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Advocate, February 1994, Vol. 6, No. 1

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Volume 6, number 1 February, 1994

life, grounded in both history and and privacy. "During Tiananmen theory. Cultural The Whole Square, students were getting the Every year the Center for news out and were fundraising Studies Cultural Studies puts out a call for World is through Internet," adds Tom Graduate Fellows. Each year's Mandel, a futurist with SRI Inter­ group of fellows (who have in past national, a Silicon Valley-based • 1 1 at CUNY years been drawn from English, Talking consulting firm. "There were a By Barbara~artinsons Psychology, Art History, Comp. bunch of us hungrily reading Lit., Anthropology, Political By Kevin Cooke and Dan Lehrer newsgroups, stuff we weren't Cultural Studies is not, as Science, Sociology and Philoso­ getting from reporters." recently suggested in the Times phy) helps to determine the focus Halfway around the world, (Newsgroups are open discussion Magazine Section, the move that of the Center's activities for the Warn Kat files daily reports on life gro~ps where people can post their in Zagreb, Croatia. "I just stood views.) followed deconstruction in the following academic year. Over the literary - or any other - academic past few years the Center has . about half an hour in the supermar- But the Net is changing more fashion game ( 1/23/94, p. 25, attrib­ considered a variety ·of topics from ket downstairs watching a firmly than just the flow of information; uted to Roger Kimball). But the fact the identity of the postmodern self built man .... He was shouting at it's changing the way we relate to that this characterization appeared in to The New Immigration. This everybody in the shop," he wrote one another. The advent of global the Times is (once again) proof that year the emphasis is on . on May 24. "From what I could networking is fragmenting and re- its often easier to be glib and shallow technoscience. Each area on which understand, he said that when sorting society into what one . than to try to understand what's the Center works is connected to a Croatia was under the Serbs (i'n author calls "virtual communities." happening. Cultural Studies springs project, a conference, or both. former Yugoslavia), the price of Instead of being bound by location, bread was at least half of what it is groups of people can now meet in from intellectual roots that developed The CAMEO Project, for now. Just a few days ago I heard cyberspace, the noncorporea1 as modernism [the Enlightenment, example, which tries to practice a Matthew Arnold, the Bauhaus, reformulated ethnography, ex­ somebody say that under the world existing between two linked communists we had our problems, computers. There they can look Impressionism, Realism - or make plored the intersection of identit~, your own llstJ seemed to lose its community memory and culture m but now under the capitalists we for colleagues, friends, romance or po]itical and intellectual P,OWe[; three Latino neighborhoods in New have our problems too. What is sex. John Hoag, communica~~o~~,.. ork Cit Th 1-0 ·ect considered- Yle 9iff~r.~'}$ ~f :z:~.~ ~~ ,.~r ,~b.t?. _..,,.coOl.·d\n=~T-Eo~~-1: _ ~ . . . Raym~nd Williams ant\ 'lti.~hard waj n1 W · · ·-···-: both personal and politic~ idenut!'. 6 · a:n · r e wof g 1t1 · Hoggart, Bakhtin and Demda, "Zagreb Diary," don't appe~ _in One of the outcomes, earned out m 1986, says, "I met more peopl~ on­ Heidegger and Dilthey, Gilles Yugoslav papers or on telev1s1on. collaboration with The New Mu­ line inside a month than I met m Deleuze and Michel Foucault, They exist in cyberspace. Kat . seum of Contemporary Art and the past ten years." Gayatri Spivak, Fredric Jameson and types them on his own computer m several neighborhood groups, is an Have modem, will travel. Donna Haraway. Zagreb and sends them by mo~em installation called Testimonio, The Internet is the most Cultural Studies in an interdisci­ to an electronic bulletin board m which ran for four months at The powerful computer network on the plinary practice that is currently Germany. From there, his stories New Museum at 583 Broadway. It planet simply because it'-s the . developing in various forms on are relayed to computers around is now in the process of being biggest. It encompasses 1.3 mil­ campuses around the country and the the world via the global mega­ moved to each of the neighbor­ lion computers with Internet world. At the Graduate School, The infoimation stream called the hoods where the ethnographers addresses that are used by up to 30 Center for 'cultural Studies addresses Internet. first met and the members of the million people in more than forty the complex concept of culture: . "Electronic mail is the only communities they would study. countries. The number of comput­ including the boundaries and d1stn­ link between me and the outside Through the InterAmerican ers linked to the In tern et has bution of power both within and world," says Kat, writing by e­ Cultural Studies Network, the doubled every year between 1988 beyond the university. Among the mail. The Croatian government Center continues to create an and 1992; this year the rate of areas of inquiry are cultural commu­ owns all the major media in the international bridge with 0ther increase slowed slightly to 80 ,< nities, marginalized discourses, new country and is prosecuting a group l cultural studies group, firSt in percent. To reach it, one needs forms of knowledge and new of journalists for treason. . . Canada, the US and Latin America, only a computer, modem, and knowledges, and emerging cultural Kat is only one of the mllhons ... at a conference in Mexico City last password. Dan Van Belleghem, practices. The developin~ Cultural of people participating in this . spring, and later this-spring at a . who helps connect organizations to Studies curriculum examines the community without walls. Dunng conference in Bellagio, Italy. It is the Internet for the National Sci­ ethnographic, epistemologi~al, . other recent cataclysms, the important to the Center to d~ ~ork ence Foundation, says, "Nobody technological and textual d1mens1ons Internet provided an instant, in Cultural Studies as a participat- .. has ever dropped off the network. of intellectual work and of everyday . unfiltered link to the world. Continued on page 6 "In Russia, during the coup Continued on page 6 attempt, people were providing live _ ·, _ COLUMNS AND.FEATURES·. ___ _.·:_._ reports on Russian Internet about .. : PORTFOLIO. ·· ... _ Editorials & Letters...... 2-3 what was really going on. They were widely circulated on the Net," ' Ask Aph rodite •····································· ...... 3 The Artist's Vision of Valkyrie in Valhalla...... •...... 4 says Mitchell Ka12or, founder_of CURTIS JAMES The Free World...... Stefan Smagula...... 5 Lotus Development Corporation In Celebration of Movies...... Elizabeth Powers...... k 98 and now chairman of the Elec­ Black History Month tronic Frontier'Foundation, a group Artb eat...... Jeannette Radredense •·······n page7 C1ty. s·t1 es ...... Charles Naylor...... advocating "electronic civil liber­ ties," primarily freedom of speech .....

