1994_09 Insight September 1994

              September 21,1994
LIFESTYLE
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
Page5
INSIGHT
MUSIC
REVIBW
Shahada Abdul-Karim
INSIGHT
Dear Diary...
It's been a long day.
You come home from school,
kick off your shoes, lock all
the doors, turn on the AC and
hit the 'play* button of your
CD player. The soft sounds of
Jodeci's "My Heart Belongs to
You" begin to float out of the
speakers. You fall back onto
the bed and close your eyes,
thinking, 'This is what I have
wanted all.day."
Jodeci is Jo Jo, DeVante, Mr.
Dalvin. and K.C. Hailey, two
sets of brothers who seem to
have made it their goal in life
to make people forget about
the hardships of day to day
life.
According to music writer
Leilani B. of Billboard magazine, the newest album from
Jodeci, Diary of a Mad Band,
was intended to evoke that
very reaction.
"The goal of the record was
to give the listener a feeling of
utter relaxation, preferably
with a partner," she says.
While the first side of the album is slow and relaxing, the
other side is upbeat and lively.
Songs such as "My Heart Belongs to You" and "Cry for
You"reflect the mellowness of
the first side, while hip-hop
tunes such as "You Got It" and
"In the Meanwhile" lighten
the romantic mood of the first
side.
Yasmin Amantullah, an avid
fan and student at CSUF,'says
she likes to listen to the first
side when she needs to calm
down, and the second side
when she needs to be hyped up
for something, like a party.
There is an interview at the
beginning of the second side
in which the band attempts to
speak honestly to a reporter,
before breaking into song.
Instead of complementing
the song, it was viewed as a
nuisance by this listener.
Overall, however, Jodeci has
proven to the masses that they
are not just another R&B band
with trained vocal cords.
The sales records following
the release of Diary of a Mad
Band (two million copies nation-wide in the first six
months**) have proven this
fact beyond the shadow of a
doubt
''according to sales figures
taken from Febuary Issue of Re-
quest Magazine.
Matt Soby/INSIGHT
Disturbing and vlscious: this is an embodiment of war and an injustice waged against people. "Objects have a life and resonance of their
own. A ghostliness surrounds objects," said Raphael ReicherL Reichert's creation, pictured above, will be on display in the Phebe
Conley Art gallery until Sept 30,1994.
Byron, Hemrningway and coffee
Amy Cooke-Morgan
INSIGHT
It's only the first few weeks of
school, and marketing majors
Mbombo Kabamba and Farisco Jo
are meeting to study. But instead of
getting together at the ever-popular
Henry Madden Library, the two meet
at Barnes and Noble Cafe, located at
Shaw and Blackstone avenues.
"We wanted to meet here, because
it's so nice. The music is relaxing."
said Kabamba. "The only bad thing
is that the cafe is a little expensive,
but the food is great."
Jo agreed with Kabamba, praising
the cafe's atmosphere. "It's nice to
study here rather than on campus, be
cause I feel less of the pressure to
study," she said.
Barnes and Noble is more than
Fresno's largest bookstore. Readers
who come to Barnes and Noble are
able to enjoy the upstairs cafe.
In the year since the coffee house's
opening, the bookstore has hosted a
variety of special events that include
lectures and group meetings for seniors citizens, science fiction writers
and more. The cafe also sets time
aside for book reviews and book
signings.
"We offer something for everyone,"
said Jenna Robertson, a cafe employee. "We have events that range
from poetry readings to coffee demonstrations."
Business major Donna DeLeon visited Barnes and Noble for the first
time last semester to hear her
women's studies professor read.
"I wasn't too sure of all of the things
Barnes and Noble had to offer," said
DeLeon."But I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by all of the
events and special attractions they
had. 1 think it's great."
This month, the store will host a
travel lecture on Norway as well as
feature readings from local talents
David Callahan, Charles Hanzlicek.
and CSUF English professor Steve
Yarbrough.
The cafe will feature Fresno's guitar playing sisters, the Indigo Gals of
the Central Valley.
Gay
Continued from Page 1
pass or something. I wouldn't beat
the crap out of him. I'd just say that's
not the way to do things."
What does "coming out" mean? In
a pamphlet entitled "Coming Out"
written by the University of Illinois
in 1983, the author wrote, "Coming
out is one way of affirming your dignity and the dignity of other lesbians
and gay men."
Kennel Bookstore
Everyday
is a
Ring Day!
Only JOStenS can make everyday a
Ring Day with everyday low prices from
$299-$389.
Same low price everyday!
Decker said, it means "admitting
who they really are."
"When they come out more and
more," Decker said. "They feel better about themselves. It makes life
easier to be out. The most difficult
thing would be coming out to some
and not to others. Their energy is
spent on trying to juggle everything
instead of doing what they want. Not
admitting it [their sexual orientation]
isjust using energy."
Many homosexual students in the
Fresno area said they are reluctant
to come out because of discrimination at school and work.
Matthew said he has encountered
several incidents where co-workers
and fellow students have expressed
prejudice against homosexuals in his
presence.
One time while at school, Matthew
and friends were discussing an upcoming episode of "Melrose Place."
"The previews showed that someone on the show was supposed to
die," he said.
"And one of my friends said, T
hope that faggot, dies." " Matthew
said. "I mean, sure there are more
accepting people, but mostly people
don't want to know about it. They
feel nothing but hatred and disgust. I
feel like I always have to be on my
guard and keep it quiet."
