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(11/04/93 10:00am)
Opening tonight, Catharsis: An Emotional Enema, is a varied collection of a cappella sound. The show is a joint venture between Chord on Blues, an all-male a cappella group, and the all-female a cappella group Quaker Notes. "This show will be more upbeat than past shows," said College Senior Dave Ragsdale, president of Chord on Blues. "We are including faster material." Quaker Notes is the oldest a cappella group on campus, according to Wharton Junior Chris Park, the group's business manager. The group was founded in 1979. The combination of the two groups is a fall tradition that began "as far back as we can remember," said Park. "Basically, you get more a cappella for the same amount of money," Ragsdale explained. Quaker Notes will perform an "eclectic mixture" of material, according to College Junior Ann Roderer. Expect mostly modern rock with a mix of "'70s stuff." New songs will include covers by Pete Townshend, Kate Bush and the Cranberries. Chord on Blues will expand its selection as well. Ragsdale said the new songs will include songs by Matthew Sweet, Pearl Jam, Living Color and Seal. There are a total of five new songs along with their "old favorites" including a jazz, Motown, rock and roll and pop "repertoire." "While material-wise the two shows are the same," Ragsdale said, "the shows will be different in the sense of atmosphere. Thursday's show will be more intimate, while Saturday's will be a large auditorium." Chord on Blues will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and will be recording a 10th anniversary CD, due out this spring. The album will include new material from the upcoming show as well as old. The groups will be performing tonight at 8 at Kelly and Cohen Restaurant and on Saturday night at 7:30 at Dunlop Auditorium. Tickets are $5 and are on sale on Locust Walk.
(10/29/93 9:00am)
Four million and counting. Van Pelt Library dedicated its four millionth book, and three others, at a ceremony in the library's Esther and Philip Klein Lounge last night. "While libraries are regarded in size, we can't have everything," Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Paul Mosher said. "But being selective is possible. We hope we have the four million best and most selective books in the country." The event, which also served as a rededication of the Klein Lounge, focused on the importance of books and libraries in modern society. "I'm rather stunned at this event," said Interim President Claire Fagin. "This event renews one's faith in the written word, that it's still so meaningful." Fagin offered her views on books, libraries and the excitement the freshman class exhibited in her Frankenstein seminar during the Freshman Reading Project. Her remarks concentrated on the importance of supporting Van Pelt and libraries in general. "What a library means to me," Fagin said, "is the losing of myself and the enhancement of myself and individuality." Several rare and unique books were presented to the library as part of the celebration. Joseph Glossberg, a member of the library's Board of Overseers, presented an early 15th century, three -volume novel by Jean de Gerson to Michael Ryan, director of Special Collections of Van Pelt, on behalf of the Overseers. "The importance of this novel lies in its selectivity," Ryan said. He said the selections, such as this work by the chancellor of the University of Paris, add to the luster of the entire library and to the University's existing collection of medieval works. Also presented was Let The Sea Make a Noise: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur. The book, written by Walter McDougall, director of the University's International Relations program, will join the library's collection of books by current faculty members, said Hyde. "While the Penn Bookstore sells 500 titles by Penn faculty," remarked Hyde, "there are many more unaccounted for." President Emeritus Martin Meyerson presented the final book. Jurgen and the Censors, he said, is a personal favorite and was originally a gift from his wife on his birthday. The book is appropriate considering what the University has gone through in the past year, he added. Meyerson ended the affair with a quote from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, stating that "freedom for the thought we hate" is the core of the Constitution.
(10/27/93 9:00am)
While most people know about Reginald Denny, author Mike Davis said, not many have heard of Mark Garcia, a 15 year-old boy accidentally shot by police during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Garcia was one of many unknown victims of the tumultuous riots and, more generally, of Los Angeles' growing urban problems, Davis said during a speech Monday night. Davis, author of City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, delivered the 9th Annual Urban Studies Lecture, titled "Who Killed Los Angeles." Davis began his lecture with a film that showed 13- to 16 year-old members of a gang displaying their gun wounds for the camera. The film set the tone for the lecture, which was not about the riots themselves, but rather the city's overall "degeneration" since the 1965 Watts Riots. The 1992 riots were not the cause, Davis argued, but the effect of years of neglect which the people and the city have received. The media, he said, has reported the situation backwards. Davis cited as an example how the networks pointed out the food lines after the riots, but neglected to present the "underlying hunger that caused the riots in the first place." Another misrepresentation of the media was to present the riots as one event, he said. Davis said the events in L.A. comprised three separate rebellions: the events of South Central L.A., the looting of black businesses outside the city limits in areas such as Compton and San Bernadino and the unrest in west downtown L.A. Davis focused on west downtown L.A., stressing the disparity between the problems such as homelessness and urban blight, and the few new office buildings that have been erected in the last 10 years. The first slide of the presentation was of a temporary encampment of homeless people in the foreground with large buildings rising in the background. Instead of improving the area geared towards the already present working class, Davis said, the government and developers are wasting millions of dollars trying to lure businesses and members of the upper class. Davis and his students studied a block in the MacArthur Park District, once dominated by aristocrats and now one of the most dangerous 12 areas in the United States. They found the tenement buildings on the block were owned by white people, with names ending in "the third." "It's easy to be a slum lord in L.A.," said Davis, "with management companies to do the dirty work." While owners receive large surpluses, he said, nothing was being done to improve the tenants' quality of life. The lecture was highlighted by another short film about police brutality in L.A. The film was an account of a march by janitors who clashed with police in full riot gear. Throughout his lecture, Davis pleaded for the people of L.A. In every instance and account, he went back to talking about the community, about the "hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their foothold in the sweatshop economy." "He laid out very well how the last 12 years, the policies of Reagan/Bush destroyed my hometown," said History graduate student Larry Goldsmith. "I don't see any hope for the future in either of the major parties. The hope lies in the people – the tenants and gangs – organizing social services and education." Asked if there was any hope for the future of L.A., Davis said change will have to come from the people rather than from the government.
(09/24/93 9:00am)
With a plea on behalf of abandoned cats, Michael Boccacino opened the Pennsylvania Abandoned Animal Rescue League's meeting last night. Boccacino, the league's president, explained to the 10 or so people at the meeting that the problem stems from the repeated moving of students year-in and year-out. Students obtain cats during the year, but upon leaving school they dump the cats rather than take them to a shelter, he said. He also listed the low-income population as part of the problem. The league catches stray cats and takes them to the Morris Shelter in Center City. This time-consuming process, Boccacino said, involves feeding the cats continuously until a rapport is established, followed by trapping the animal. College sophomore Sandy Villabon expressed an interest in expanding the league's activities, adding that the group's small size prevents it from doing so. The focus of the meeting was a slide show, with each slide picturing a different cat that had a story of its own. Boccacino described finding a stray cat that lived outside an off-campus house. He asked a student who lived nearby to help him catch and transport the cat. The student agreed, but did not help him and he was never able to get in touch with the student again. The league was formed four years ago when Boccacino recognized the large number of abandoned cats around the University. Unable to turn his head away from the plight of the starving and diseased animals, he found himself feeding and trapping the cats on his own. He formed the league after realizing the task was too time consuming to do alone. Aside from not being a formally recognized club of the University, the league's greatest problem has been declining interest since its founding. However, there was a large turn out at last night's meeting and the league has plans to trap a cat this Sunday evening, members said.
