Ieavy rains
tause problems
or 'U' buildings
By Maggie Weyhing pipe became backed up with water and
Daily Staff Reporter because it was not capped, it came in
While many of the campus buildings through this pipe," he said.
4re undergoing construction, natural disas- Brooks said that the damage was min-
ter has hindered this process. mal and that the problem was handled on
Heavy rains and high winds took their sight.
toll on the construc- The Frieze
tion process of both Building, which
the Frieze Building is currently being
and West Engineer- This situation really re-roofed by
ing during the past , a deal Slavik, Butcher
two weeks. wasn any bIg and Baecker con-
West Engineer- compared to what tracters of Roch-
ug experienced ester Hills, also
me flooding in the could have happened." fell victim to
basement because of - Scott Lindsay driving rainfall.
rain. Ken Brooks, As a result, many
general foreman of field superintendent of the ceiling tiles
roofing and sheet- were ruined or se-
metal elevators for the University, said verely damaged.
that the water came into the building Scott Lindsay, field superintendent for
through an old pipe that was not properly Slavik, Butcher and Baecker said that he
capped. and his men were completely taken by
"Whenever there's blowing, sideways surprise by the rainfall that ruined the tiles.
,in on an older building such as West En- "Weather is a big part of our job,"
ineering, metalcomes loose." Lindsay said. "We watch the weather
Brooks said that the force of the rain very closely. We have a satellite dish on
apparently caused an old pipe that led into our roof at our home office so that we
the basement of West Engineering to can monitor the weather the day before
break open. "A contractor found this old we go out to work. This rain cloud
abandoned pipe and it wasn't capped from formed out of nowhere that day. We did
the inside. We had so much rain that this manage to get most of the roof cov-

Wednesday, August 9, 1995 - The Michigan Daily -- 3

Roofers have covered the top of the Frieze Building with a protective tarp.


ered, however."
John McCallum, roofing foreman for
the University, said that he has heard of
no damage caused by the soaked tiles.
"I'm assuming the rooms in the build-
ing good shape and that no materials or
equipment inside of them were dam-
aged."
But, McCallum added that in a case
of any damage, the contractors would be
held responsible.
Lindsay said that the tiles that were
damaged were old tiles that were going

to be replaced anyway. He also said that
there was no damage to any rooms in the
building.
"Getting caught wide open in bad
weather duringconstruction can be devas-
tating," Lindsay said. "This situation re-
ally wasn't any big deal compared to what
could have happened."
Brooks said that the University just re-
cently switched to a new policy for as
taking precautions against damage dur-
ing campus construction.
"What we're currently doing is vid-

eotaping ceilings before the construction
takes place. We've run into situations
quite often in which some of the ceiling
tiles are stained from leakage after con-
struction," Brooks said. "However, it's
hard to prove after the fact that the tile
stains were the fault of the contractors.
Should we have to go to court, a videotape
would certainly help."
Brooks said that the University for-
merly relied on the confidence of the
maintenance men that were present during
the construction to notice any damage.

......,..b.. .,. . . .. ., ,,. ..,. ...., ... .. ... .

Poets slammed in coffee house competition

By Marisa Ma
Daily Staff Reporter
Poetry readings meet the Rocky Hor-
ror Picture Show when the sixth annual
National Poetry Slam begins today. While
there is no repeated performance or outra-
geous costumes, a slam does draw a bois-
terous crowd that will gladly voile its
*pinions,
The slam will draw talented poets
from 25 cities nationwide and around the
world.
Allowing authors to perform their po-
etry, slams are also designed to entertain
and involve the audience.
The first poetry slam dates back to
1984 in Chicago. Originator Marc Smith's
two interests - boxing and poetry -
melded into the creation of the competitive
poetry bout. After Chicago, Ann Arbor
ecame the second venue for the slams.
Winning poets at their local sun com-
petitions assemble into teams of four from
each participating city and battle it out in
the nationals for the next four days. At the
same time, individual poets are competing
at the tournament.
This year's Ann Arbor slam team
member Carmen Bugan, an RC junior,
competed in the NationalPoetry Slam two
ears ago, and said that she is looking for-
ard to this year's competition.
"It gives us a chance to compete in
open forum with a nice performative qual-
ity, memorize poems, and get a chance to

act upon it ... to tell a story," she said.
Slams also
give the audience
members the It's an oi
chance to voice re-
sponses to both the to experien
three-minute per- somet
formances and to
the judges' deci- real betwe
sions.
The scoring is
completed by a Ann Arbor Po
panel consisting of
one judge from
each represented city and three audience
members at each event.
The participation of the audience is
unique to the slam, which Bugan and fel-
low team member Todd Spenser appre-
ciate.
"I also like the audience of the Slams.
The audiences get to respond, get to boo
and clap ... when they like it," Bugan
said. "The people get a chance to laugh
and react to the poem."
Spenser said the slam is popular be-
cause of the interaction between poet and
listener, unique in the impersonal world
of television and the Internet.
"It's an opportunity to experience
something visceral, real between people
... that computers can't provide,"
Spenser said.
Bugan said the slam format gives
poets the opportunity to perform to a

larger audience and to reach more
people.
Deb Marsh,
pportunity co-organizer of
this year's Na-
ice tional Poetry
visceral, Slam, said that the
slam represents a
en people." wide range of
both poetry and
- Todd Spenser ages.
etry Slam Team "The very
first slam was five

"Many people have misconceptions
about it. Poetry slams still get little re-
spect," Spenser said. "(But it is just) a
different art form."
Eiad Swidan, manager of Not An-
other Cafe, one of the venues for the Na-
tional Poetry Slam, said he thinks the

competition offers a unique experience.
"I'm kind of eager to find what's it
about. I've heard about it from other
people," Swidan said. "It's something dif-
ferent, not sports competition, but mental
competition, with people using their
words"


years ago, and
four teams, now we get 27 teams from all
over the country," Marsh said.
Ann Arbor slam shows are per-
formed year-round at the Heidelberg res-
taurant on North Main Street. The shows
also include an open-mic and featured
performances.
Since 1991, Spenser has seen the size
of the audience at the Heidelberg restau-
rant at least triple.
Terry Boegel, co-owner of the
Heidelberg, which hosts the slams the
first Tuesday of each month, said she
agreed that slams were a populaar form
of entertainment.
"We've been doing (slams) about
eight years," Boegel said. "It's a pretty
full house when they do it."
Boegel said she expects business to
boom during this year's National Poetry
Slam.

EYE EXAMS AND EYE GLASSES
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