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Professor speaks about
American-Indian basketry
Around this time of year people
may start thinking more about bas
kets.
Some will be filled with green
grass and multicolored jelly beans.
Others will have eggs dyed pale
shades.
However, for Barbara Trout,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
associate prpfessor of textiles,
clothing and design, thoughts of
baskets last longer than the spring
season and, not to mention, more in
depth.
As part of the Paul A. Olson
seminars, Trout will present a lec
ture exploring American-Indian
basketry today.
Trout first became interested in
the functions of American Indian
i i
i i
i i
i i
i i
basketry while she was making bas
kets.
Focusing on creating three
dimensional fiber art, Trout applied
traditional knotting and coiling
techniques used in early American
Indian basketry.
Initially, Trout was interested in
the daily use of baskets rather than
the aesthetic functions. By using
baskets, American Indians were
able to gather, store and cook food,
and transport necessities.
Trout will focus on the Pomo
culture of California, whose women
are known for their mastery in bas
ket-making and meticulous
approach.
Trout also will discuss the artis
tic merits of Pomo baskets, which
often use symbolism.
Trout’s lecture will explain the
materials and processes used in
Pomo basket-making.
She also will discuss how delib
erate production has come about,
transcending the needs of group
members and extending the Pomo
style of basket into the category of
“art basket.”
Trout will give her presentation
today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the
Great Plains Art Collection Gallery
in Love Library. A reception will be
held at 3 p.m., until the lecture
starts.
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Turtle stars in TV show
■ Children’s book char
acter Franklin stars in a
wildly popular cartoon.
NEW YORK (AP) - It’s hard to
make a turtle warm and fuzzy. Cold
blooded, shell-encased, this is a crea
ture few would certify as cuddly.
Unless, of course, he’s the turtle-tot
Franklin.
In two dozen children’s books and
for the past year in a cartoon series on
Nickelodeon (airing weekdays at 10:30
a.m. and 1 p.m. ET as part of the Nick
Jr. lineup), this little guy is every bit as
lovable as the kids who follow his
adventures.
Meanwhile, the problems Franklin
confronts ring true for any preschooler.
■ Franklin faces the first day of
school fearful that he’ll be expected to
know everything when he walks into
the classroom. But, to his great relief,
he finds out that not knowing those
things is exactly why he’s there.
■ Being toothless, he feels left out
when his mammal pals lose their baby
teeth. But he learns there are other signs
of growing up than a visit by die Tooth
Fairy.
“I want to help a child believe that
he or she is capable of managing some
of childhood’s common dilemmas,”
says “Franklin” creator Paulette
Bourgeois, “and that they can find a
solution, within their own range. In the
stories, adults are guiding influences,
but they never tell a child, ‘This is what
you should do next’”
Wildly popular among the wee set,
“Franklin” wears well for Mom and
Dad, too.
“I think what I’m trying to write is
great parenting,” Bourgeois says.
“When I see how Franklin’s parents
deal with him, I realize I’m trying to
write the parent I would like to be
myself - and am not” She laughs. “It’s
an idealized world in those stories.”
The Toronto-based Bourgeois had
trained to be a psychiatric occupational
therapist but gravitated toward free
lance writing. In 1983, with the birth of
daughter Natalie, she hit upon the
notion of writing a children’s book.
Then, nursing Natalie in the middle
of one fateful night, she happened to be
watching a “M A S H” rerun as Dr.
Hawkeye Pierce refused to take shelter
in a cave.
“I’m so claustrophobic,” cracked
Hawkeye, “if I were a turtle, I’d be
afraid of my own shell.”
Bourgeois calls it “a lightbulb
moment I started writing the next day.”
The result was “Franklin in the
Dark,” which told of a turtle lad who,
scared of the darkness inside his shell,
refused to go in. He dragged it behind
him with a rope. But by the end of the
tale, he conquers his fear, embraces his
turtleness, and learns to be comfortable
in his own skin, er, shell.
Bourgeois had stumbled on a pow
erful metaphor, then transformed it into
a storybook character. But despite the
vast symbolic value, Franklin’s identity
as a turtle was never Bourgeois’ point
“For me, always, Franklin was a 5
year-old,” she says. A sweet rambunc
tious, soccer-loving kid. For her, that
much was clear.
“But I had no image of him,” she
confesses. “1 don’t think visually.”
Even when Bourgeois found a pub
lisher to buy her manuscript Franklin
remained unpictured in her mind. Kids
Can Press presented the text to an up
and-coming illustrator named Brenda
Clark.
Clark says she drew Franklin as a
hybrid of box turtle and Galapagos tur
tle who can walk (and run) upright She
outfitted him with a baseball cap, neck
erchief and backpack-like shell, and
colored him lustrous green.
“At the time, green was not popular
in design terms,” she notes. “But I
found a green turtle was much more
appealing than brown.”
Then she placed Franklin and his
friends - Bear, Fox, Goose, tiny Snail
and the rest - in a verdant countryside
befitting any fairy tale. There, they
radiate goodwill and good cheer.
Everybody^ usually smiling
“I try to draw tiie characters die way
you’d like your mother, or your child, to
look at you,” Clark explains. When her
son Robin, now 9, was bom, “I could
look at him and see the facial expres
sions I’m talking about, and they
inspired me.”
