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4B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Magazine - Thursday, December 2, 1999
Nobel laureate's winding road leads to Ann Arbor visit

The Michigan Daily -Weekend, etc. Magazine -

NAACP announces
Image Award nominees

By Jeff Druchniak
Weekend, Etc. Editor
Students, faculty and local fans
will migrate to Rackham
Auditorium tonight to hear Wole
Soyinka give a reading, but perhaps
it's more impressive that Soyinka
made it to the University campus at
all.
It hasn't been a smooth proposi-
tion in the making. The University
attempted to arrange an appearance
by this towering figure in world lit-
erature last year, but the vagaries of
Soyinka's rigorous schedule could
not be accomodated, and plans were

put on hold.
This year, the
reading is
scheduled for
takeoff. (But
according to
lain Twiss, who
oversees visit-
ing writers for
the University's
E n g l i s h
Department,
Soyinka won't
even stay the
night in
Michigan after

'Wole
Soyinka
Rackham
Tonight at 5

delivering his performance and
greeting his audience afterwards at
a reception.)
But that's nothing new for
Soyinka, who doesn't need to be
flippant to say he's been there and
done that. The Nigerian writer's
diverse and demanding career has
been a luminous example for
decades, but it pales in comparison
to the nearly three years he spent as
a political prisoner during the
Nigerian Civil War. Soyinka served
most of that time in solitary con-
finement, and the staggering ordeal
See SOYINKA, Page 58


Los Angeles Tunes
Universal's "The Best Man," a
romantic comedy about a group of
black yuppies who experience love and
conflict as they prepare for a wedding,
and WB's comedy "The Steve Harvey
Show" were the leaders Wednesday in
nominations for the 30th annual
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People Image
Awards.
"The Best Man," which marked the
debut of writer-director Malcolm Lee
and was a hit with crossover audiences,
scored nine nominations, including best
actor nods for Taye Diggs and Morris
Chestnut, best actress nominationsdfor
Nia Long and Monica Calhoun, and
acting nominations for co-stars Harold
Perrineau Jr., Terrence Howard, Melissa
de Soussa and Sanaa Lathan. The film
was also nominated for best picture.
"The Steve Harvey Show, about a
1970s R&B star turned high school
music teacher and now vice principal,
collected five nominations, including a
best actor citation for star Steve Harvey,
co-starring nominations for Cedric the
Entertainer, Terri J. Vaughn and Wendy
Raquel Robinson, and a nomination for
best comedy series.
Among networks and cable channels,.
CBS has the most nominations with 19,
followed by ABC with 15, HBO with
14, WB with 12 and NBC with 10. Fox
and UPN both have five nominations.
Other nonlinces for best picture

include "Life," "The Hurricane," "The
Matrix" and "The Wood." Besides
Diggs and Chestnut, the best actor
nominees include Denzel Washington
("The Hurricane"), Michael Clarke
Duncan ("The Green Mile") and
Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix").
Long and Calhoun are joined in the best
actress category by Debbi Morgan
("The Hurricane"), Lisa Gay Hamilton
("True Crime") and Rosario Dawson
("Light It Up").
Outstanding TV comedy series
nominees include "For Your Love,"
"The Hughleys," "Cosby" and
"Line's." Outstanding drama series
nominees were "Ally McBeal,"
' "Touched by an Angel," MB
and "The Practice."
The awards, which honor the best in
black entertainment in the fields of
film, television, music and literature,
will be handed out Feb. I1 and 12 at the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium in
California. A shortened version of the
ceremony will be broadcast April 9 on
Fox.
The ceremony may take on added
significance in light of the NAACP's
recent protest against the lack of racial
diversity on television. NAACP
President Kweisi Mfume has threat-
ened to stage boycotts and demonstra-
tions against at least one of the four
major networks if they do not take mea-
sures to increase diversity in front of
and behind the camera.

Taye Diggs and Nia Long heat up the screen in Malcom Lee's "The Best Man." The t
friend's wedding and briefly fall in love again. "The Best Man" has been nominated f

i

II

~Happy Holidays!


The Harlem Nutcracker

Thursday,

December 2,

8 p.m.

Courtesy of the Commonwealth Secretariat
Wole Soyinka speaks at a conference of the Scottish government on African policy.

Friday, December 3, 8 p.m.
Sat., December 4, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Sun., December 5, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Detroit Opera House
Featuring striking sets, spectacular costumes and
exuberant choreography, more than 80 performers
catch the holiday spirit and make it soar on this
magical journey back in time to Harlem in the 1930s.


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$So

THE

G r a p h i c M a g i c i a n
Prints from the Norton Simon Museum
Now through January 16, 2000

. 5" ^ :

File Photo
LauecenFishtbwm's irole in MMatW
gamemed him an image Award nomiatuio.


Handel's Messiah
Saturday, December 4, 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 5, 2 p.m.
Hill Auditorium
Ring in the sounds of the Christmas season
with the UMS Choral Union, performing
Handel's beloved oratorio.

Trace the career and life of this
startling and original 20th-century
master through his print work
Call 419-255-8000
for more infcrmation
Pablo Picasso, Woman with Hairnet, September 1956
AN rsbo icasso©999Estateof
Pablo Pcasso/Arusts Rights Society (ARS),NewYork
This extortion has been orpnied by tthe Norton
Snion Misemaid tie Ins & K. Gerald Center fo
VmelArts at Stanord Unr.ersityThis a icon has
been made pow~e-by a generous grant from
JIM and John Freidenndi
THAT SUPPORTS PUOUC
PROGRAMS IN THE ARTS


a am~r4c-t-bInrd dClight."
Courtesy of MTV Pictures

Courtesy of www.corbus.com
Denzel Washington was honored with a nomination for his
role as a boxer in "The Hurricane," a film that has yet to
be released.


University Musical Society - 764.2538

The Toledo Museum of Art