Pete said he has also overheard his
friends making derogatory comments
about homosexuals.
"They react to gay people by saying things like "There's a faggot; let's
beat him up', or 'I want to see one
just to see what he locks like.'" he
said.
Fear of violence among homosexuals is legitimate. In a report written
by Michael B. McKee and associates,
an estimated 94 percent of ihc homosexual population in America has suffered from some type of victimization, namely of violent crimes.
Pete said that besides violence, heterosexual peers usually respond in
one of three ways toward homosexual youths.
He said, "There are the people that
are totally homophobic; 'All fags
should be killed, sent off to some far
away place.' There are people who
say, 'I'm not. gay, and it's OK if
you're gay, but don't mess with me.'
And then the ones who are accepting. Women are more accepting."
Your Jostens representative will
be at Kennel Bookstore on the
following days:
Date: September 19-23
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
p*rjl^l£p^
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INSTANT FRIENDLY SERVICE
Mon-Sat: 9am to 9pm
Sundays: 9am to 8 pm
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ENJOY THE BEST SEMESTER
OF YOUR COLLEGE CAREER!!
"We are able to offer a lot more than
any other bookstore in town, not only
with the events we offer, but we can
get any book needed," said
Robertson.
"We will take the time to help customers find any book they need. If
we don't carry it, we will order the
book for them."
"It's nice to go to a bookstore where
I can have my questions answered,"
said liberal studies major Nina
Supino.
"When I come to Barnes and Noble
to buy a good novel, I like knowing
there is going to be someone there to
suggest something or maybe get me
headed in the right direction to find
what I might be looking for."
X-Files
Continued from Page 4
covert government agency that was
trying to suppress evidence that
aliens exist.
This season fans will find out that
the X-Files have been shut down and
Mulder and Scully have been reassigned.
Mulder vows, however, that his
work is not done and that he will continue to search for the truth.
Although Mulder and Scully have
seen more than enough proof that
other life forms exist, they have never
been able to gather physical evidence
to prove that fact to the world.
Many may believe that the stories
are far fetched, but the explanations
given during the course of an episode
are feasibly explained.
Those skeptics who do not believe
in aliens or unusual phenomena probably won't start believing after
watching the X-Files.
The show will entertain everyone
who allows their minds to abandon
reality.
The new season promises to be as
thrilling as the last.
Old fans as well as new will not be
disappointed. A man , a woman,
aliens and unexplained mysteries.
What a wicked combination.
Fox has finally produced a show
with substance. Hard to believe the
X-Files and Beverly Hills, 90210 live
on the same block.
The X-Files will be a definite beginning for an entuiy new genre of
television.
Friday nights can be left to the mystic world of the supernatural, unexplained and unearthly contact
BOOK
REVIEW
INSIGHT
Don't start reading TheAT'ien-
tit, a new novel by Caleb Carr
until your finals are over, because you won't be able to put
it down until you've reached
the crashing finale.
While reviewing books in a
recent New YorkerK John
Updike said the novel is only
one of two novels worth publication this year. (The other
one is Doctorov's The Waterworks.)
The Alienist is set in 1896, a
time of gross corruption in a
New York run by Boss Tweed.
It vividly portrays the grimy as
well as the flashy side of the.
colorful epoch.
The novel is a gripping story
based on the relationship of a
crime reporter and a brilliant
psychiatrist, or "alienist", as
they were called in those days,
because they dealed with the
mentally ill, or "alien" from the
"norm."
Aided by detectives and a
brave, determined woman, the
two are on the track of a serial
murderer who horribly mutilated and devoured the body
parts of several young male
prostitutes.
These "boy whores," as they
were called, were found in
droves in Manhattan's infamous turn-of-the-century
brothels.
In a tantalizing note left at the
dismembered body of one of
his victims, the cannibal, in
attempt to either get caught or
torture the boys' mothers,
writes, "... it is usually children what is eaten as they are
tenderest and best tasting,.especially the ass of a small
child."
A fascinating aspect of The
Alienist is the working of real
characters, especially Theodore Roosevelt, who at the
time.was the newly appointed
commissioner of police.
Roosevelt is described in the
story. "Beneath all his theatrical bluster possessed a bean
and a mind expansive enough"
to help the journalist and the
alienist in their search. The
reader is also given tantalizing
. hints of Roosevelt's future as
president
The author acknowledged the
counsel of Dr. David
Abrahansen, a foremost expert
on violence and serial killing,
giving us food for thought
about the ghastly phenomenon
of psychosis.
He posits through the
musings of the alienist that the
"murderous monster who
ended up a frightened child"
expresses a rage learned in his
childhood from a violent father.
The killer is fundamentally
much like the boys he murders,
destroying some intolerable elements not just of the dissolute
and depraved world or of his
only knowledge of pain and
Gear, but of some parts of himself that he cannot abide.
These intolerable parts of
himself-homosexual,
pedophillic, and most of all,
sadistic- are the elements he attempts to conquer by killing
those parts in the form of a
hapless child.
One thinks of Professor
Frank on our own campus and
bis grisly dismembering of a
male prostitute some years
ago, for which he is now im-
Maybcy like the twisted John
i n this novel, he de-
_^^HKtown self?
i l.
INFORMATIONAL MEETING SUNDAY, SEPT. 25,4-6 PM
 UPSTAIRS CAFETERIA, kOOM MO	
For more information contact Carla Millar, London Semester Office.
CSU Fresno. Music Bldg.. Rm 186, or call (209) 278-3056.
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