Page2 Advocate February 1994 I

1! l

Editor's Note Letters to the Editor

Welcome back to a new Dear Editor, poor food service? As for objec­ semester, and a new incarnation of Finally, we feel lucky to tivity, this position presupposes the CUNY Graduate Advocate. feature the work of novelist In one of the editorials in the that some are purer than others, Our February issue introduces Charles Naylor for our City Sites December, 1993, •issue of The especially impure DSC members, several features, to help offset the column. A native New Yorker who Advocate you referred to me and and that readers are unable to blues this nasty, short, cold and has studied English literature at G. Ganter, albeit anonymously, as differentiate and interpret the brutfah month. In time for CUNY Grad Center,"Charles "pompous twits". The editorial politics behind a given article. Valentine's Day, we celebrate Naylor inaugurates what will be an went on to imply that we attempted I agree that The Advocate whatever erotic heat we can gener­ open forum for reflection and to censor the newspaper, and called needs overhaul, or more specifi­ ate with the help of our epistolary thoughts about the City which is­ for a paper that is independent of cally a redefined purpose. This goddess of love, Ask Aphrodite. for better or worse-our campus the DSC. newspaper is the only vehicle Send your tempests to ~er teapot and our home. What distinguishes To respond first to the name­ GSUC students, and their govern­ for March, care of the Advocate, our graduate experience from that calling, you certainly damage,your ment, the DSC, have to force this and see what she can brew for you. or our peers at more sheltering, credibility by using the student institution, and CUNY in general, Another innovation we kick off insular institutions is the challenge newspaper to insult fellow students to treat everybody fairly and this month is a series of regular of taking the City on its own terms, who might even be "pompous according to due proc;;ess, and to columns, featuring first-person with all that it entails for our daily twits", whatever this means. fulfill this public university's singular takes on what Winona & lives. We teach throughout the five Still, I think that this insult mission. The Advocate should Co. might describe as "Reality boroughs; our students are remark­ demonstrates more than• pique and tirelessly pursue pro-student news Bites." For Valkyrie in Valhalla able for the diversity of their points to the heart of The stories and encourage all students and Unemployed Man in the Free origins, viewpoints, and for the Advocate's recent, !lnd, perhaps, ( even DSC Steering Committee World, it might be fair to say that challenges they face. The City future politics. When I called the members) to write and get involved reality merely nibbles. University of New York is still a former editor, Christina Pretto, with the student government. Our Artist's Po1tfolio this place of hope and oppo1tunity. It

year-old painter, Curtis James, Learning while we teach, we was unnecessarily hurtirrg a's'ingle ,. whose powerful portraiture has struggle against the auste1ities of student. I felt it was wrong-:headed Andrew Long, already landed one of his works, an administration which believes for the student newspaper to DSC Co-Chair, The Hands of Labor, on the walls the humanities are a luxury in criticize a single student, no matter Student Affairs of the· White House. If our por.tfo­ public education. The Advocate what his "faults" are in this par­ lio piques your interest, you can '94 hopes to be a collage of voices, ticular case, when the fact•is that Ed. We do take dining hall ads. Sorry, see several of his works at St. John catching us in meµias·res, as it the GSUC administration; whether Andrew. lfyou want to take out an ad, we'll be happy to take that also. . the Divine during the month of were, of our individual and collec­ represented by Econ6mics EO February, or at the Harlem Street tive odyssey through the CUNY Michael Grossman, Vice President

~ Gallery. doctoral epic. Floyd Moreland, or President r Horowitz, has been variously r Dear Editor, r arrogant, abusive and incommuni­ r The Advocate welcomes letters. Please include your cative. This seems mote newswor­ r As one of the student leaders telephone number for verification. thy when we are part of an u~­ t described as "a pompous twit" for r All letters are subject to editing democratic institution where an r suggesting the title of the Michael in the interest of clarity and individual student, or even.the r Y omi cover story be changed, I , to meet space requirements. DSC, has almost no power or r would like to explain my reaS<''i. Internet E-Mail address: recourse to redress wrongs. I told , felt the article should be ~cl r NER@CUNYVMSJ .CUNY.EDU Christina she could do Whatever "Y omi Refuses to Thke Exam" r she wanted and that the DSC could r rather than "Organized Support for The City University of New York Graduate School not and would not interfere with r Yomi Falters" because the article r Advocate publication. I added that the .article r doesn't say much about how p would upset people and-that she student support for Michael Y omi r Pamela Renner, Editor would be criticized._ ...U nfonu:; has faltered. Rather, the article Valerie Walker, Associate Editor nately, the editorial gff~r~ an all details the controversy around · Michael Weinstein-Mohammed, Associate Editor too familiar conflation:"of criticism Michael's refusal to take the exam. Stefan Smagula, Designer and censorship. And as the December 14th rally The idea of an independent or showed, student support fQr Yomi The Graduate School and University Center "objective" newspaper is. problem­ is still strong. of the City University of New York atic, especially if one is dependent The editors allege that they 33 West 42nd Street upon advertising revenue. ·what if were being "censored" because t New York, New York 10036 The Advocate accepted ads from r Telephone: 212-642-2852 student go~ernment mem\)ers vyere The Dining Commons (on the 18th r critical of the article as it stood in r floor) - which they do not - The opinions expressed in The Graduate Student Advocate are those of the draft. The bylaws of The Advocate wouldn't they feel compromised individual contributors and in no way reflect the opinions of the clearly give the editors total fiscal Doctoral Students' Council, its officials or its representatives. when students wanted coverage of .I

February 1994 i:\dvocate Page 3

and supervisory control-even the letters to the goddess may be dropped in Media Board, which is responsible the A9vocate mailbox in the DSC Office for hiring the editor, is excluded from editorial power. It worries me that rep01ters Christina Pretto and Michael Weinstein still don't understand the key issues in the Y omi case. They don't understand how much control an Executive Officer holds in a department, both formally and 'i'Dear Aphrodite: their careers defending Robert Cham­ to date fellow students. I'm out­ informally, rror have they looked I came to graduate school to bers, Jr. and Lorena Bobbitt, but most raged. I didn't ask her to sleep with into the allegations of racism in the improve my mind. Ever since the went to graduate school and majored me. I'm not even sure I asked her Economics department. However, term began, however, I've been im­ in politically correct fields of study. for a date. I just wanted to get to I fully support the editors' right to proving it by having really intense In fact an informal survey of student know her better. Is this what p.c. publish what they see fit. conversations with this guy after government members taken at the has brought us to? class. But just when he's in the last DSC party discovered that the - Frustrated in French ,I G. Ganter, middle of making some important average age at which student leaders DSC Steering Committee point, I s~ait thinking about the color lost their virginity was 18. Need I Dear Frustrated: and Media Board member of his eyes. I can't believe I'm doing say more? Remember this: student Stop being so pretentious. this. I came to graduate school for leaders never die. They just move on It's obvious you were hitting on intellectual stimulation. l feel so to the next school and give more bad "Darlene." Otherwise you would J Student government at the shallow. parties. have written me about an encoun­ graduate lev~l- A popularity -Anxious in Anthro. -Aphrodite ter with a "fellow student" and contest , social events, stepping have given her a non-gender spe­ stones to the good old boy net­ Dear Anxious: cific pseudonym. work? This was my impression of 0b't'iously you haven't been -Aphrodite the Doctoral Students Council for in graduate school long. Graduate most of my years at the Graduate studenfsdon'thave time to cultivate Aphrodite: Center. That was until recently, meaningful relationships outside of 'i'Dear Some students in my de­ when faced with dismissal from school. Several of my girlfriends partment seem to be everywhere. from the Educational Psychology haven't had a date for years. In the They're on every committee, at Program after ten years and ai the academic environment, think of every party, and are on a first name proposal stage of my dissertation. t the ad ice of a · nd tacted Andrew Long, President of world. -So don't feel so shallow, inadequate. Is their ease around the Doctoral Student Council, and he's probably thinking about your the depaitment a sign of their ge­ explained my plight to him. With eyes too. nius? Should I hate them or de­ great speed and concern, Mr. Long ---Aphrodite cide that I don't cai·e? responded to my situation, and -Insecure in English pursued it in an aggressive manner. eDear Aphrodite: He provided me with valuable I always thought New York Dear Insecure: counsel which enabled me to was a\vild place. One of the reasons You're obviously a first formulate an 'effective defense of I chose to go to the Graduate Center year student. Take it from me, my position, and contacted admin- · was because I hoped I would meet these people you see around the istrative officials on my behalf. His interesting•people and do exciting department are even more inse­ help made me feel like there was things with them. Then I went to a cure than you are. Afterall, they're someone on my side, at a time DSC party: My high school prom several years closer to not getting when I felt most alone. was more .exciting. Some people jobs than you are. The only differ­ In October of 1993,. Associate · were dancing but that came to an ence is that they've been doing Provosi Ms. l>'arnela·Reid ordered endwhenthisdrunkenstudentleader 1 thi.'s for so long that they can worry my reiti:statemeht fh_e.E'duca'- launoh~d into a long speech de- to and be on a first name basis with tional Psycliology Program. At this nounoing someone named Reynolds. their professors at the same time. time, I would like to publicly The girl I' was talking to started Besides, in a year or two they'll be express my de~pest appreciation to chanting: t'n0 justice, no peace." ,Ev­ holed up in a garret somewhere 1 Mr. Long and Ms. McGann for eryone joined •in except me. She wrestling with the ghost of Emily their help in this IIIatter. Mr. Long looked-at"me like I was a·worm and Dickinson and you' 11 be on all the has remained in contact with me mutterM'somethingaboufgoingback 'i'Dear Aphrodite: committees. a'.tid shown ~t~at concern. I would to 80thi~treet ..where I belonged. As any graduatestudentdoes, -Aphrodite also: like to'tbank Dr. Reid for her What 'S with these people anyway? I spend a lot of time in the library. most professional and humane ,~DrsiHus'ioned in' Doctoral One evening, inten( on my stu_dies, l attitude in her treatment of me, and Studies ; lost track of the time and stayed later ... for how these proceedings were -.,,,., ,..,.t , • than µsual. Looking up, I noticed conducted. If any other student at Dear Dis: that I was alone in the main reading the Graduate_ Center is experienc- When will you people learn? room except for this woman~I'll ing sil'riilar difficulties, I would Remember those students in high call her"Darlene." Sure she's beau- strorig1y urge th'at'you ccintact Mr. school that you wouldn't be caught tiful, but she's also smart and in ~t.ong: 'H& 'arid. the 'DSC .rre the'ie dead talking to? The ones in student several of my classes. As the library

