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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1993)
Tome opposes legislating morality Society creates painless‘crimes’ Peter McWilliams Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society Prelude Press This is a big book, a really big book. Only Rodney Dangerfield is qualified to tell you how big this book actually is. Peter McWilliams has outdone himself this time. The New York Times best-selling author has cranked out a tome of some 788 pages, not including the bibliography and index. And the funny thing is, he makes his basic argument in the introduction, the rest is some kind of icing on the cake. And what is this massive book about? “It’s about an idea,” he said in a telephone interview, last week. An idea that McWilliams calls “the es sential American spirit: You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.” ms uuuk, i I’sououy s ousmcss 11 You Do” is subtitled “The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society.” It's about what a bad idea it was in the First place to make illegal anything that docs not harm the property or person of another—the so called “victimless crimes.” These crimes run the gamut from posses sion or use of heroin, to sodomy between consenting adults. Prostitution, drug use and pornography all fall within the domain of victimless crimes. * And certainly, these arc things that we have had trouble with in our society. But McWilliams claims most of our trou ble with them has been in fighting them. Prostitution has always been with us, and no amount of legislation will ever do away with it. But all these issues aside, McWilliams' book asks, what right do we have to enforce our morality on others who arc doing no one any harm—except, potentially, themselves? McWilliams said he’d “given up on (his) generation,” and wanted to make his thoughts on this subject available to the younger generation. “Some of the most positive comments I’ve had are from people in their early wmm twenties,” he said. But will young people read such a long book? McWilliams said he hopes so. ‘I’m perfectly capable of taking a com ect and making it simple and short,” said, “But 1 don’t think people’s minds are changed by short pieces.’ And the book is not all argument. Although it contains some 200 pages on the Bible alone, it also contains the largest collection of salient statistics on victimless crimes I’ve ever seen collected in one place — besides being the best resource of great I Courtesy of Prelude Press quotes to come along in a long time. Every page has a drop-dead quote, from Thomas Jefferson to Tom Setleck." “I hope it's going to affect the nation like Ross Perot getting on Larry King and saying the national debt’s too high,” McWilliams said. “Because, auite frankly, I think we’ve been sold a bill of goods.” “Business” is quite possibly the rallying cry that those opposed to the legislation of morality will need. —Mark Baldridge Lincoln to get first exposure with releases Video renters beware: only twoof this week’s new releases played in Lincoln, so they might get missed on the shelves. “Close to Eden” — Nominated for 1992 Academy Award for best foreign language film, this dramatic comedy shows the relation ship that develops between a stray Russian road worker and an isolated Mongol family. Cul tures clash, but friendships develop. Subtitled. “Cop and a Half”—Norman D. Golden II is a smart-aleck kid who w imesses a kill ing and then cons the Tampa police department into making him a cop for eight hours. Detective Burt Reynolds gets stuck with the kid. There have been dumb prem ises before, but this has to be one of the stupidest. “Daybreak**—Moira Kelly stars as a teen ager in the streets of New York’s future. Young vigilantes patrol the seedy streets, helping po lice round up disease victims — who are then quarantined in prison camps. But Kelly discov ers love and a purpose with Cuba Gooding Jr., the leader of a ragtag rebel group. Sounds like a scary future, but considering the state of the world today, perhaps not that far off. “Desire**—An intellectual (Greta Scacchi) and a Scottish fisherman (Vincent D’Onofrio) share a fierce and passionate love affair over the years, but suffer when the fire dies down. This one is a complete unknown, but D'Onofrio is a strong performer so it should be worth watch ing. “Sandlot” — Another ’60s coming-of-agc story, this flick features a nerdy boy who’s completely unfamiliar with baseball. The cool a kid next door tutors him on the field about" America’s favorite pastime. Definitely more appealing than “Cop and a Half.” “Three of Hearts’*—Ketty Lynch stars as a lesbian suffering from unrequited love. She hires male escort Billy Baldwin to win back her old girlfriend (Sherilyn Fenn) for her. The plan: sourFennon men. The twist isn’t actually much of a twist —obviously Baldwin falls for Fenn and flubbs things up. The story isn’t terribly original and the implications it makes concern ing homosexuality are hardly palpable. All titles available Wednesday. —Anne Steyer 1 heatre arts and dance students use performance as lab Program strives to offer quality By Anne Steyer Senior Reporter The fall season for the UNL De partment ofTheatre Arts and Dance is in full swing, and when the house tights dim in the Temple Building’s theaters, mystery and magic take hold. But what most University of Ne braska-Lincoln students don ’ t realize is the performers are students like themselves, taking full course loads. Many have part-time jobs as well. Prof. Kevin Hofeditz, acting