Week in ReviewThe New Fishtank In February, The Dartmouth Review reported on the downfall of Stanley Fish's superstar English Department at Duke University—and Fish's subsequent move to the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he now serves as Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Fish, who describes his new job as 'opportunistic hiring,' has lured some notable academics to his new institution. Recently, he induced the economist Deirdre McCloskey to teach at UIC this fall. A few years ago, McCloskey became a controversial figure in academe, when she decided to become a woman. Formerly known as Donald, McCloskey is currently a professor at the University of Iowa. She will spend one semester at UIC, teaching a graduate workshop entitled 'Bourgeois Virtue.' 'There is a clear understanding on my part and hers that this is preliminary,' Fish told The Chronicle of Higher Education, 'to see if we can craft something that will attract her as a permanent member of the faculty.'
The search is on for railway killer Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, who has been connected to no less than seven murders, one rape, and numerous other crimes. The suspect was accidentally turned back at the Mexican-American border early last month by the border patrol, who failed to recognize him. A recent U.S. News and World Report article, sensationally titled 'The Frantic Hunt for an Alien Killer,' quoted two FBI officials who are involved with the case. According to FBI profiler Clinton Van Zandt, an expert at getting inside the heads of the most hardened criminals, 'I think this guy kills because he likes to kill.' FBI Deputy Assistant Director David Knowlton added, 'We really want to catch this guy.' Apparently, both officials excelled at the grueling FBI training course 'Stating the Painfully Obvious.'
A child welfare activist in Oakland has asked city leaders to declare the city a 'No Spanking Zone.' In the Zone, parents will be advised to avoid disciplining their children by physical violence. San Francisco mayor Willie Brown refused to comment on whether such a law will be made in his city, where spanking remains a popular pastime for many adults.
A Claremont, New Hampshire high school committee decided last month that Nobel laureate Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, is inappropriate for freshmen and sophomores. The book will be removed from the ninth and tenth grade reading lists at Stevens High School. Joane Gaudette, mother of a ninth-grader who was assigned to read the book, complained about the story's sexual content. 'We're glad something was done,' Gaudette told Reuters. 'We thought it was an adult book.' In fact, 'the book has at least three graphic descriptions of sex that could have come right out of Playboy magazine.' The 1970 novel explores the African-American experience through the narrative of a girl who becomes pregnant by her father and loses her sanity when her child is stillborn. From now on, teachers at Stevens High must send reading lists to parents at the beginning of the school year. Parents, then, may decide if their children should be permitted to engage in discussions or complete assignments based on particular books. Ms. Gaudette is not satisfied. 'I wouldn't have had any idea about what was in the book if I just saw 'The Bluest Eye' listed,' she said. Too bad.
A recent gossip column on E! Online reports that Leonardo DiCaprio was offered the role of Anakin Skywalker (Natalie Portman's love interest) in Star Wars: Episode II. And DiCaprio turned it down. An entertainment 'insider' said the part was all DiCaprio's, but he refused it after reading the script for Episode II because it was 'so bad.' Star Wars fanatics, take note: the next Star Wars movie, the one you will camp outside for weeks to see, was beneath Leonardo DiCaprio. Meanwhile, Spike Lee took a few shots at the Episode I script. According to USA Today, Lee said that the Phantom Menace character Jar-Jar Binks is 'the science-fiction Stepin Fetchit,' referring to the emasculated African American stereotype. 'I think [Lucas] is out of touch,' said Lee. 'I guess that happens when you have more money than God.'
