Arts & Entertainment Midwesterners should have cultural pride Mark Baldridge It takes a lot of courage to move to a new place where you have no friends. It can be especially difficult when you are entering a new culture. It’s hard to get adjusted — and too easy to succumb to a paralyzing nostalgia. Look what happened to the hippies; and they didn’t go anywhere. This is what happened to an old friend of mine, a professor of English literature by tall women writers currently at Harvard Univer sity. For several years she taught at Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska i at Kearney). Before heading east she was really excited about the prospect. She thought it would be a real learning experience, but soon found her self feeling ostracized and alone. She found no hints of her rich Nebraskan heritage. There was nothing she could relate to — even the English slje heard spoken every where was like a foreign tongue. And though there were a few pickup trucks, the ones she saw around were those fake toy Japanese ones, all cherry red. My old lriend will be delivering a speech to the Society for Transplanted Midwesterners at Princeton this weekend. Her presentation deals with the feelings of alienation suffered by many of us from the central states when encountering the Oriental strangeness of the East Coast. She will focus on the need to sustain a sense of “roots” and community in foreign and sometimes hostile surroundings. She has been kind enough to lend me an abstract of her speech for reprint here. So without further ado, I’ II turn over the rest of this column to my friend and mentor, Judy Judy: It’s very kind of you, etc. etc. (Insert joke here.) There are many myths about Midwesterners that prevail in the East. They are so strong and so pervasive that they often go unnoticed and are accepted without question—even by those that suffer most — us. We, Midwesterners, ourselves. I’d like to examine today some of those myths — expose them. Sometimes the facts may be things we don’t like to hear, but this is our heritage and we need \o possess it whole and amended. Myth: Midwesterners are all white male supremacists named Billy. They drive pickup trucks with rifle racks and shoot things. Fact: Many Midwesterners have more than one name. My ex-husband for instance is Billy Blume. My parents gave me two names, or really, one name twice. (Wait for laughter.) And many of us have three or more. For instance, Billy Roy Hughes, with us this morning; and the* unforgettable William “Bill” Orin Otis Pusscr, the famous Oklahoma highway patrolman. Of course, he shoots things, criminals. But 1 personally haven’t shot anything since I was a little girl and I think that my presence here refutes the all-malp myth I spoke of. See BALDRIDGE on 3 uance group to interpret social issues By Anne Steyer Senior Reporter Artistic expression responds to the changing world surrounding it. Modern dance is an extension of this expression, turning social issues into fluid, dynamic motion. The Ki netic White Girls, a dance troupe from Salt Lake City, will bring their inter pretive responses to Lincoln this week. Formed by danccr/choreographer Mary Johnston-Coursey, the Kinetic White Girls will perform Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in the Johnny Carson Theatre, 301 N. 12th St. The performances will be free. The dancers will stop in Lincoln on their way home from a perform ance in Chicago. The dancers will perform “In Full Sun,” an offering that has been described by Dance Magazine as “engrossing.” Also included in the presentation are two new works: “The Dreaming Time,” a trio that explores the meta physics of reality and dreaming; and “Between Love and Madness,^ a quartet that explores how struggle k can be converted into freedom. See KINETIC on 11 Characters, film’s subplot lack depth “Little Man Tate” By Anne Steyer Senior Reporter “Lillie Man Tale” (Douglas 3, Edgewood 3), Jodie Foster’s directo rialdebut, is not the masterpiece it is touted to be. Still, it is a nice film that touches the heart strings, if not quite plucking them. In addition to directing, Foster stars as Dede Tate, a young, working-class single parent. Her son Fred, played by I newcomer Adam Hann-Byrd, is a E gifted 7-year-old. Fred is amazing: a child prodigy who plays piano at competition level, paints in watercolors and oils, writes poetry, composes music and calcu lates complicated math and physics problems in seconds. Ho also worries about the dcplc I See TATE on 10 Child steals audiences ’ hearts “Curly Sue” By Robert Richardson Senior Reporter __' Almost a year ago John Hughes helped America fall in love with child actor Macaulev Culkin, the star of “Home Alone.” Now with Hughes as writer/director/producer of “Curly Sue” (Douglas 3), America is introduced to Susan Dancer (Alisan Porter). There isn’tmuch similarity between the two children’s dilemmas. Kevin was left in his home and Dancer is homeless. But both chil dren capture the hearts of audiences with style and out-of-this-world behavior. Dancer’s story begins with her adopted guardian Bill (James Belushi). The two travel from town to town hustling rich, gullible people and living from meal to meal. Both are very happy and carefree. Sue doesn’t have to go to school and Bill doesn’t have to work. But the duo is quick to point out that they don’t steal. They only break the little laws, not the big ones and lie just a bit more than that, but they DON’T steal. Hughes does justice to this parental rela tionship. The picture he paints is one of devo tion and love — the only responsibility the two vagabonds have is for each other. But as protective as Bill is of Susan he realizes that she needs a mother figure in her life. So the two embark on the last scam of their career and meet Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch). While faking an accident with Ellison’s car, Bill and Susan find that Ellison is a high powered, no-nonsense attorney who has no human side. Ellison, caught up in her job, has pul emotion on the back burner. And while Bill and Susan’s main interest is a free meal, they get much more out of this re lationship, more than Ellison bargained for and much more than the Dancer clan ever ex pected. But Susan and Bill help Ellison as much as she helps them. The trio takes off on a tour of the city for a night on the town. Bill has no money, but he uses his ability as an artist of deception. And through the experience and interaction, Ellison becomes more human; her career is no longer so important as it once was. Hughes’ movie could be called predictable, but the beauty that he captures is simple: people helping people. Sincerity flows like a river through ,:Curly Sue,” and Susan, Bill and Grey aren’t just along for the ride. From left, Rush members Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee will perform tonight at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. s Omaha to host legendary Rush trio From Staff Reports The Canadian power trio Rush, one of the most enduring rock bands to emerge from the 1970s, will perform tonight at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Rush, which recently released its 18th album “Roll the Bones,” is on the first leg of its North American tour. The LP is nearing the platinum mark in sales, and the first single, “Dreamline,” has occupied the na tional album rock charts for the past month. Bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson formed the band in 1974, releasing their self-titled debut that year. The follow-up, “Fly by Night,” gained the trio a loyal following, as well as a reputation as musicians’ musicians. Drummer Neil Peart, whose tempo changes and tricky rolls are legendary, is widely regarded as the most skilled drummer on Earth. Opening for Rush is guitar wizard Eric Johnson, whose instrumental album “Ah Via Musicom” is in heavy rotation on al bum-oriented rock stations. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert are available at all TicketMaster outlets. All seals are reserved.