chair of theatre arts and dance, said the department’s productions are part of the student’s education. “In addition to providing degrees, we also provide a (theatrical) sea son,” Hofeditz said. “Performance, that’s the laborato ry for our students.” But often times the university com munity doesn’t realize students are working in productions in additions to their regular coursework, he said. “Hopefully that is in part due to the quality of the productions,” he said. “We hope the quality is excellent. That’s what we aim for, excellence.” This double duty for theatre arts students sets them somewhat apart from the rest of UNL’s student popu lation. But the theater department has always been a little set aside from the rest of the university. Hofeditz said it was his under standing that the Temple Building— the department’s home — was built with funds from the Rockefeller Foun dation. “At the time, the money was con sidered dirty money,” he said, and at first, the university turned it down. When NU finally accepted the money, Hofeditz said, they “still couldn’t bring themselves to use it on campus — so they built the building across the street.” The department’s location, as well as the difference in the program’s studies, set Temple apart. Hofeditz said. Subsequently, the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance is oficn misunderstood. “We teach just as any department in the university, but a big part of our responsibility is public performance,” he said. Hofeditz said most students aren’t aware of the arts available on campus — from theater productions to the Lied Center to the Sheldon Art Gal lery and film theatre. Given the pressures of student I ife, he said, these additional opportuni ties are sometimes missed. Also, sometimes the theater pro ductions at the university can seem intimidating, Hofeditz said. “We produce a season that is intel lectually and artistically challenging. “The assumption is sometimes that it cannot also be entertaining,” he said. “Theater should be — and is — entertaining." Hofeditz said the department is dependant on box office receipts to pay for its productions. Some univer sity budget money is earmarked for the productions. Still, he said, “we have to sell tickets." “I don’t want students to feel obli gated to buy tickets because we need the money,” Hofeditz said. “1 think it would be wonderful to offer our plays for free, but that’s impossible.” The department has suffered from last year’s budget cuts, Hofeditz said. But the department is no different than any other — most departments experienced cuts of one kind or anoth er. “Faculty, staff and students in pro ductions have done an amazing job in previous years dealing with budget constraints.” he said. “We realize that’s across the uni versity, but we’ve held our own and done very well.” So well, in fact, that this theatrical season offers seven productions — the same number as in seasons past. Production money was not an issue this season, but had it been, he said, the department would have made do with the money received. “We can adjust the manner in which we produce, hoping never to compro mise quality,” he said. “There's a certain amount of latitude there in how you produce it.” The final product, he said, would be dependant on the creativity of fac ulty and student designers. _ -M We ask a lot of our students—not only that they do their coursework like any other student at UNL, but they lay It out for everyone to see. — Hofeditz acting chair, Theatre Arts and Dance “The bottom line is that we take the hand that is dealt us,” Hofcditz said. “In my experience, and I’m in my 11th year, we’ve always made the most out of what is available.” That is a result of the quality of the people in the department, he said, and a combination of talent, commitment and dedication. Those combinations come togeth er to determine the season’s plays as well, he said. “We want to do pieces that are high quality dramatic literature,” Hofeditz said. Other considerations are variety, need of student designers, interest of faculty directors, number of cast mem bers needed and efforts to balance the next season with the previous one. “Then it becomes a puzzle,” he said, “and we try to put the pieces together." Hofcditz said any UNL student can audition for productions. They don’t have to be a theater major or even a student in a theatre class to be in a production, he said. “Certainly the competition is tough, but the shows are by no means pre cast,” he said. “Wc are very anxious for students ?? — to be involved.” The level of faculty interest in the student body is evident throughout Temple. Even the atmosphere there is different than in other buildings. Stu dents hang out in the basement "com mons,” where the feeling is more like a living room than a university lounge. As faculty walk to class and to their offices, they arc leased and greeted by both peers and students in a familiar way. Hofcditz said the friendliness and comfortable atmosphere is due to the sum of the people that make up the department: faculty, staff and stu dents. ‘‘Faculty and students working to gether, moving in the same direc tion.” ‘‘To ask people to be creative in an atmosphere that is negative and sti fling is unproductive, Hofeditz said. ‘‘We ask a lot of our students—not only that they (to their coursework like any other student at UNL, but they lay it out for everyone to see.” * Therefore, he said, an atmosphere that is nurturing instead of negative becomes very important. An atmo sphere, he said, he feels exists in Temple.