for tis'. .., . . C ' •, government? Well whatdoyou think was,. about to close, I asked her if happened to them after they went off she'd like to go out for a drink. She 'JacR· Weinstein to college? Sure, some of them macle told me that she made it a poiic,y n.ot .... Page4 Advocate February 1994

By Valerie Walker

1992 was an amazing, action- couldn't figure out the problem. you in there, perched on a cushion ning of this tale of tempers and packed, emotionally charged and She called the computer help and gabbing away; no one can tangled webs that 1992 shaped my inspiring year for me. The job I number, only to get a busy signal. shoot you impatient.glances. The life in many significant ways. I had for the first seven months of She swore, threw the phone re- bathroom& on this floor are also left Glamour in the summer and that year was largely responsible ceiver on her desk and turned back superior to the ones in the bottom· accepted another job, but my for the series of events that have to finish shoyeling her salad down level. The toilet is in a huge dissatifaction with the job and real- since shaped my life professionally in big, angry bites. Another time, I private stall equipped with a big life journalism eventually com- and personally. Something else dallied on the way back to her desk beautiful sink and polished brass pelled me to enter graduate school played an important role in my life with her morning cup of hot water. fixtures. in art history. I also left my boy- that year: pay telephones. My When I got back I showed her the Bendel's is only about a friend and started seeing the favorites were at Henri Bendel, the kind of tea I had bought-her usual dozen blocks away from Conde delicious one fair and square. department store on Fifth A venue hadn't been available. "That's not Nast. Over the course of the year, I don't get by Bendel' s much at 56th street. between battling with my boss and anymore. It's not because pay First, let me tell you about arranging secret trysts with my phones don't still play a large role the job. I was hired as an editorial ••• this man definitely delicious one, those private, comfy in my life-they most certainly do. assistant in fashion features at pay phones came in-handy. One (You can often find me using the Glamour magazine in October of meant major time, through a tortuous-series of one on the mezzanine level of the 1991. Glamour is a Conde Nast complications in my events, my boss found a way to grad center.) I still feel irrationally magazine, the same company that dump a lot of blame on me and gleeful when I find a nice. pay owns th.e titles Vogue, Mademoi- life. suggest that I migh_t be fired for phone tucked into some unex- selle, GQ, Self, Vanity Fair and what happened. It was at the end pected spot. But my life is un- Conde Nast Traveler, among of the day but a lot of people were doubtedly different than it was two others. I liked my job for the same the right kind," she snapped at me still milling around tl:fe office. I years ago, and I'm not worried reasons other lowly editorial and grabbed the cup full of steam- panicked, le.f! the office and went about eavesdroppers and suspi- ~ assistants at Conde Nast do: you ing water to throw it in the trash. walking around. Almost without cious bosses anymore. If, how- ~ get numerous perks, from your Generally, when tl\ings were realizing it, I found myself en- ever, I find myself at Fifth and r own petty cash fund for free moving at a high velocity, I'd sconced in Bendel's downstairs _ 56th,,the chances of.me ru:o_pping. r- ,__ -00!'¥"~rnoncznv1-£v+-•~781~~~~1i1Ml&i~illfllli!Jl!flel!!!ffll•iiiiffiilllel!lfill@M'ffl!ll!l'Rl!PIIMN•~~---- r--1.'I\Dcbes.,,and.bllSinesS"'1:eltrt~i.11 ~~1.'C - r- rides to all the freebies ("payola," to fight the sinking feeling in the mate boyfriend about my newest are extraordinarily good. r my Glamour boss termed it; a pit of my stomach. crisis. Somehow, the clean, ~ later boss called it graft) that The second pivotal event that brightly lighted and plush environ­ r magazines receive from companies year was that I met someone who ment comforted me. 'This is free, I I • r eager for publicity. Sure enough, I worked for Vanity Fair. I thought thought to myself happily. When r liked other things about my job. I he was adorable, fun, brilliant. As I'm done on the phone I'll go r · interviewed celebrities and fashion excited as I was to meet him, this splash around in the big bathroom. '1J. designers about, say, their morning man definitely meanl major com- Meanwhile, my secret love exercise-dress-cosmetic rituals. I plications in my life. I had a generally worked one or two hours r got to write a fashion news col- boyfiiend of a couple years and we later than me any given day. How umn. I attended lavish openings were long past the point where could I stay in the Conde Nast r orchestrated by public relations dating others casually was accept- neighborhood, be in touch, and '1J. r r companies as diverse as bars (that I able. Although I knew that this would never again frequent) and could really get me into hot water new jewelry collections at Cartier (arr additional quirk was that both "Hello, sweetness?' r (that I could never dream of buy- men had the same first name), I ,r ing). pursued this new relationship Are you finished , None of these things, how- covertly and with a lot of passion. soon? Where am I? , ' r ever, were what had the largest It's here that the Bendel's Oh, in the phone The Marxist Working Group r impact on me from day-to-day. A pay phones re-enter the story. is proud to present a ,r job is only as pleasant and interest- Henri Bendel open~ its new store booth at Bendel 's ... " Revolutionary Communist r ing as your employer makes it. My (the original one was on 57th evening on the question of: ,' employer was renowned on staff as street) in the Coty Building in Trotskyism: Revolutionary , . the toughest person to work for-a April 1991. If you've never been easily meet him t'or'a drink? You Marxism Today? r bully. A friend, hearing my tales there, I would recommend a visit guessed it. I would ring him up Featuring: , from my newly-found little lap of , i of daily woe, nicknamed her the for the phones and bathrooms ROY ROLLIN of porcupine. Still, I respected her alone. One set of telephones is in luxury .. "Hello, sweetne~s? Are THE INTERNATIONAL r • no-nonsense approach. She the downstairs. Once you get you finished soon? Where'am I? TROTSKYIST OPPOSITION shunned pretention and she could there, make a quick left. Two Oh, in the phone booth at Date: March 3, 1994 tum around a piece of mediocre phones await you. They have glass Bendel's ... ". It sounded so glam, Time: 8:30 PM writing so quickly that computer doors and comfortable seats, so as if I darted around from fancy Place: CUNY Graduate Center, keyboards were· barely fast enough you ·can chat in privacy and com- establishment to elegant watering 33 West 42 street, Rm. BM-1 O t for her fingers. What I hated and fort. The other set of pay plwnes is hole all day long, although he For Further Info: leave message I feared was her temper. On~e. her on the 4th floor. Each phone booth knew much better than to think at 212-642-2851 computer was malfunctioning and I has a frosted glass door, so you that. Free food and refreshments j feel quite isolated. No one can see I also mentioned at the ·begin- will be served I s -~-.-..----::.~------~------~- ...... ,.. . _..._ ::;..;:,..- -·~ ~ ~-~

