity one must study to sharpen skills. Even when someone says you can't do it, Moreno said, you must con tinue. Perseverance, at no matter what you do, will get you were you want to go. When she was let go from MGM she could have given up, Moreno said, but she didn't. "Perseverance and per- sistence, never give up," she said. Moreno has gone on to become the only women to have won all four of the most prestigious show business awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Tony, and the Grammy. that Cullum is still in prison, but that they need her help in solving the crimes. For fear of her sanity, Weaver's char- acter refuses, until it looks like she may be the next vic- Scene after hand wrenching scene climaxes when Weaver's character i s kidnapped and the copycat killer p lays out every detai 1 of her ordeal with Cullum. Hunter's character i s faced with her own faults and weaknesses that play a cru- cial part the deciding out- come in the final scenes. Though violent in sub- ject matter, the movie is not extremely gory. Going against the recent trend where directors feel the need to show everything, Amiel has at least the good sense to "cut" before the cut. Copycat is good and scary well- directed and well-acted. And you can watch the whole thing without having to cover your
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