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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1988)
Arts & Entertainment John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan Parades launch 4687 New Year’s celebration begins today for China By Micki Haller Senior Editor Dragons rise and tigers leap into the first day of 4687 today. Xiao Chun Chen from Shanghai, China, and Sor Hoon Yu from Kclantan, Malaysia, said they probably won’t celebrate the New Year yet since today isaschoolday. The New Year is celebrated for 15 days, but only the first four arc working holidays. At home, Sor said. New Year is often celebrated with a parade, fire crackers, visiting relatives and eat ing. “We have a lot of food, lood food. Eat, cat, cat!” she said. Xiao said the parade is custom ary only in villages. “In the city, we don’t have this,” Xiao said. Red is the lucky color for a new year because it brings fortune and good luck, they said. People can expect both good and bad things from the Chinese year of the dragon, Sor said. People like to have children during the dragon year, she said, “because the children become very wealthy.” “This is what old people be lieve,” she said. Old people don’t like children to wear black and white during this new year because these are the colors of death, she said. Sweeping the floor and throw ing out garbage is forbidden on New Year’s Day, Sor said. “They believe you can sweep out the luck,” she said. Children arc given money in an envelope called “angpow.” Usually the older, married people hand out the cash. “Every young child wears the new clothes,” Xiao said. In fact, all the clothes and food must be especially bought for New Year, Sor said. “Just like Christmas shopping,” she said. Xiao said the first day’s break fast is “tangyuan,” a soup with rice dumplings stuffed with red beans. Melon seeds, walnuts and ju jubes also arc important holiday foods. “Especially the old people, they like this,” Sor said. Sor said the ninth day of New Year is a special day for the Hokkicn people. On that day, they pray, and bamboo, pigs and fruits play an important part. Xiao said many Chinese people live in Malaysia. Sor said one-third of the population is Chinese. Their ancestors went there to work in the 15th century, she said. In China and Malaysia, there are special New Year programs on TV with singing and other entertain ment, they said. Mardi Gras celebrated with poetry By Mick Dyer Senior Reporter A Mardi Gras poetry reading, part of the Engl ish department’s on-going distinguished speakers scries, was given Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in An drews 228. The reading featured faculty poets Hilda Raz and Marcia Southwick. Both arc well-known women writers. Hilda Raz, editor of “Prairie Schooner,” has two books of poetry, “The Bone Dish,” (State Street Press, New York), and “What is Good,” (Thomtrcc Press, Chicago), forth coming in 1988. Her poems have been published in “North American Review,” “Denver Quarterly,” “Poetry Miscellany,” and “The Pennsylvania Review,” and the anthologies: “Alternatives: An American Poetry Anthology,” (Best Cellar Press), and “All My Grandmothers Could Sing,” (Free Rein Press). Raz is vice-president of the board of directors of Associated Writing Programs and chair of its publication committee. A recent scholar at Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, she has earned a fellowship there for this summer. Marcia Southwick, creative writ ing instructor and faculty advisor for the undergraduate literary magazine, “Laurus,” is the author of “The Night Won’t Save Anyone,” (University of Georgia Press). She has recently fin ished a volume of poetry, “Why the River Disappears,” and is awaiting publication of “Her Six Difficulties and His Small Mistakes,”(Labyrinth Editions). Ra/ started today’s reading. She writes poems from a variety of deeply personal experiences. Her attention to details, ranging from the obvious to the sublime, creates a mood that the content of the poem can build on. Raz said that she is interested in capturing the sound of human voices. She read a poem, “Shame, the Com puter Uses of Natural Language,” which she described as an exercise in both diction and lying. She also read several “confes sional” poems, poems written in the first person, but not necessarily about herself. These were “Father,” a poem from the Alternatives anthology, about impressions of a strong and Ward Williams/Dally Nebraskan Southwick loving lather, and “Dishes,” a poem about being pregnant, eating lobster, and doing dishes. Raz said that tone and diction is what confessional poems arc all about. Southwick writes poetry that can be described as meditative. Her abil ity to express the vivid imagery lurk ing in her imagination draws the reader into the poem, into her soul. From there the reader can look out at the world through new eyes. Southwick said that she writes “voice” poems. These poems utilize a strong, compelling voice to make an emotional impact on the reader. Examples are “What the Sun In vents,” a poem from her book “The Night Won’t Save Anyone,” and “The Rain’s Marriage,” based on an1 African myth. Southwick also writes poetry from the point-of-view of objects, such as in “The Sun Speaks.” She is extremely adept at “persona” poems, where she writes from the point-of view of other people, such as “The Widower’s Song,” and “The Liar.” The distinguished speaker series continues for the rest of February with Bruce Erlich and Bill Klocfkom. Erlich, a UNL English professor, will speak about narrative and world order on Feb. 24th, and Klocfkom, Nebraska State Poet, will give a poetry reading on the 26th. Both presentations will be held in Andrews 228 at 3:30 p.m. and will be open to the public free of charge. Sheldon art film series ! continues this weekend “Four Artists,” showing in Sheldon’s Films on the Arts series Friday, Saturday and Sunday is, as the name implies, a collective por trait of four artists — Robert Ryman, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman and Susan Rothenberg. It is also, in a sense, a documentary portrait of a time, from the 1960s to present. Screenings of “Four Artists,” a 60 minute film released in November 1987 by director Michael Black wood, are at noon Friday, 11 a.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Admis sion is $2 ($1 for senior citizens, children under 12 and members of the Friends of the Sheldon Film theater). ; Ryman isolates painting’s essen tials. His white paint on square sur faces and serial variations are mini mal in structure, yet always reveal the hand of their maker. Hesse’s organic abstractions — methodical, obsessively repetitive, monochrome sculptures — are loaded with psychological and emo tional content. Nauman, using media as new as performance, installation, videotape and neon, and with traditional draw ings and cast sculptures, combines conceptual rigor with a fierce and at times frustrating sense of humanity. Rothenberg, initially limiting her palette to a lew almost non-color colors, began to refigurc on a mini mal field simplified, immediately recognizable images. 1 February 17,1988 is the Deadline! All applications for the Student Health and Accident Insurance must be received by February 17, 1988. Brochures and information are available at: UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER or call 472-7437 Check these points: • Am I still eligible for coverage under my parent’s plan? A. Is there an age limit? Most policies limit the age for dependent coverage to age 23. B. Are you thinking of marriage? Most policies exclude a dependent after he becomes married. • Have I declared financial independence from my parents by receiving financial aid, and no longer eligible as a dependent under their plan? • Would a medical emergency deplete funds set set aside for my education?