1996_04 The Daily Collegian April 1996

              April 19, 1996
Page 3
v^
Graduate Students present research in Las Vegas
By Janet Fujimoto
Managing Editor
Winds blew at 40 miles per
hour, while slot machines clanged
indoors as tourists and frenzied
gamblers filled the casinos of Las
Vegas. Meanwhile, The Riviera
Hotel served as an attraction for
people who were there for a more
serious reason, to attend the
Eighteenth American Culture
Association Annual Meeting, held
March 25-28, 1996.
Dr. James E. Walton, profes¬
sor of English at California State
University, Fresno, chaired a
panel on the works of Toni
Morrison, the last African Ameri¬
can writer to be awardei^the
Nobel Prize in literature.
Morrison, who received the award
in 1993, grew up in Lorain, Ohio
and currently teaches at Princeton
University.
Morrison is widely recognized,
for her painful, yet realistic
character portrayals of alienation
from community, child abuse, and
gradual destruction of the human
spirit, all devastating'effects of
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Left to right: Sharette Dixon, Marjorie
Sahatjian, Connie Shermer, Janet
Fujimoto, Deanna Garabedian	
racism in American culture.
Morrison's first and perhaps
most widely known novel, The
Bluest Eye is the story of a
young, dark-skinned girl,
Pecola, who feels unloved
because of her black self.
Society instills in Pecola, the
belief that the only way to be
accepted and desired is to have
the Shirley
Temple-like
blonde hair and
blue eyes. Pecola
longs for blue
eyes, so that she
too can obtain love
and affection;
however, her
frantic quest for
acceptance and blue eyes leads to a tragic
mental decline.
Outstanding papers on six of
Morrison's novels were presented by
members of the panel, made up of gradu¬
ate students from Dr. Walton's graduate
seminar on Morrison at Fresno State.
Sharette Dixon served as respondent for
the panel, which consisted of the follow¬
ing papers: "Pecola's Mental Descent by
graduate student Marjorie L. Sahatjian;
'The Journey Towards Fujimoto's title;
"Toni Morrison and the Language of
Music" and "Mining Gold in Morrison"
were the respective titles of papers by
Deanna Garabedian and Connie Shermer.
"I thought the conference was very
exciting," said Shermer, "I also felt very
at ease and comfortable, largely because
of the great camaraderie of our group...it
was undoubtedly the high point of my
educational experiences."
"It was an exceptional culminating
experience for the Toni Morrison gradu¬
ate seminar," agreed Walton. "I wish the
"Red Wave" could've been there. They
all did exceptionally well," said Walton.
Indeed, it appears that these present¬
ers, unlike the numerous unlucky gam¬
blers, were the ones who truly managed
to hit the "jack pot."
Aspiring actress envisions her drean through acting
By Yaisa Guillory
Staff writer
Acting mirrors reality, allowing the
performing actor to entertain and move
the audience.
Dionndra Lancaster, California State
University Fresno senior, has performed
in three plays and is preparing for her
fourth. In,'The Wives of Windsor,"
Lancaster will play the character role of
Alexandria and also will be the
understudy to the role of Mistress Ford.
Her first college play was "The
Children's Hour," where she became the
13-year -old character, Leslie.
In her second performance. Justice
Channel, she played Denise Furlow, a
criminologist hip-hop dancer.
•    In her third play, "The Pirates of
Penzance," she took on the role of lovely
daughter Penelope.
She emerges into each character by
using personal experiences,
characteristics and sense memory.
Her idol is Renee Joans who plays the
role Lexi Carver frorp "Days of Our
Lives.." She also likes Lauren Velez, who
plays the role of Mina Marena on "New
York Undercover." Lancaster
appreciates their talents and knows they
are not popular with the mainstream
audience.
"I don't have to look up to the big
l don i nave to 1
Photo by David Stanley
stars, I just appreciate their overall
performance," she said. V -
Lancaster hopes to contribute to the
community by creating a performing arts
program including dance, theater and
acting for inner city children. *
She strongly advises African American
students to seek their dreams.
"If you can can conceive it, believe it,
then you can achieve it," she said.
Meanwhile/Lancaster stays focused by
keeping her eyes on her dream and looking
forward to graduation.
^*s entire course
it is aware
It class
i^an be.^yea"tbe ,. -
can be ,
came
All the Spftush^classes were
^en^ I^^jjjaofcie^^jr
uimed but to be good. I was really
interested, especially in the
of the'culture," said
j lo graduate school to v
a master's degree, He would tike ta
get^fatMG^|«^
Although he is not fluent in the
language, Moore can understand and ,
speak Japanese well After graduate
school be hopes to go to Japan for a
few, years; to atfj"
learn inore abou	
He would like.to get a job
university leaching ling
English as a second language (
He currently works as an ESL
msrjxictor for the American English
Institute, and loves his work.
r."M&'s^ii|w.•job,because I li)
so much. Tm really close to my
stud'ents, and we have good times in
class^^Moareaaid.
After studying Japanese for tl
and a half years, Moore fa
change in his attitude.