1986_01 The Daily Collegian January 1986

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Page 2 The Daily Collegian
NEWS January 21, 1986
King
Continued from page 1
audience to lower the balloons so those in
the back could see, to the cheers of those
in the back. Still, balloons popped as they
brushed the walls.
The program "Living the Dream"
focused on components of King's "1 have
a Dream" speech, with speakers and
music accompanying each segment.
Merry Dean Grant's rendition of "We
Are the World" drew cheers and ovations
after each verse. Rev. Jack Takayanagi
called the King holiday a "holy day."
Takayanagi stressed the "triumph of
compassion" and paraphrased King, say¬
ing that as "doers of right and builders of
faith, we need to keep moving." His
energetic speech drew a standing ovation,
after which MjUer urged the audience
to "fed free to tell you neighbor you love
them." Words of "God bless you" were
heard throughout the theater.
Greg Bariield, CSUF associated stu¬
dents senator, spoke on self-fulfillment,
and asked "Why do people with different
skin color have to struggle for what they
should get at birth?"
Barfield recalled thinking about this
when watching Bishop Desmond Tutu the
night before. "He had no answer. 1 guess
s small parking lot, where a hand-
cardboard sign had been erected, a
reminder that the parking lot was for
only. Lowdermilkhadapparcn-
Prince spent the hour inside
the building talking to Lowermilks' em¬
ployees. Prince is a criminology student at
the College of th« "
didate for Visalia county sheriff. He said
the KKK is not endorsing him as a
candidate, but he does, not object to its
"The KKK has the political right to
1 just as any other racist organization
has that right. The NAACP is a racist
organization for example," said Prince.
January 21, 1986 FEATURE
The Daily Collegia* Page 3
Educator promotes storytelling
A univenrrj professor, Artie Ninon.
Nixon* audience sits in rapt attention.
Two of the oldest of the human arts are
story telling and poetry, CSUF education
professor Dr. Arne Nixon told a group of
teachers' assistants at Kratt Elementary
School during a recent visit.
Nixon, a soft-spoken, gentle man with
expressive blue eyes, believes that reading
is one of the "few human interests that
stay with us. Reading continues to appeal
to us, even after we enter the prison world
of adult life."
ACSUFprofcssor for the past 25 years.
Nixon credits his love for storytelling to
his grandfather, who immigrated to the
United States from Northern Europe.
"I didnt realize that people could read
stories for themselves," he said, "because
the only kind of storytelling I knew as a
is told to
laid unlike many children today,
:r  his  grandfather  as
10 busy to tell a
"always there and
Most of Nixon's grandfather's stories
stemmed from religious traditions, folk¬
tales or personal experiences. Nixon esti¬
mates his grandfather must have had
thousands of stories stored away in his
head.
Growing up in South Dakota, Nixon
cannot remember a teacher who did not
read to him. "Reading is very important,"
said Nixon. "There can never be a day in
the life of a child when we shouldn't read
to them. But it must be done with joy and
pleasure."
Nixon hopes lhat his storytelling will
get children "exciled about stories and
I poetry. We have to be the living demon¬
strations for the children. Show them we
love, we care and share in their laughter."
"Too many kids grow up thinking they
hate poetry, but poetry gives kids in a few
phrases or sentences what takes books a
paragraph," said Nixon. "The apprecia¬
tion has to be developed in a child. A child
is not born with it."
With television being most children's
babysitter. Nixon wants to teach children
TWrarl TV Dailj Ci
;he words ofthe story. This ts
why when he tells stories, he does not use
pictures very often, unless they are very
good.
One fifth-grade class enjoyed hearing
the stories without the pictures. Jennifer
Laval, 10, said, "The story sounds better
and you can imagine and understand it
For some of the younger children, Nixon
uses illustrations. During one story ses¬
sion with a group of kindergartners, Nixon
told a story about himself as a little boy.
He then held up a drawing of a boy with a
One kindergartner laughed and said,
"But little kids don't have beards."
To this Nixon teased, "IVe always had a
beard. Haven't you ever seen a little boy
with a beard before?"
Nixon begins each storytelling hour by
saying, "Good morning boys and girls. Do
you know the library is a sacred place?
This place is so .important that it is the
most important place in the school, but
only you can make the wonderful things
happen."
The key to successful storytelling, said
Nixon, is in delivery. It must be "read and
told well. Because, like a picture, if it is not
framed and matted well, it loses so much."
A story is told well when "you have one
child, that no matter how many times the
story is told, he will come back and ask for
it to be read again," said Nixon.
Most of Nixon's stories do not have
moral lessons, but he contends they are
unnecessary. "Good stories have built-in
values. It's not as effective when you start
out to teach a child something from a
Nixon never plans out what stories to
tell but just "senses what they will accept I
look at the expression on their faces. At
some point the child gets to an age where
they will start saying, "this is baby stuff."
"After all," Nixon winks to a group of
kindergartners. If you believe it, it's true;
if you dont believe it, it's not true."