MARCH 1988 Life and Art U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 13 F. . ; Breaking the mold Los Lobos interview 'Sammy and Rosie' Tired of dorm life? Artist's heroes change Popular group breaks into Filmmakers bank on One student finds living from Roger Staubach to therlimelight withoutlosing seductiveness of "decaying1in a husra thrifty flPablo Picasso. its roots. Europe" in art flick, alternative. Page 18 Page 16 Page 15 Page 16 a America's most unpopul Vi etnamll is now Hollywood's holl By Marcbo Fernich The Daily Pennsylvanian U. of Pennsylvania Run for cover, the Vietnam War is back in style. Once a blight on the na- tion's conscience, America's most un- popular foreign conflict has traversed the full historical circle to become Holly- wood's hottest new commodity. Check out the movie list-you'll feel like it's 1968 all over again. You know, draft card bonfires, Gene McCarthy, "Hell No We Won't Go," and all that groovy stuff. Ho-hum. Retro-chic rides to the rescue. A cluster ofVietnam films -Apocaly- pse Now, The Deer Hunter, Coming Home - surfaced in the late '70s, but their release hardly spawned a Vietnam renaissance. Why, then, this rekindled interest in Robin Williams is irreverent disc-jockey Adrian C the United States' most inglorious socio-political skeleton? More impor- psychological and moral wounds. tantly, why now, when there are so Following the unexpected commer- many exigent world issues that art cial success of Oliver Stone's Platoon, needs to address? Back in the middle the major motion picture studios quick- and late '70s, the debate over Vietnam ly began churning out a slew of Viet- ground to a halt as the nation tried to nam-inspired "message" films. By and erect a wall of repression around its large the bandwagon flicks-Gardens of traumatic memories of the war. Viet- Stone, Hanoi Hilton, Full Metal Jacket, nam was strictly taboo. But like time, Hamburger Hill and Good Morning money has a funny way of healing old Vietnam - were a mixed artistic bag, ar foreign war est commodity ronauer in 'Good Moming Vietnam.' but you have to wonder what kind of sincere political statement Paramount, Orion or EMI can possibly hope to make when its primary impetus is financial rather than aesthetic. As a result, a formerly touch subject has suddenly become trendy; merely the latest in an interminable series of socially conscious pop-culture move- See VIETNAM, Page 14 changing, rampant and creative as ever. Asaociate English Professor Con- nie Eble has a particular interest in on-campus slang. For an assign- ment in her class, Eble had stu- dents record 10 slang words along with their pronunciations, defini- tions, parts of speech, and sentence usage. The purpose of slang.is to provide new names for everyday concepts. Slang words generally have short lives, one to two years, but a few survive to become part of the lan- guage, such as "bologna" for non- sense information and "peach" for a cute girl. Interestingly enough, the origin of the word "slang" itself is unknown. Eble's students have their own theories about slang. "As soon as someone coins a term, it's his term unless someone comes up with the same word at the same time, which is unlikely," senior Carwile LeRoy said. All agreed roommates have a very specialized slang vocabulary, "I would think that slang would be used more in frats, sororities and dorms, but not as much in the Undergraduate Honor Court simp- ly because they speak more formal- ly," says LeRoy said. "I think the long-term study of slang is not worth it because it is so transitory," said LeRoy. "However, I think.it is important because it relates the things that the respect- able don't cover. I think any time a group of people who don't have any- thing to do get together, there is a potential for a slang word to be born," LeRoy added. "When people have time to kill, they get creative." Latin America is open classroom for cyclist By Kate Peterson The Minnesota Daily U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities Call it a seat-of-the-pants education. Actually, it was from the seat of a 10- speed bike. Liberal Arts senior Nicolas Carter recently trekked alone through Latin America on a four-month tour, gathering information for three inde- pendent study courses. "People should learn without sitting in a classroom," Carter said. "The whole idea of being in school is about getting out. Instead, people should find a way to make school more interesting while they're there." Carter, who was born in the United States but raised in Paraguay, started peddling from San Diego and arrived in Panama City, Panama, four months la- ter. Before leaving, he arranged with three University professors to study Mexican masks, Mayan ruins and Latin American slang used to describe North Americans. His 70-mile-a-day trek was inter- rupted to visit the Mayan ruins at Copan, Honduras, and seven Mexican mask makers. His intercultural com- munications project was continuous throughout the trip, he said. For the language project, Carter will turn in a "semantic analysis of terms used to refer to U.S. citizens." Latin Americans commonly refer to North Americans as "gringos" and "yanquis," he said. Also, common perceptions are that Americans work too much, are too strict and too delicate. For his second class, Carter said he will write a paper on Copan and show his professor the photographs he took of rooms for $2 or $3 a night. He saved enough to buy some of the wooden masks he was studying. "In rural areas, and especially Nicaragua, everything is really cheap, too cheap really," he said. Carter expects to receive credit from the theater, studio arts and intercultu- ral communications departments. After graduation, he hopes to work in Latin American theater to educate people ab- out social and political issues. Senior Nicolas Carter received his course credit while biking around Latin America. the site. While interviewing seven mask makers and visiting several museums, Carter learned that Mexican masks and dancing ceremonies "express some of the fears the people have, especially of the Devil." He will also write a paper on the subject, illustrated with photo- graphs he took of the masks and their creators. Biking gave Carter the luxury of traveling the countryside and avoiding tourist traps. Even though he budgeted himself on $7 a day, Carter said he "ate very well." At night he camped out, stayed in people's homes or rented hotel