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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1993)
Town meetings offer outlet for student expression in an errort to encourage speaK ing in freshman English courses, then Chancellor Martin Massengale assembled a task force committee to find ways to achieve this goaK Committee members included people from the agricultural speech communication, English and busi ness English departments, sa id Gerry Brookes, vice chairman of the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln’s En glish Department, and co-director of the Nebraska Writing Project and of the Nebraska Literacy Project. Brookes also sat in on the commit tee. Brookes said Nebraska students weren’t used to stating their point or views puDiiciy. in an enori 10 give students the opportunity to say what was on their minds with out being attacked and increase speaking skills, Brookes thought town meetings were the answer. Brookes, who has written an essay on town meetings in a journal called “College Composition and Communication,” said through town meetings students would be able to talk about whatever was on their minds. And through orga nized responses, face to face en counters could be prevented. Joy Ritchie, assistant professor in English, incorporated town-meet ings in her English composition 354 WE’RE STILL iJJH UNL EXTENDED OUR LEASE. Dine in or pick up specials call 1MtQ 434-7055 ON ANY MEDIUM OR LARGE PIZZA JANUARY 11-91 Robin Trimarchi/DN English professors Gerry Brookes and Joy Ritchie have both implemented town meetings In their classrooms. course last semester, and her En glish Rhetoric 376 course this se mester. As a student in both courses, I was very happy to be able to stand up in front of a class, with all eyes and attention on me, and talk about what I felt to be important Town meetings enable students to find out more about one another and may answer questions that many students have. In Ritchie’s class, students vol unteered to write responses on the topic that another student talked about in his or her town meeting, and the response was presented at our next class meeting. We were given a time limit to respond to a student’s town meet ing, and although the town meet ings sometimes became heated, I don’t think students felt like they were being attacked. Maybe all English courses should have town meetings. Actually, the town meetings do not necessarily have to be confined to English courses. Through the town meetings, we students are able to practice our speaking, writing and listeningskills — our communication skills. We are even able to see how well we could persuade each other to sides of a view. I had never taken part in a ‘town meeting’ before. But I am glad that I had the opportunity to. Kimberly Spurlock b a Junior broadcast ing, news-editorial and English major, a Daily Nebraskan copy editor and Diver sions editor. , Tundra comic books worth reading A few years ago Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, gave sometning back to the field that had made him a millionaire. That something is Tu n dra publishing, a company dedi cated to publishing innovative and cutting-edge comic books that oth erwise would never have seen the light of day. All of Tundra’s books are worth reading—considering you can find them—but two of the more recent books really standout. One is “Skin" and the other is “While Trash". “Skin" is a one-shot graphic al bum written by Peter Milligan with full-color art by Brendan McCarthy and Carol Swain. A whirlwind of controversy has surrounded “Skin" ever since it was conceived some years ago for publication in Fleetway Publications’ “Crisis*. Af ter Fleetway’s printer refused to print the story, Fleetway’s lawyers advised them to drop the book. Which they did. Why all the controversy? Simple. “Skin" deals with the story of Martin Atchitson, a skin-head in 70s En gland. He is also a Thalidomide victim. Thalidomide was a drug used as a sedative, which was sup posedly completely safe for prcg ' , a-1 : ' ■yV nant women. It wasn’t As a side effect of the drug, babieswereborn without eves, ears, a brain and limbs, or shortened arms and legs. What makes “Skin” so gripping is that Martin, whose hands are attached directly to his shoulders, is one angry young man. He does not accept nis condition and does not help make the world a better place. Instead, he embarkson a journey of destruction.The book ends with Martin chopping the arms off of the chairman of the chemical company that made Thalidomide, and then tying the arms to his body and leaping to his death. "Skin* does not whitewash the pain and suffer ing that Thalidomide caused hun dreds of people. Instead, it grabs your head and slams it right into the brutal reality of the story. “Skin" is well worth the cover price and your time. “White Trash* is a three-part se ries written by Gordon Rennie with fully-painted art by Martin Emond. “White Trash” chronicles the jour ney of The King, who looks an awful lot like a certain rock-and roller who recently got his own stam p and Dean, who looks exactly like Axl Rose. The King and Dean basically travel across the U.S. raping, pillag ing and causing great amounts of destruction along the way. They are being pursued by the F.B.I., a couple of scumbags from some where down South. The big show down between all parties in ques tion will come in Las Vegas, where The King is scheduled to play a gig. Violence, sexism, racism, homophobia, and every other -ism or-phobia isabundantin this book. But it all serves a point. The may hem and carnage that grace every page of this book all seem to show just how far down the toilet America nas gone. Basically it's a “Thelma and Louise" with a heavy-metal soundtrack. Emond’sartworkforthisbook is simply awesome. The detail he puts into every page is unbelievable, and the dialogue is hilarious. The first two issues of “White Trash” have already been released, and the third issue should be on sale in the near future. This series is wejl worth picking up, but don’t take it too seriously. It only shows our problems, not the solu lions to them William J. Harms la an Arts and Enter tainment reporter for the Daily Nebras kan and a Diversions contributor