February 1994 Page 5 Advocate ... ~~ ; 1 , Free Gratis for Nothing .,:i ,! J J Unemployed Man In the Free World .! J By Stefan Smagula j 1 A few weeks before the end, I (Almost) Free Museums City directly to the scienee center. film: get to MoMA (at 55 .West i went to the unemployment office. ·The Damage: about 5 bucks round­ 53rd Street) after 5:30 pm (the I The following museums are always 1 I signed vouchers for my last two pay-what-you-wish. I never wish trip. Check out the virtual-basket­ movie starts at 6:00) on a Thursday checks, and asked about an exten­ to pay more than the smallest ball game, and the exhibit on or Friday night and pay-what-you­ sion. The lady on the employed denomination coin I have in my 'talkies'. If you're into the arti­ wish. MoMA also scre~ns videos .... "7 ' side of the counter looked at me pocket. facts of technological culture, bring which often start at 6:00 pm. ., 1 and said: "You understand? This ❖Metropolitan Musetim an object which some budding 1 is it. After this there ~s nothing." (82nd street and Fifth Avenue) Beavis or Butthead could dissect, - 1 1 The happy days were over. It ❖ Brooklyn Museum (take the 2 or use in her or his next homemade ;:•Fridays: Free Film at MoMA­ bomb, and swap it for another ~ l was time for me to do the only or 3, get off.at Grand Army Plaza, See Thursday. The National : 1 responsible·thing: become a total walk down Eastern Parkway 3 object of equal value in the Acadamy of Design (5th Ave. at '\ ) J 1 miser." blocks) , center's Swap Shop. 87th St.) is free on Fridays from 5- ~ 1 All past cheapness became a ❖ American Museum of Natural Free film deal-on Wednes­ 8 pm. Don't forget about the mere prelude to my new, improved day morning, buy The Voice (eat library-it's not only a summons .I I History (79th Streyt and Cent;al .J t austerity. The spring break I spent generic macaroni and cheese for to scholarship, it's the foundation Park West) ~ J stranded at school with only 8 ❖Museum of the Cjty (103rd St. dinner to make up for this expense) of the Free World! Free books, ,.., 1 I , bucks, was just an appetizer. Even at 5th Ave.) . and look for the full-page film ad free magazines, free videos, CDs, .J 1 the summer when X was 15 and on ❖ Americaq Mu~eu'P. of Folk Art which offers a special screening for LPs, cassettes, and if your library my own in Hawaii, when I lunched (Columbus Ayr· at 65th St.) Voice readers. It will direct you to has open stacks, you may even be daily at the·focal·Safeway's bulk ❖The Cloisters (A train to 190 St. bring the ad to the Voice offices to able to find free love. I've-never food section (yogurt covered and walk through Fort. Tryon pick up a voucher good for 2 seats found it there myself, but on~e I walnuts were filling, but left the Park) Like a 'free trip. to medieval at a pre-release screening. For overheard some free love in the ; mouth dry), was just an apprentice­ Bruges,, only without the Bruges. some films, 100 or more cheap stacks-that counts for something, ship to my new vocation. people will show up at 9:00 am on right? That summer in Hawaii I Weekly Free Things Wednesday to get one of the 200 dined on Top Ramen (15 cents a ❖Mondays: A d,ay of rest for the vouchers. 9:00 am is pretty early, ❖ Saturdays: If you wear black, r bowl) with slices of hot dog for ·look bea.,utit.ul.and do,n.' l...,Q.,ind • ... ,,.. ... • ~-- J. ,, ~ 0 ... j -- · ·: ~ ft S I: e p ast1city . an I wit sugar-; s~l(~t,-ketchup­ ❖Tuesdays: Free Beer! Zip City ZOO! When it gets a little phrases like "negar1ve space"'. the and napkins. For dessert I ate (19th Street ne~r 6th Avenue) warmer you can take the IRT world of art gallery openings is mangos raided from someone's brews their own peer, and on subway to the Bronx Zoo (or yours. On any Saturday there are yard. Such, such were the joys of Tuesdays women drink for free whatever it is called now). On probably a dozen openings, each l my youth. from 8 to 10 pm: If you're not a Wednesdays from 10 am to 4 pm with free cheese, crackers and wine Living cheaply has a ce1tain woman, put on a mini and some you can pay_-what-you~wish. in little plastic glasses. All you artistic and literary aura-at least lipstick. I know th1s is going to Attach yourself to a friendly family have to do is call a few SOHO that's my silent mantra at restau­ test the mettle of some cheap men, from out of town, and maybe galleries, put ·on your best patron­ rants when my friends are chowing but think about it-'we're not they'll treat you to a ride with them of-the-ans accent, and say: "Hello. I down, and I'm drinking lots of ice­ talking about free beer, we're on the Wild Asia tramway. I'm calling because I heard that water. Plenty of ~eat'writers and talking about really good free beer. Pilovic is having an opening artists have exchanged parsimony ❖Thursdays: Thursday is the free­ soon ... No? Oh that's right-he's and frugality for art and fame · ❖Wednesdays: At 1:00 pm on the est day. So is Friday. Thursday with Castelli now ... well, when is (though I deeply suspect they all first Wednesday of each -month, the and Friday are free movie days at your next opening?" That should had hidden trust funds). Liberty Science Center becomes the Museum of Modern Art-and do the trick nicely. Enough musing-as I write pay-what-you-.wish (normally it's if the movie sucks, (it rarely this I'm burning lots of K-cals about 9 bucks). the cheapest way sucks), you can wander around the ❖ Sundays: If you like classical which will have to be paid for to get there is to hitchhike through museum and practice your eaves­ music, the Frick (Central Park eventually, not to mention the ink, the Holland tunnel and walk to the dropping skills in 7 languages. In East near 62nd) will give you free .. - paper and e~ectricity. center, about a inile south of the February MoMA is showing a tickets if you send them a letter and What follows is a highly tunnel. Thai:' S, whaf Kerouac century of French film, or at least self-addressed envelope three selective listing of things to do in would do. Or you can splurge and whole lot of French films, all made Monday's before the Sunday the free world. take the ferrY, f~om Battery Park by Gaumont smdios. To see a concert. This deal is only for those .i,_t 1 :.t who are organized. Check with the museum for the schedule of con­ r certs, and for exact details: If you Four Classics from the Master are not organized, there are always at 6:30 in room 1502 Grace a few unclaimed seats. and. you may be able to persuade an usher Bunuel F,ilm Festival to let you in if you are in the right Presented by the Center for Cultural Studies place at the right time.