Garbo letters show deep friendship
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - For
years, rumors have circulated of a love
affair between Greta Garbo and
socialite Mercedes de Acosta, but the
letters thought to hold the women’s
secret remained sealed on Acosta’s
order. Until now.
Garbo’s writings to Acosta - 113
items including 25 letters, notes,
telegrams, photos and poems - were
opened on die 10th anniversary of the
actress’s death Saturday. About half of
them were laid out Monday before the
media at the Rosenbach Museum and
Library.
The writings chronicle a 28-year
friendship of ups and downs, but they
give no explicit evidence of a lesbian
relationship, said the actress’s grand
niece Gray Reisfield Horan, 40, who
witnessed the unsealing.
“Garbo’s mystery remains intact,”
she said Monday.
Acosta gave the letters to the
Rosenbach in I960 with the stipulation
they not be opened until 10 years after
both women were dead. Acosta, who
wrote in her autobiography about a
deep relationship with Garbo, died in
1968. Garbo died April 15,1990.
Half of the writings will open to the
public Tuesday through June 4, along
with tidbits from the women’s past,
including a tracing of Garbo’s foot and
Acosta’s Bible with cutout photos of
Garbo pasted inside. The entire collec
tion will be available only to scholars.
The museum would not allow
excerpts of the letters to be directly
quoted, citing the Garbo estate, which is
reserving the right to publish the mate
rial.
“The fact that the letters didn’t say
anything explicit, like I love you or I
need you, says a lot,” said Garbo biog
rapher Karen Swenson. “Mercedes
would have demanded that from her
lover and pasted it in her Bible.”
“Other researchers may see some
thing different,” Swenson said. “If they
feel the need to see lesbianism, they’ll
see it
“But for anyone to have expected
she would say anything explicitly was
^ Garbos
mystery remains
intact.”
Gray Reisfiekl Horan
Garbo’s grand-niece
contrary to Garbo’s character.”
Garbo was one of the worlds most
famous recluses. After starring in 26
films, including “Anna Christie,”
“Mata Hari” and “Grand Hotel,” she
walked away from Hollywood in 1941
for a life insulated from the public and
press.
Ten years earlier, she had met
Acosta, a woman who also claimed
affairs with actress Marlene Dietrich.
The letters chronicle Acosta and
Garbo’s on-and-off relationship from
1931 to 1959.
Agency makes virtual newscaster for web
LONDON (AP) - She has green
hair, big eyes, slightly jerky move
ments and a vaguely American accent.
She says she is “the face of the future.”
Her developers hope she’s a gold
mine.
Ananova - billed as the world’s
first virtual newscaster - makes her
debut today on the Internet. With a
click of a mouse, computer users
around the world can have breaking
news bulletins read to them by the
glamorous cyber-anchor, programmed
to exude a range of human emotions.
Her creators promise that is just
the beginning.
“She’s a lot more than a talking
head that reads die news,” Mark Hird,
publishing director at Ananova Ltd.,
said Tuesday in launching the creation
to die media. “She’s a computer with a
face in front of it, not a face with noth
ing much behind it It’s a phenomenal
information resource.”
In addition to the virtual newscasts
- which are delivered TV-style by a
head-and-shoulders Ananova and
come complete with a commercial
break - users can arrange to receive
tailored e-mail bulletins on subjects
that interest them, from sports scores
to stock alerts.
Just as with a host of other Web
sites, they also can browse entertain
ment listings, buy tickets and make
use of Ananova’s dedicated search
engine.
“I’m your personal assistant in a
digital world,” the animated cyberan
chor said from a video screen at the
media launch.
Ananova was developed by
Britain’s Press Association news
agency, which has gone so far as to
rename its new media division
Ananova Ltd.
Ananova “will completely change
the way we communicate,” said
Vivienne Adshead, the company’s
commercial director.
Others were more muted in their
assessment
“It’s quite a cute idea,” said
Rebecca Ulph, an analyst with Internet
specialists Fletcher Research Ltd in
London. “I think it will appeal to the
younger end of the market and people
who are new to the Internet, people
who want a filtering mechanism
through all the news that’s out there.
“It’s a marketing idea, rather than
anything really innovative or exciting,”
she added.
But several Internet watchers said
they were unaware of anything else
like it in cyberspace.
“It's tempting to say it’s a gimmick,
but I think it sounds like a very good
idea,” said Cliff Douse, editor of
British-based Internet Advisor maga
zine.
Ananova has a definite glamour
factor: She bears more than a passing
resemblance to Posh Spice, a.k.a.
Victoria Beckham.
Several designers reportedly have
expressed interest in fashioning her
wardrobe.
But her creators dismissed claims
that she’s just another cyber-babe
along the lines of Internet icon Lara
Croft, buxom heroine of the video
game Tomb Raider.
“We did some tests and in general
people said they preferred to get their
information from a woman,” Adshead
said. “She’s been designed to appeal,
though, to both men and women. She’s
not a babe. She’s a sophisticated real
time computer system.”
She’s also, her developers hope, a
nice little earner who will generate
revenue through various e-commerce
partnerships and “commercially con
fidential” projects.
The company will not reveal how
much their anchor cost to develop or
how much they hope to bring in when
Ananova Ltd. is sold in the next few
months, though a sale figure of $400
million has been reported. Robert
Simpson, Ananova’s chief executive
officer, said the firm is talking with
bidders and expects to announce a sale
in the next month or two.