The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, April 13, 1993 - Page 9 Willard shows that magic is only relative by Jody Frank "Magic is only relative to people's experiences," Nancy Willard said after I pointed out that other people speak of a kind of magic that happens in her books. "I never thought of it as magic, just events." Willard is an essayist, novelist, poet and writer of children's stories, she also teaches English at Vassar College. While attending the University of Michigan for her undergraduate degree, she won six Hopwood Awards. At her reading this afternoon, she will read from one book of poetry, "A Nancy Willard Reader," and two novels that take place in Ann Arbor. The firstnovel "Things Invisible To See," is setin Ann Arbor during World War II. Willard said, "Toresearch that book, I read straight through theAnnArborNews on microfilm from just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the following summer, that's the time frame." Seeing magic in this book, Anne TIler quoted the first line, "In Paradise, on the banks of the River of Time, the Lord of the universe is playing ball with his archangels,"and said, "... it sets the tone perfectly.'The pointof this luminous first novel is that the miraculous and the everyday often co-exist, or overlap, or even that they're one and the same. Heaven and Time and God and baseball, all in a single sentence." Still, Willard said, "They [Willard's books] never seem super- natural to me." Her second novel, "Sister Water" will be coming out in May. "In the opening a man discovers that the map he owns of Ann Arbor is magic. Under the network of streets show all the underground rivers thatyou can'tsee thatlead into the Great Lakes." There are two forces in the book, one is the life of a family, the other, the secret life of water animals and creatures of the river. "I've spent a lot of time canoeing on that river (the Huron)," she said.w "The river people are really the descendants of the people who lived here before the Europeans arrived," Willard said, speaking of the river tribe of Pawquacha Indians, whose name means "water is their occupation." Willard said, "What got me interested in the Native Americans of Ann Arbor were the street1 names. There are so many of them." She also spent a lot of time at the Museum ofNatural History, where she gotmuchofherinformation on both the animals and the Indians who lived here. Willard has been writing since she was a child. "I used to spend summers in a very small town called Stony Lake where there were no newspapers so my mother told my sister and Ito make one. I'd go up and down the streets knocking on doors and say 'Is anything happening in this house?"'j The people who lived in this area were a lower working class with very little education, but Willard said "They were great storytellers. We would take their stories and print them on this old printing press and hand them out for free. I got used to hearing stories and writing them down." Willard feels that "There is a strong connection between listening to stories and writing them." Many people, when commenting on her books, speak of the way she mixes the mundane and the magical, however Willard doesn't see it as magic.To clear the quandary, come to the reading and decide for yourself. NANCY WILLARD will readfrom her work today at Rackham Amphitheatre at 4pm Trumpets Blare! Renowned trumpet performer and professor Armando Ghitalla will give his final concert before his retirement tonight with the University Faculty Brass Quintet. Ghitalla held the posi- tion of first trumpet for 28 years with the Boston Symphony, and has been on the University faculty since 1979. The program includes works by Bach, Boehm and Robert Sanders, a piece for which Ghitalla made the first re- cording. The concert takes place at at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 306 N. Division., at 8 p.m. Admission, astoundingly, is free. Call 763-4726. Early Bird Catches the Worm If you'd rather catch the bus to North Campus, catch the Early Music Ensemble in the Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music. Edward Parmentier will conduct the ensemble in motets of Krebs, Schiutz and Browne, as well as some Italian secular works by Gabrieli and the great Gesualdo. Kickoff is 8 p.m. and ad- mission is, what a surprise, free. Call 763-4726. Woody Allen's Greatest Film What's the Woodster's greatest work? Ask this question and you're liable to get a variety of answers. "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Love and Death" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" are the ones most often mentioned. Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong ag ain. Allen's best film is also his most recent, "Husbands and Wives." And now it's available on video, so if you missed it in the theaters, check this one out (if you've already seen it, watch it again; it holds up). Allen explores the one of our most sacred cows: permanent relationships (e.g. marriage). Allen's bleak conclusion? Forget it, it's all a sham. The film follows two unsuccessful marriages, between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, and Sydney Pollack and scene-stealer Judy Davis (who was robbed at the Oscars). Allen is drawn to college student Juliette Lewis and Farrow is attracted to Perfect Man Liam Neeson (whom she tries to set up with Judy Davis). The plot complications perfectly mirror real life. What's remarkable about this film, in comparison with Allen's other movies, is the unusual depth with which Allen probes his characters. Just when you think you know all there is to know about a character, Allen surprises you. The fine performances from the entire cast (including the usually weak Mia Farrow) complement Allen's script. The film is done as a faux documentary with interviews with the actors and a daring opening scene featuring a shaky handheld camera (dramatizing the unsteadiness of all relationships). The technique is a bit showy, but it works well and is hilariously entertaining. Safe sex lessons from Brenda Everything you ever wanted to know about taking the Pill by Chris Lepley Birth control is a very serious mat- ter. Statistics say that over one million teenage girls will become pregnant this year, even though three-fourths of sexu- ally-active teenagers say they use some form of birth control. How is that pos- sible, you ask? Don't you know any. teenagers? Obviously, they're screw- ing it up. The Way it Works, Women & The Pill With Shannen Doherty and Mary Lake Polan, M.D. Enter "The Way itWorks, Women & * The Pill," a new self-help video from the Searle corporation (which happens to make birth control pills, by the way. So they have only the purest of motives in presenting this video, right?) which teaches teenage girls how touse the Pill, ormore accurately, how notto screw up using the Pill. Teenagers are definitely the target audience of this video. Hip MTV-style graphicsareomni-present and the whole thing resembles nothing more clinical than the "Rump Shaker" video. There is a plot of sorts. Three teenage girls have nothing to do on a Saturday night (why aren't they out getting pregnant?) so they watch a TV special on the Pill. These three "everywomen"react to what they see on the screen with truly instruc- tive and helpful comments like "Oh my God, like, the Pill is so cool. It's 97% effective, did you guys know that?" and "I thought you couldn't get pregnant if you didn't have an orgasm?" Leftto their own devices, these three teens might -only further confuse the hapless video watcher in search of seri- ous advice about the Pill. Luckily, the videopullsinthebig demographic guns: its host is Shannen Doherty, the actress who plays Brenda Walsh on Fox TV's "Beverly Hills 90210." Shannen gets to run around on the street with a little phallicmicrophone (We know she's not a reporter. Who is she trying to fool?) and ask innocent bystanders insipid questions about sex. Luckily, these bystanders don't act any smarter than Brenda did when she cheated on Dylan in France, soShannen gets to demonstrate her intellect by mocking them. "I heard that the Pill makes your breasts bigger," one re- spondent says, rolling her eyes. "Well, I heard you can't get pregnant if it's the guy's first time," her friend chimes in (I guess those inexperienced sperm just can't get the hang of swimming their first'time out). Of course, the big question here is, what is a staunch Republican right- wing cigarette-smoking bar-fighter do- ing hosting a video about birth control? The Pill isn't abortion, but birth-con- trol, especiallybirth-control made avail- able to teenage women, isn't exactly a major plank on the Republican plat- form which Shannen Doherty claims to fervently support.'This video is geared towards young, high-school age girls, the same girls who are repeatedly de- nied access to viable birth-control in- formation in their schools because of bureaucratic pressure from right-wing activists. Shannen Doherty looks as out- of-place hosting this video as Senator Jesse Helms would ataRu Paulconcert. Why couldn'tSearlehave justasked Tori Spelling to host it? I know they wanted their spokesperson to look intel- ligent, but she's an actress, right? She could act intelligent ifshereally wanted to. And according to most accounts (the usual sources, Teen Machine, Teen Dream, Bop, Sassy, etc.) Tori, unlike Shannen, doesn't smoke, and smoking is a huge no-no to users of the Pill (you could, like, get