Viridiana, March 3 The Exterminating Angel March 17 A final suggestion: If y<;m're a Los Olvidados, April 7 The Criminal Life of Archibaldo do la Cruz, April 21 critical wit, and there's a play, book, CD, or movie which you 're yearning to see for free, contact the Page6 Advocate February 1994

Continued from Page I-COOKE AND LEHRER scientists talking to one another," says Van Computer Center Workshops Belleghem. "Then educators and people Once they get on they get hooked. It's like involved in research or administration all Each month the Graduate School Computer Center selling drugs." wanted to talk to one another, get files, get to puts on various workshops concerning issues of aca­ While Internet experts deride the term libraries on the network. It's been opening up demic computing. Here are some of the month's high­ "information superhighway" as an empty and getting more open every year." Over the lights: soundbite, the concept works as an analogy to past decade, tens of thousands of nonmilitary understand how the Internet functions. Think networks have been connected to the Internet's -introduction to SAS-PC -Thursday 17, 2 p.m. • Room 309. Learn how to use a semi-user friendly of it as a massive road system, complete with electronic web, including the Library of Con- statistical package which is the standard in the sociology freeways, feeders and local routes. At every gress, most U. S. universities and libraries.and field. intersection sits a computer, which has to be private companies from General Electric to the -Introduction to SPSS- PC- Friday 18, 11 a.m., passed through to get to the next computer until Bank of Bermuda. Room 309. SPSS is a crucial statistical package for students into serious number crunching. you've reached your destination. Any com­ Of course, not all the sites are publicly -using the PC Scanner_ Wednesday 23, 9:00 a.m., puter on the Internet system can connect with accessible. Most private sites require special room 301. Learn how to incorporate illustrations, any other computer through the road system. passwords for entry, which only registered photos, and text into the PC. And if the route to your destination is closed, users and an occasional hacker can get. How- B"lntroduction to Vax Electronic Mail - Friday 25, 11 you will automatically take a detour to get ever, the amount of information available to the a.m. , Room 301. Forget the post office, welcome to the modem age of commu!'ications. Learn how to send m-ail there. on-line public is staggering. "Getting informa- electronically ( and receive it !) The difference between the Internet and tion off the Internet is like .taking a drink from a -Buying a PC-Monday 28. 12:00 p.m .• Room 301. the Interstate is that you can go to_ Finland as fire hydrant," says Kapor. Everything from the -Buying a Mac, Monday, 28, 2PM, Room 307. All quickly as you can go down the block. Once complete works of Shakespeare to the number you need to know about the plunge into the world of high there, you can remotely manipulate the com­ of sodas in a Coke machine at Carnegie-Mellon Lt_ec_h_c_o_m_p_u_ti_ng_. __M_ic_ha_e_l_W_e_in_s_te_in_-_M_o_ha_m_m_ed __ _ I f puter to do anything your own can do. You can University is accessible. Continued from page I-Martinsons - ' retrieve a file from it in the blink of an eye. The primary use of the Net is for I Today, users can talk to one another, communication, however. "Half the traffic on ing member of the larger international commu­ I nity. send e-mail back and forth, join arcane discus­ the Internet is e-mail at this point," says f sion-groups, tap into libraries in universities Mandel. The number of topics on the Schooling and the learning process are I from Berkeley to Bern and exchange almost newsgroups can be daunting. There are more also ongoing interests of the Center. A project any sort of data, including pictures, sound and than 2,500 different subjects, ranging form one on the demographics of New York City high text. Recently, a cult movie called Wax was schools with high drop out rates was completed for fans of The Simpsons, to classified and . I broadcast to Internet sites all around the coun­ personal ads, to Bay Area politics.- last summer. The de facto segregation that try. While it was black and white and only two There are also, naturally, many groups occurs in some of the City's neighborhood high frames per second, it was an important first step dedicated to different computer systems and schools became glaringly clear as a result of - . casting. Also, a radio program is already are still the main users of the Internet. Some additional 9uestions about teachin__g and learn­ broadcast weeklv on the Net. comolete with people are using newsgroups to disseminate ing is centered on innovative interdisciplinary technology news and a "Geek of the Week" information from a different perspective. Harel curricula, currently underway in collaboration segment. Barzilai, a Cornell student in math, has created with the Institute for the Arts and Technology But it's not all smooth sailing on the a group for progressive activists, and he claims of Middle College High School. sea of information. On most computers, the that 23,000 people read his postings regularly. A few years ago the annual conference Internet is hard to use. The arcane commands His group ("misc.activism.progressive" in held dealt with student work in Cultural Stud­ r that run it make little sense to many average Intemetspeak) posts articles from leftist maga­ ies, both in and beyond CUNY; during other r users, who can find themselves lost in zines and alternative campus publications, as years the conference has bee11 held in conjunc­ r r cyberspace without a map. "The Internet today well as action bulletins on issues of concern. tion with CUNY departments, or has been r is still for computer weenies," says Kapor. "You 're not going to find anything to the left of managed jointly by the Center and other, non­ r r "But the problem will take care of itself," he the Democratic Party on TV or in newspaper," CUNY institutions. This year the Conference, r adds, because ~asier to use software tools will he says. "And for those of us who have access to be held at the GSUC from May 12-14th is r r appear as the Net grows. to the Internet, it's free to use it and post infor­ called Technoscience and Power: Implications r To make matters more confusing, mation. This is our chance to be heard." and Strategies. There will be panels on r r because the Internet is a network of networks, Like many Netheads, Barzilai thinks of Cyberknowledge and Technoculture; Individu­ r no one group or person is in charge. Kapor the Internet as a new communication model, als, Genes and Other Dicey Particles; and r , describes it as "anarchy~" Mandel says, "It's all allowing for unfiltered, many-to-many publish­ SciFi/Cyberpunk and Narration. Participants r very ad hoc." And R. U. Sirius, editor in chief ing, rather than the traditional hierarchical one­ will include Arthur Kroker, Andrew Ross, r r of the cyberpunk magazine Mondo 2000, says, to-many approach. "This is a situation where Samuel Delany, Judy Gregory and Fred "It's definitely out of control." money, or capital, does not have a monopoly on Jameson, among many others. There will be a Ironically, the anarchy began in the access," he says. conference-related musical performance on bowels of the Defense Department. Back in R.U .. Sirius agrees. "The role of capital Friday evening. An ongoing reading group has 1969, the Pentagon's Advanced Research as an editor is being removed," he says. Sirius, been meeting bi-weekly on Technoscience and Projects Agency created ARPANET, a com­ like many, feels a sense of l\beration on the Power, and welcomes any interested partici­ puter networking project, to transmit packets of Net. "The metaphor of the highway fits," he pants. Reading and study groups, including,.. military data securely and efficiently around the says. "Like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, from both faculty and students, continue to be an world. In 1984, the National Science Founda­ a,tight little community out onto the wide open important part of the Center's activities. tion began building five supercomputers around road. Everbody's out there; it's not a small The Center holds several colloquia, dis­ the country for conducting scientific research. elite system." cussions and presentations of Student Works in When Defense Department researchers wanted ♦:♦ Progress each semester. Recently these have access to the supercomputers as well, the N.S.F. included a slide/lecture presentation called lined them up with ARPANET. The popularity _ This excerpt is reprinted with the kind Marilyn Monroe Reading Ulysses, by John of computer access, especially to collaborate permission of the authors and the Nati.on Rocco of the English Program; a film in on-line, has steadily expanded ever since. magazine (July 12, 1993). progress called Beyond Survival Sex: Conversa­ "It was just a bunch of computer tions with Male Prostitutes, by Brian Bergen Continued on page 12 February 1994 Advocate Page 7