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to publish a book, which contains a severe indictment of President Clinton. In one chapter, Netanyahu labels Clinton the 'International Swindler.' The book records that, at a meeting with Clinton in September 1998, Netanyahu agreed to attend the Wye Plantation summit with Yasser Arafat on the condition that Clinton release the spy Jonathan Pollard. Clinton, says Netanyahu and his advisors, agreed to the condition. 'Bibi went to Wye knowing that Clinton would immediately release Pollard with the signing of the agreement with the Palestinians,' one Netanyahu advisor told Yediot Achranot, an Israeli newspaper . Reportedly, Clinton discussed the Pollard issue many times with the prime minister at the Wye conference. Upon the conclusion of the summit, however, after the signing ceremony had been arranged—at 5:00am, no less—Clinton put his arm on Netanyahu's shoulder and took him aside. 'Netanyahu turned pale, and Clinton hugged him,' reports one eyewitness. The President would not fulfill his pledge to release Pollard, Netanyahu explained to his advisors. Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and other advisors urged Netanyahu to refuse to sign the agreement. 'We were shocked,' reports one Netanyahu advisor. 'We thought that Bibi should go back to Clinton and tell him: 'if that is the case then there is no agreement with the Palestinians. You lied to me.' 'Our problem was that we did not want to find ourselves again in the terrible situation that both in Israel and the world Netanyahu would be presented as a liar, and would not talk at all about the real liar.' This seems to be a chronic problem with the President, who chastised Jennifer Flowers as a liar before conceding his own dishonesty. Later he claimed that Monica Lewinsky was lying, before he ultimately confessed, and people started talking about 'the real liar.' Sex is just sex, sure. But the prime minister of a U.S. ally seems entitled to better treatment than the President's college intern sex toy. We can just see Eleanor Clift on TV: 'Well, of course he lied to win concessions from the Israelis. Can you really blame him for that? Everyone lies when it comes to diplomacy.'
Congratulations to the Coed, Fraternity, and Sorority Council's recently elected summer officers. Jojo Adofo-Mensah '01, a brother of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, was elected President. Alex Wilson '01, brother of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, was chosen as Vice-President. Both officers have made it their goal of this summer term to bring Greek and non-Greek students together in light of the administrations continued efforts to do the opposite with their 'vision.' Other officers include Kathleen Heist '01 of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, Treasurer; Eric Etu '01 of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Secretary; Lindsay Reich '01 of Sigma Delta sorority, Programming Liaison; Andy Hay '01 of Zeta Psi fraternity, another Programming Liaison; and Brad Crevier '01 of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, Events Manager. Our advice for the new CFSC execs: less capitulation, more student advocacy.
San Francisco's mayor Willie Brown is fed up—not with crime in Chinatown, not with pollution in the bay, not even with the continual comparisons between himself and Marion Barry. Brown is sick and tired of hearing that well-worn excuse people give when haggled by street beggars: 'Sorry, I'm all out of change.' Brown recently proposed that the Golden City's panhandlers be given credit card machines, to allow kind-hearted people other donation options. It is currently unclear whether the credit card companies will waive the merchant fees. Why do these things always happen in San Francisco?
'We both passed,' reported Sergei Khrushchev as he and his wife exited the Providence, Rhode Island office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service on June 21. Khrushchev answered 19 questions correctly, out of 20, on his U.S. citizenship test. His wife, Valentina Golenko, got all of them right. On July 12, the Khrushchevs will take an oath of loyalty to United States. 'Our heart is here. We will be good citizens,' said Khrushchev—a far cry from the 'We will bury you,' famously intoned by his father, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. As the younger Khrushchev observed, 'The world has changed.' Sergei Khrushchev worked as an engineer during the Cold War and built rockets that were pointed at the West. He moved to the United States in 1991, arriving first as a visiting professor. Khrushchev chose to stay in the U.S. because, he says, he liked the freedom he found here. Khrushchev currently teaches at Brown University. The Khrushchevs live on a ranch in a suburb of Providence. There's a Buick in their driveway.
After calling Brandeis University's student senate a bunch of social climbers who are completely uninterested in the welfare of the student body, Bryan Rudnick, publisher of the school's conservative Freedom Magazine, has been challenged to a fistfight and seen hundreds of copies of his magazine destroyed. Now, the senate is taking it a step further by voting to cut the magazine's funding. According to one irate senator, 'This has nothing to do with freedom of speech.' The funds may be used to establish a Brandeis Pravda on campus in the coming year.
Warner Bros. and Disney have them. So does the Hard Rock Cafe. The next company to enter the lucrative enterprise of theme stores isn't even a company—it's the Vatican. A Papal store will soon open in New York—selling sheets, toothbrushes, and other items bearing John Paul II's name and likeness as well as, presumably, his blessing. According to Newsweek, the Church plans to eventually have 400 stores spread across the globe. The Vatican's licensing chief boasts, 'There's no better brand in the world.' Will the cross batter the swoosh? Only time will tell.