cancer. What a major bummer, I'm sure). The biggest problem with Searle's video is its lack of usefulness. Accord- ing to the press release which accompa- nied the tape, this video is available free through your doctor (obstetricians and gynecologists only, sorry guys), but despite its claim to dispel many of the myths surrounding the Pill, what the video mostly does is say "Ask your doctor" about everything. Even Mary Lake Polan, the doctor from Stanford who gives most of the "expert advice" in the video, says "justask your doctor" after every answer. Checking with your RECORDS Continued from page 5 barren acoustic paintings of Neil Young as the wide-eyed visions of Sonic Youth. The trio even goes as far as to lift whole the riff of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" for their own "Jupiter and Teardrop." For the most part, Buffalo sticks to the standard three-person arrangement of guitars, bass and drums, but pianos lie sprinkled throughout the album like wrecked carsstill burning off theirgaso- line. It's a potent mix, and the band refrains from dissolving into cliched rock rave-ups,prefering toletthe subtle gravitational pull of "Wish You Well" and "The Hook" work its wonder on its, own. This is not to say that the album lacks energy, however. "Dixie Drug Store," a rambling account of a muggy July night in New Orleans works up a decentamount of steam andprovides an easy segue into the dullroarof"America Snoring," a seething indictment of the country of Daryl Gates' LAPD. "fuzzy" has already received much praise from both "Spin" and "Rolling Stone" and Grant Lee Buffalo seems poised to break, if not amongst the general populace, at least amongst the critics. Grab the record now and feel cool forowning itbeforeanyone else on the block. -Dirk Schulze Fastbacks Zucker Sub Pop Though the Fastbacks have been around in some form or another for close to a decade and a half, their latest album, "Zucker", may be what it takes to propel them from Seattle legend to greater popularity. The noisy girl punk- pop of this album is very catchy and reminiscent of the Pixies' or Breeders' best, with its loud, grungy guitars and big, thumping drums. The vocals, all soprano harmonies, call to mind Kim Deal and JulianaHatfield.Though simi- lar to these acts, the Fastbacks posses a hyper-manic energy all their own. They strike as quickly and powerfully as a sugar rush, taking the listener to the moon and back in two minutes or under. The lyrics to the songs are fresh and spontaneous, almost conversational: "I think I'll think next time" from 'That Was" is a good example. Clever, in- sightful, but not obvious or overbear- ing. And while most of the songs are driving, frenetic rockers that send drum- mer Rusty Willoughby into overdrive (such as "Believe Me Never," and "Bill Challenger"), the band is capable of slowing its tempo down enough tomake insightful, moving songs about rela- tionships, like "When I'm Old," and "That Was." Heck, there's even a BeeGees cover "Please Read Me," which is pure pop perfection. The Fastbacks are part of a new batchofmorepop-orientedbandssigned onto the Sub Pop label. If "Zucker" is any indication of the general quality of these bands, then they should be looked forward to with great anticipation. Though their songs sometimes travel faster than sound itself, the Fastbacks instill a need for speed. - Heather Phares "I seemed to be the only one i in the license renewal line who wasn't getting hostile. Theguy behind me waseudssing iw cowboy boots when I realized my Birkenstoeks were beautiful. It must be the way they cradle your feet because I really didn't mind waiting for my new driver's license. I even smiled for the photo." Milano"w .- " w Blffenstkdq : The original comfort shoe.- 209N FourthAve. 6634644 Open Monday thru Saturday 10-6 . - repair service G 1993 Birkenstock is a registered trademark. Perry doctorisessential when you starttaking any kind of medication, but if you ask your doctor all these questions, what's this stupid video for? Andin the end, that's what the video is. Stupid. The information it gives is available on pamphlets in every, gynecologist's office in the US., and it's asafebetno 15 year-old'smom and dad are going to see this video on the self- help shelf at Blockbuster and get it for their little baby to watch. Besides, if there are women out there who still think that they can't get pregnant if they're "on top" because "sperm can't swim up-hill," they needalotmorehelp than this video can give them. THE WAY IT WORKS, WOMEN AND THE PILL is available from your doctor. - I DEPARTMENT OF RECREATIONAL SPORTS ,. Weekend needs INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM CROSS COUNTRY RUN (5K/3.1 Miles) Entry Deadline: Friday 4/16