parents. "I wanted my parents to see them­ animals, hugging each other, threading a Artist's Portfolio: selves, when they came to the opening of my needle, thinking about their nine children, or thesis show-just to see nothing but them on considering the next season's crop. Curtis James the wall... Although my family is somewhat "I felt so good when I came back to close-knit, they had no idea that I'd be doing school; I had so much material. I was elated. To this series." get moving .. .! hc!,d these three powe1ful teach­ I By Pamela Renner l The impetus for the show came from a ers. They pushed me to the edge. Each of them J professor who was not, initially, in sympathy would comment on my progress; they all had The Dougherty High Trojans' loss may ' with Curtis' classical style, or his Old Masterly something different to say. I was determined to very well be the art world's gain. Curtis James eye. As an undergraduate, Curtis had a hard satisfy all of them." i might never have produced his powerful and time finding acceptance at Pratt, in spite of the Curtis had one other important pair of deeply humane portraits, had his parents al­ critics to satisfy- his mother and father. "I lowed him to play football in school. But his i iWanted them to be blown away. They drove all older brother Ralph had hurt himself on the ~he way up from Georgia. It was their first time playing field before Curtis ever got to his first coming to New York. try-outs, and the verdict from the parental "When they came to see the opening quarter was ab~olute: no risking of life and limb they couldn't believe it. Tears came to their for their youngest. Frustrated, Curtis gravitated eyes." towards the pursuits of his artistic brother, His work is both personal testament and Bobby. "He would sit me down and do portraits historical archive. It is an elegy for a way of of me. It always fascinated me," Curtis says, life, and a celebration of strength. In the per­ "My interest grew stronger, especially after I sonal statement which accompanied Freedom couldn't play. I did the next best thing." Triumphs, Curtis James wrote: "My parents did Growing up on a small, independent not complete their formal education but they farm in Albany, Georgia- owned by his father are very intelligent people. They have an and mother, Ruthie Mae and Willie James­ abundance of "mother wit." "Mother wit" is Curtis had plenty to keep him busy, even before plain old common sense; it is learning about art came into his life. He's written of his child­ life from life; it is knowing things that teachers hood: "I was about five before I realized that don't teach and textbooks don't provide; it is the playtime I had in the mornings and after­ drawing strength from adversity. Even today ... ! noons was really my chore time. Everyone had rely on my parents for their guidance, good chores and everyone knew which had to be ~ judgment and inspiration. Their natural in- done early in the morning and which had to be •., ""' stincts and life experiences have become a part · _.,...... i,.,- _.,..,. ... _ -· .... _____ - - --;. done later in ,the aft~nwon. 1yfy chores con­ ,.,w~aurels.:be h;J al i-.el'lci~c;i:ed.-foi:.J:lis;wegc._ot..me.. :: sistea ofneT'pmgto leeatne 'farm ai-nmals at (among them, the Silver Plate Award from the "In the presence of my parents, I am - five o'clock each morning (I later found out U.S. House of Representatives, leading to the confident and at peace wit~'myself. The~ display of a painting in the White proved to be excellent subJects ~pon wh1~h to ''.i House). "I suffered a lot; they wanted to expound. Mos~ of my work dep1~ts my wise. change me. I was ridiculed for being a honest an? patient mother. She, hke _most black poitrait artist, they wanted me to be an mothers, 1s the backbone of ~ur family. My Absn·act Expressionist. It was really parents are the most supporuve people that I tough bringing my work to class. The know. I hope that I ha:Ve 'done them p~oud' and ~ class that I hated most was a seminar given them thanks. It 1s because of their com- wi th one particular professor." Though this professor criticized Curtis· work sav­ agely, he changed his tune when he saw a preliminary ,study for Rock-a-bye Grandma, in which Curtis' mother is holding her baby grandson and rocking him, to sleep. "He said, 'When it comes to your family, your work is less stiff, more mov­ ing, more personal. Do some­ thing that involves your fam­ ily."' At the professor's beh"est, that city ki_ds were still asleep), helping my Curtis returned home for spring break mother out in the house while my brothers and armed with a camera and an idea: sisters were at school, and helping put the "The best models were in my own animals in for the night. We didn't have much home." He took pictures of his father money but we were able to live off the land and mother doing chores, everyday because we raised our own livestock and grew things, from unusual angles and our own vegetables." perspectives. Later, these photos His work grows directly out of his early would spark a series of breakthrough experience in this courageous family. Freedom paintings, depicting Mr. and Mrs. Triumphs, the exhibition Curtis James prepared James engaged in the hard poetry of in order to earn his MFA from the Pratt Insti­ daily life: fetching water for the tute, has a particularly intimate focus: his Page 8 Advocate Febrnary 1994 Bicoastal Emptiness: Raymond Carver and John Guare

By Elizabeth Powers social malaise ("facing ourselves- that's the A phrase kept go­ hard thing - to make ing around in my head I the act of self:..examina­ I when I came out of Short 1· tion bearable"), without' Cuts, Robert Altman' s 3- ~ rage. These rich guys, r hour-plus extravaganza guilty like most liberals based on short stories by about their wealth, are Raymond Carver: "an impressed. accident waiting to hap­ In one scene, pen." It's a movie that we see Paul before his intercuts three days in the Pygmalion-like· tran·s:. lives of nine sets of south­ formation. He!looks and I ern Californians who are talks like any number of vaguely connected by ge­ hostile young males ography or chance or wandering around family ties. They are out Times Square, but of control in countless otherwise we don't ways (they commit adul­ know where he comes tery, they scream at their from or whcrhe is, and wives ~nd children, they at the end he remains a lie), and as you watch you phantom. This fantasy think: any second some­ - of _identity-creation, thing awful is going to Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin) and Earl Piggot (Tom Waits) in Robert Airman's Short with no one at the happen, and it does. In Cuts center, is very the same way, everything postmodernist (we're goes back to "normal," from one Altman has captured this existen­ sentimental an explanation, too all clothes without an emperor