President Clinton has given James Hormel, a founder of the homosexual advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, a recess appointment to serve as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. Gary Bauer, who has labeled Hormel a 'radical homosexual activist,' charged that 'The things that make James Hormel controversial deserve to be debated and voted on. But the President has short-circuited an important process in favor of political expediency.' What makes James Hormel controversial includes some anti-Christian materials published by the Human Rights Campaign; HRC's newsletter regularly attacks the Christian Coalition as a 'hate group' and the Promise Keepers as a 'political religious extremist group.' What's more, the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Main Library reportedly contains pornography and materials published by the National Man-Boy Love Association, which advocates pedophilia (Hormel denies that he has any control over which materials are displayed at the Hormel Center). Of particular concern, however, is Hormel's public support of the 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,' a performance group of homosexual drag queens dressed as nuns, who mock Christianity and the Catholic Church. Appointing Hormel the chief U.S. representative in Luxembourg, a country that is 97 percent Catholic, seems most unwise. But the appointment wasn't somehow illegitimate simply because it was made during a congressional recess. If Bauer is protesting Clinton's avoidance of the legislative process, will he also now denounce Ronald Reagan, who made almost five times as many recess appointments as Clinton has yet? Perhaps the Congress should have debated Hormel's appointment when they had the chance. In any event, Hormel has disclosed that activist Timothy Wu will accompany him to Luxembourg as his partner and play 'a significant role.'
Jeffery Toobin reports in the current New Yorker that President Clinton, like his wife Hillary, may be eyeing a seat in the Senate when the rollercoaster that is the Clinton Presidency comes to end and he's ushered out the door of the White House. Reportedly, Clinton is considering running against incumbent senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas in the 2002 elections. Hutchinson, who was elected in 1996, voted to convict Clinton in the impeachment trial. Further, Hutchinson's brother, Asa, was among the House managers who prosecuted Clinton. Clinton would be only the second President to spend his political twilight in the senate, the first being Andrew Johnson, who was also impeached, and left the White House to serve as a senator for 5 months before his death. Johnson, though, never faced the prospect of his wife having seniority over him in the Senate.
Jenny Loell was unimpressed with the bouquet of flowers that her husband bought for her. So unimpressed, in fact, that after arguing with him about their price, she stabbed him in the back with a 13-inch knife. Jenny has just been sentenced to six months in prison for felony battery. Her attorney claims that the couple wants to remain together. 'They want to work on their marriage,' he said. 'Both are going to anger awareness classes.' What a cute couple.
How should we cope with the rising tide of violence that increasingly plagues our schools today? Should we teach children about morals and values? Censor movie violence? Make it harder to buy guns? According to film director Spike Lee, it would be well worth the bullet if somebody would just shoot famous actor and NRA President Charlton Heston. 'I was only joking,' claims Lee, whose remark puzzled and offended many.
On Page 7 of the June 30 edition of the thoroughly useless Daily Dartmouth, there is a self-promotional advertisement that boasts of '200 Years of Independent Journalism.' We at The Dartmouth Review take this to be high farce: that a newspaper based in Robinson Hall, and which prints on Dartmouth College's own presses, could be considered 'independent.' But maybe the ad is simply indicative of the Daily D's penchant for word games. After all, they never specified exactly what it is that they are independent from.
On June 22, Robert Downey Jr., the popular actor/addict, pleaded guilty to violating his probation by refusing a drug test. As a result, the fallen star will likely face more time behind bars, and not the kind where everybody knows your name. According to his attorney, Peter Knecht, 'this is what we were expecting and wanted to happen.' Knecht is being considered for a post on the Clinton legal defense team.
Tiger Electronics is preparing to unleash a Spanish-speaking Furby to the children of Mexico in an attempt to launch the popular toy into the world market. Furby, last Christmas's most desired gift in the U.S., is being marketed only to the small percentage of the Mexican populace who can afford such luxuries. Analysts expect that Furby will unseat the country's current best-selling toy, Elmo Cosquillitas. |
Article ToolsRelated Articles· Fitz and Schul Defeat Sobriety and Bad Cinema · Fitz and Schul Defeat Sobriety and Bad Cinema: The Story of F. Scott Fitzgerald at Winter Carnival · Wright to Step Down in June 2009 · Winter Carnival: The History
Advertisement  Advertisement |
|
|
Copyright © 1996-2008 The Dartmouth Review |
||