m~tu,e ne~t-~ilJiU.wtl.l-. ,:1ra1 aSDea"'m: Cazyec1' s worl~ • - 4 WHG&ofa ilPDr'., -1mjo~•has; <~fr1i1Ji91&1111Wrin.£fu: :wa¥ ing is normal about these people's especially the volatile relati6ns become so rampant in our society, the movie unfolds, a series of lives. The next disruption, like the between the sexes. The screen so why should some poor sucker nested stories told by flann and earthquake at the end of the movie, crackles when Lily Tomlin inter­ not grab the chance to steal a stereo Ouisa and their friends who have will come out of the blue and cause acts with Tom Waits. Jennifer or at least a bundle of Pampers? also experienced Paul's hustle. them to lose it again. There is no Jason Leigh, diapering her baby Six Degrees is about the They re-create their encounters, but grace for them, no moment of revela- while doing phone sex for a living, rich indulgent, the kind of people at the end they are no nearer the tion or transformation, for the center makes a very spooky couple with apostrophized in William truth of who Paul is. is missing. Chris Penn. Norwich's columns or in Vanity Now, anyone who has ever Even the decent ones have At the movie's end, a TV Fair. The Kittredges, Flann seen a lot of movies knows that an empty space between their reporter announces only a single (Donald Sutherland) and Ouisa rich people have very shallow knowledge of the world and their fatality from the earthquake. The (Stockard Channing), inhabit a dreams. In an earlier era, the smart moral sense, which leads to a kind announcement ironizes everything Fifth Avenue apartment with a young guy from the other side of of abdication. For instance, that has gone before-one fatality view of Central Park and their the tracks would have been burned Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin) who after another. This irony and apartment is full of paintings by by rich phoniness and followed a has hit a boy with her car but Altman's seamless montage sug­ modernist masters, including a real dream. I bring this up because allows him to walk off alone gest a viewpoint which is absent in double-sided Kandinsky (chaos·on ar the end Paul doesn't experience because he, in obvious shock, tells Carver. In Carver, God is dead, but one side, control on the other). such a revelation. Instead, we're her.his parents won't let him talk to in Altman, He may be awakening They are, however, within one left with the ambiguity about his strangers. Meanwhile his mother, from a long nap. dollar of living on the street unless identity, a notion that fits the Ann Finnigan (Andie MacDowell), If the author's words get they can sweet talk their very rich postmodernist subtext; that is, does lets him go to sleep when he's little attention in Short Cuts, Six South African friend (Ian Paul really exist for Ouisa and obviously suffering a brain injury. Degrees of Separation, directed by McClellan) out of $2 million to Fiann except as an anecdote? In Or take the three guys on a fishing Fred Schepisi, is all about words. buy a <;ezanne that they will tum terms of movie viewer expecta- trip who find a dead ·woman before Based on the play by John Guare, around and sell for $10 million. tions. However, this ambiguity is they evei get bait on their hooks. this movie is as witty and as fast Into their lives walks a unsatisfying: Paul is a kid we feel During a weekend of eating, and furious as a Howard Hawks' young hustler, Paul (Will Smith), ·for, and we want to know that he is drinking booze, trout fishing, and movie. In an age when the value who can talk as good as they and "saved," even if that means success taking pictures of the corpse, they of educated speech is not high on who wants nothing more than to be 'a la Kittredge. Being rich and debate just where their responsibil­ most people's shopping lists, it's like them. He claims, among other unhappy may not be all it's ity li_es. Is this what the banality of interesting that language is per­ things, to be a classmate of their cracked up to be, but it does have evil is about? ceived as a means of getting on the kids at Harvard. What makes the more appeal than being poor and The heart of Carver's fast track. story intriguing is that the young unhappy. stories is not so much in the words During the looting that man is black (he also claims to be on the paper, which are as direct went on in LA last year I couldn't the son of Sidney Poiter) and can and undressed-up as those on the get into the mode of thought that parrot all the intellectual back of a cereal box, but in the saw the looters as acting out of a buzzwords as adeptly as they, interstices between the words. sense of rage. That seemed too discourse on J.D. Salinger, explain l ,;.--""\

February 1994 Advocate Page 9 -r: _, probably not the only one who layout of social service advertise- -~ thinks that, with a few tweaks to ments, and the presentation of a J- the hard work part, the old theory street-corner petition drive, -r Gotta Be Bad to Be Good "i still holds true today. This is Rothenberg cites the statistics of _.: ~~ certainly the premise around which men's murder and homelessness. _J Bad Girls, the two-part winter their vulnerability to stress-related "':1... By Jeannette Radredensek well, proper vessel-like things such exhibition at The New Museum of disease, as well as their limited "'1•~, as having children, raising them, Contemporary Art, is organized: A fashion choices (they can't wear -t Around the tum of the century making tea, and generally keeping good g~l i_s dainty and decorative, ski1ts) as evidence of their persecu- ~ in the United States, the prevalent things dainty - kind of prop­ a bad girl 1s- anyone who isn't. tion. Amy Hill has fabricated a theory of civilization held that mistresses for the happy household Good girls are oppressed and shelf full of questionable comes· women, though weak of flesh, theater. The theorists never meant ?oring; _bad girls are liberated and tibles like Ted Bundy salad dress­ were more spiritually robust than to suggest that women might l11 mterestmg. The Museum, with its ing and Pope (the Catholic kind) -.1 men, and so were better suited to actually do something culturally ear ever to the ground, the better to gefilte fish. The baneful glibness f be the vessels of cultural transmis­ momentous, but rather that they hear the hoof beats of artistic of the one-liner is Sue Williams' ~~,. sion. On the ride up the big escala­ should play more of a symbolic, advance, has uncovered a loose modus operandi. She is repre- ;)J tor of twentieth-century progress, decorative role. cadre of artists _w_ho might be sented in Bad Girls by a crudely ;~ men would do the hard work and It would be nice to say, "Gee, called neo-fem1mst. These are painted caricature of a woman's .-:..,_ women would stick around to do, haven't things changed," but I'm artists - mostly female - whose head with penises crammed into relationship to matters social, every orifice. It's entitled, "Try to sexual, and political _lies some- be more accommodating." where between resistance and The byways of appropriation counter-spy collusion. Instead of can produce an application to craft th~ complex, equivocal wit of that is truly daunting. A case in - artists such as Carolee point: Ann Agee's Lake Michigan Schneemann and Hannah Wilke, Bathroom, a tour de force installa­ :-Vho bega~ dealing with feminist tion of porcelain tiles and plumb- 1ss~es ?unng the late 1960s, the ing fixtures offering a conflation of artists m Bad Girls engage con- art historical references. inf01ma- sumer culture in a dialogue. tion about the Lake Michie:an The exhibition is big. In New watershed, and diagrams ;f the York, some 55 artists' works are human alimentary cycle. It is shown in two parts, the first show horrifying (l hope the arti~t wi\\ .....~.....:i..--,._;;.i-- rmmirqffr6rirt4~nttary throt·tgh- know th:lt:s a i:.·on1plirnent)~a·ncfTf ••r• •• - 27 February 1994, and the second it survives a couple hundred years. from 5 March through 10 April it might find a place in the history 1994. Bad Girls West, a concur- books alongside the old European rent exhibition of 40 artists. is on estate grottoes with their water l view at UCLA's Wight Att Gallery pranks. Elizabeth Berdann has f from 25 January through 20 March captured perfectly the surface 1, I 994. In addition, The Knitting qualities and fragmentation of 1 Factory in New York is running a magazine advertising in her series Wednesday .night series of music ·of delicate paintings with engraved by Bad Girls through April 6. brass titles. 10 of My Best Facial The exhibition's organizers Features. Cindy Smith"s Turn are at pains to set the proper tone Back the Old Clock is a skillful and ~ of amusement. An episode of The astute reworking of the covers of ~ Simpsons - the one where Marge Nancy Drew mysteries. • • goes joy riding with Ruth Powers With so many art works in ·1 - is playing on a monitor at the such a small space, group shows l ~j gallery entrance. Nearby wall text tend to force all the pieces to I~ )j by curator Marcia Tucker enjoins resonate within a rather narrow , • the visitor to lighten up and have range of intention. In the case of !J fun. A similar message is commu- Bad Girls, the emphasis on irnita­ nicated by the exuberant language tion and wordplay almost squeezes J.J l of the 'zine - itself a stylish the life out of works that make 1,i emulation of the funky, under- tneir meaning across a broader (i ground publications circulated plain, especially those works ,,.ot I',, among artists and musicians - using an aesthetic strategy of that serves as an exhibition bro- appropriating commercial images. 1, chure. I say almost squeezes the life, ,\ ! The curatorial frame sets the because on sustained viewing I audience up to view the alt as a works like Renee Cox·s imposing, I b I series of jokes, ori.e-liners. Many of thickly framed photograph, Mother . the works do operate at that level, and Child, and Elaine Tin Nyo's j albeit in really clever ways. Erika pictures of anatomically alliterative } I Rothenberg's posters, flyers, and vegetables completely hold their I over-sized lapel pins urge support own. Similarly, Beverly Semmes' ""--~ for men, America's largest op- Haze, a ceiling to floor drape of Misrress. 1993 by Millie Wilson, Courtesy Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica. pressed minority. Emulating the dichroic velvet, and Janet Henry's :, On exhibit at The New Museum of Contemporary Art. ~'"· -\!' ~ [

Page 10 February 1994 Arts & Events Advocate enigmatic Black Goddess, a coat weapon-like objects (a sword, a rack slung with strings of beads miniature guitar, dildoes, a pink Petition Drive to and brief passages of texts pressed Ml6). Newsbriefs Increase DSC's Pay in vinyl, begin to overshadow the Both Wilson's and Munson's more obviously humorous pieces works invoke a vertiginousreaction DSC Co-Chair This month the Graduate in their vicinity. of levity, horror, pity, and recogni­ Center administration has moved Two of.the strongest works in tion in the viewer. They transcend Steps Down one step closer towards resolving the show manage to banish the the exhibition's jokey tone and the issue of DSC stipends. The distance between the poetic and the ov..erwhelm the Manichean ~urato­ Michael Yomi, DSC co-chair Board of Trustees (BOT) has absurd. Millie Wilson's Mistress rial premise of good girls vs. the for business resigned his post at the agreed to consider amending is an especially contained and bad, proving that once again, artists February DSC meeting. According stipend regulations if a referendum claustrophobic piece. are way ahead of even the most to his resignation ietter, Yomi of GSUC students supports the By binding together thick progressive institutions. resigned because he was "termi­ idea. j coils and braids of black hair into a nated" as a student at the Graduate The stipend issue arose two i torso-like fom1, Wilson has created . Center. This formally makes him years ago, when the GSUC admin­ a work that looks like a disciplinar­ ineligible to serve as a student istration announced that the $5000 ian for Hans Bellmer's licentious leader. stipend previously paid to DSC co­ i La Poupee. Mistress dominates Robert Hollander, a P.h.D. chairs violated Board bylaws, the gallery like a Geisha wig student in the Linguistics Program, which cap stipends at $2882. Then i pumped up on steroids. was voted in by the DSC general in July 1993, three newly-elected In the opposite corner, Portia body as Yomi's replacement. leaders of the DSC were told that I Munson has driven appropriation Hollander will serve until June, they would not receive stipends for off the game board with her Pink when new elections for the post the 1993-4 school year because of Project. On a large table, the artist will be held. Board by-laws. ·1I I has arranged an astounding collec­ -Michael Weinstein­ The DSC Steering Commit­ I '• tion of artifacts, cultural detritus Mohammed tee, President Horowitz and Vice­ I really- and all of it pink: dark President Moreland Il.}e_t with the pink, light pink, hot pink, faded Free Copy Machine Board's Stude.nt Services Commit­ and chipped pink, hideous pink. tee in January. The Student Ser­ The objects are aiTanged by form for Graduate Center vices Committee agreed to con­ and function, from round to ob­ Students! sider several changes to, or waivers long: fake flowers, bottles, brushes, from, the Bylaws if a student barrettes, combs, weapons and referendum passes. ~ Earlier this month the DSC Ten percent of the studeifr-.,.,, purchased a $7,500 OCE copy 4 0 stu- ents - must agree to o a copier will be located in· the DSC referendum by sjgning ~- pe~~ .; office in the basement and the DSC has begun ,col c mg Mezzanine.The copier can be used signatures. Petitions-are being anytime during the DSC's regular mailed to DSC reps in all depart­ r office hours. A five minute limit t I ments. By signing the petition, a t I will be enforced when other stu­ student agrees to the desirability of It I dents ate waiting to use the ma­ holding a.referendum; it does not ;, chine. necessarily imply support of the ;, Graduate Center administra­ referendum's issues. tors originally refused to allow the Four issues appear on the ft . DSC to·enter into contractual I petition: l' obligations with various vendors A. Raising tenn limits from 2 years claiming that they did not have·the to 4 years (2 years max on steering '! authority to enter into any con­ committee and two years max as a co­ I tracts. Fram this standpoint, the chair). B. Raising the cap on stipends to be DSC was obligated fo purcha:se a equal to a Graduate Assistantship II machine outright, which is allowed ($6,912). , by current Graduate Center by­ C. To define the editor of the laws. newspaper as an .. employee" and not a According to G.Ganter, the •·student lea_der," in view of the fact that the editor is hired by the Media Board. key DSC person handling pur~ D. Making item A and C retroac­ chase,·the·copy machine itself cost tive to Fall 1993. to allow current co­ $7 ,500'. An additional $3~500 · , chairs to receive their stipends. annual service d::mtracFwas ob:: · · President Horowitz supports tained. It is futther estimated that the changes, with the exception of ,. the paper will cost between $3,000 the term limits. She has personally and $6000 during the·first year of appealed to the Student Services operation. Committee to make the requested -Michael Weinstein­ changes. Mohammed -Margaret Groarke l,!

Personal Advenisement- We are an infertile couple who are looking for a young, healthy Caucasian woman between the ages of 21 and 35 who would be willing to donate eggs. You will be compensated $2,000.00 for your time and effort, and will get a free comprehensive physical examination. Please send resum~/ letter and photo to: P.O. Box 802/ Grand Central ,. Station/ New York, N.Y. 10163 February 1994 Page 11 ...... ' . .. . : . .· - . ~ CITY . SLlEs··.·. .. .:. ·· · · · __ .- C~ ar I es Nay Io r

' ,I I I' -J • he homeless don't get One block down from here a Center stands there was a five and , . Dindividual attention. woman lives over a laundry room dime that sold cheap hotdogs at the They're a nonmarket. They don't exhaust fan. That's her home. Six lunch counter. I ate there every I day, free dinner at the First buy papers, watch the six o'clock years ago, in a moment of weak- news. We who live in private ness, I picked up a ham and cheese Moravian, and wound up in heated spaces and carry a key have sandwich for her at the corner deli Bellevue' s Emergency Room. 1. lost any residual empathy, prefer and a half-pint of milk. It seemed Loneliness was bad. You don't have friends when you 're home­ L not to learn the names of the nourishing (I had trouble deciding ,I neighborhood regulars. To reach whether it should be milk or less. Crab lice, panic-had I I into one's pocket is to contract a coffee). At any rate,,I knelt down failed? Had civilization? I chronic condition, adopt an adult and handed tliem to her before From the hillside on Staten \ child who forgets your birthday continuing. When .J passed by Island at dawn, with all of St. and stays out all night. Each time fifteen minutes later I was puzzled George asleep below, I'd look out you walk past it's another dollar to _notice that, altn·ough the sand- at a group of islands that formed an for the ice-cream truck. wich was ·gone, she had poured the archipelago. Far from the traffic There's a black woman who milk over her head and seemed to roar, I'd pretend the boxy Mer­ t b\lllies regularly for "her" position be washing her hair with it. chant Marine base was gone from as doorperson in "my" ATM There are no comparisons, but Governor's Island, the Statue of center, where she relates in a loud thirty years ago !had to live in the Liberty steamed from Bedloe' s Iike voice the worries of caring for a street-only two months and it was a postage stamp. I'd strip the sick child with neither job nor man. summer. No big deal. I was a kid ghostly Hoffman Island (out in the J She's aggressive, articulate, and had· fifty-five dollars from my Atlantic) of its abandoned training dresses plausibly, and a lousy last paycheck. The renfwas almost school for seamen; Roosevelt, method actress. But you never can due. Budgeting less than a dollar a upriver, its grim hospital tell. The sixtyish white man who day, and with the bulk of my stuff accreations, and its modern apart­ ment blocks. Hart ls\and, ~ust east ~p~nps 91!.e,fi~Jf, µ,i~ dJly in fr:opt qf in a friend's closet, I be_gan my of crowded City Island, haS" a Ion!! the-First Presbyterian looking homeless life. Weel

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