Furman Magazine Volume 44 Article 1 Issue 3 Fall 2001 9-1-2001 Furman Magazine. Volume 44, Issue 3 - Full Issue Furman University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine Recommended Citation University, Furman (2001) "Furman Magazine. Volume 44, Issue 3 - Full Issue," Furman Magazine: Vol. 44 : Iss. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol44/iss3/1 This Complete Volume is made available online by Journals, part of the Furman University Scholar Exchange (FUSE). It has been accepted for inclusion in Furman Magazine by an authorized FUSE administrator. For terms of use, please refer to the FUSE Institutional Repository Guidelines. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fall2001 FEATU RES CARIBBEAN CHRONICLE 2 Furman faculty engage in a fascinating journey of discovery to Jamaica and Cuba. by Cleveland R. Fraser IMAGES OF CUBA 10 Impressions of Castro's once forbidden island, captured by professor Willard Pate and student Brandon Hinman. NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS 14 The story of a play, and the man who wrote it- over and over and over again. by Randall David Cook LEST WE FORGET 20 An exploration of why the Holocaust offers a continuing challenge to our sense of community- and our common humanity. by Ronald J. Granieri IT'S SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO! 24 Four 200 I graduates step into the spotlight on a nationally syndicated television show. by Jael B. Gadsden FURMAN REPORTS 26 CAMPAIGN 32 ATHLETICS 34 ALUMNI NEWS 36 THE LAST WORD 48 Printed on partially recycled paper ON THE COVER: La Habana Vieja (The Olde City), Havana, Cuba. Photo by Terri Bright The following pages present perspectives on life in the Caribbean from professors Cleveland R. Fraser, Terri Bright and Willard Pate, and student Brandon Hinman. Fraser and Bright were part of an 11-person faculty contingent that visited Jamaica and Cuba July 19-August 8. Fraser, a member of the Furman faculty since 1983 and chair of the political science department, offers a social and political -as well as personal -chronicle of the group's journey. Bright, who has taught photography and drawing at Furman since 1999, provided the photographs for Fraser's article, reflecting a complementary and yet distinctive view of the trip. Her photographs explore public spaces. She says, "I photograph things run down and worn away, objects used and discarded, familiar spaces that are hurried through or that lead somewhere else. I do not document where I have been as a tourist or travel photographer might; rather, my photographs are fragments borrowed from the social landscape." Joining Fraser and Bright on the trip were William Lavery and Marian Strobel (history); Janis Bandel in (library); Christina Buckley, Maurice Cherry and Sofia Kearns (modern languages and literatures); Brian Siegel (sociology/anthropology); Richard Stanford (economics and business); and Robin Vise! (English). Hinman and Pate enjoyed the opportunity to visit Cuba last spring, Hinman through a Furman service program and Pate as part of a photography class. Their impressions and photographs appear beginning on page 10. 2 I A trip to Jamaica and Cuba offers Furman faculty an absorbing look at the sights, sounds and societal changes in two of the most exotic locales in the Western Hemisphere. By Cleveland R. Fraser Photos by Terri Bright pportunity. It was a concept and intellectually provocative theme: on a quest for knowledge of things 0 that would ultimately serve "Transitions." Caribbean; we were also being pro­ as a fulcrum for my experi­ Underwritten by The Duke vided a unique opportunity to make ences in the Caribbean. Endowment and conducted under new friends and to teach each other. It struck me with particular force the auspices of Furman's Center for as I stood observing a phalanx of International Education and its direc­ efore we boarded the plane young Jamaicans, trained at the tor, William J. Lavery, the program to Montego Bay on July 19, Caribbean Institute of Te chnology is designed to expose members of we had prepared for our (CIT), busily constructing portals on Furman's faculty to societies experi­ Badventure with biweekly meetings the World Wide Web for Jamaican encing profound social, political or during spring term. Each of us gave and international clients. Through economic transformation. Its primary a 45-minute talk on a topic relating a partnership involving Furman, the objective is to encourage participants to Jamaica or Cuba in our area of lndusa Corporation and the Jamai­ to reflect on their experiences and expertise, and we covered everything can government, CIT was a physical to incorporate the information col­ from the evolution of Cuban cinema manifestation of opportunity. lected, sights seen and contacts to the influence of Santerfa on the My impression of these young made into their courses and schol­ religious practices of Jamaican and computer programmers echoed what arship. Previous groups had visited Cuban society. each of our hosts had noted: they Quebec and Prague, two compelling Thus, when we touched down were quick studies. All they needed archetypes of national transitions in Jamaica, we had a solid base was an opportunity to work and to shaped by the persistent and centrif­ of knowledge to inform our experi­ be productive members of Jamaican ugal forces of language and ethnicity. ences. Even though our time was society. One question swirling in my Our group was excited by the limited, we had numerous opportu­ mind, however, was how extensively prospect of traveling to two of the nities to develop a more nuanced Jamaica could combine its human most exotic locales in the Western and original view of Jamaica than resources with emerging technolo­ Hemisphere. The 11 of us were well­ most visitors get when they are gies to accelerate its development. traveled and reflected a cross­ whisked away from the airport to But it seems that I have acceler­ section of the Furman faculty in age, cavort in hermetically sealed "all ated a bit too rapidly. I had an oppor­ gender, fluency in Spanish (and inclusive" resorts. tunity to observe life in Jamaica and Jamaican patois), and disciplines Our lodgings, high on a hill over­ Cuba over three weeks this past (art, English, economics and busi­ looking Montego Bay, had at one summer through the third iteration ness administration, history, library time been owned by the Dewars of a highly successful faculty devel­ science, sociology, Spanish and family, and the faint aura of the past opment seminar with an intriguing political science). We were not only still surrounded the place. I spent 3 time on the veranda taking in stun­ t soon became apparent that minister. She also impressed us ning vistas, trying to imagine what it the fabric of Jamaican society with her willingness to do anything must have been like to live a life of is held together by the strength it would take to insure the opportunity colonial privilege. What passed and intelligence of its women. This for her son to study in the States. though the minds of the masters of Iwas underlined during our visits to Of course, we encountered the Great Houses, for example, when several institutions of higher learning. inconveniences - no water for a the primary crop was sugar and the At the University of the West brief time in Montego Bay, power primary source of labor was African? Indies, Cheryl BrownDash, UWI's interruptions in Kingston. The coun­ Did they have any conception of director of special projects, and her try's primary telecommunications the political, economic and social colleague, Lilieth Nelson, provided provider, Cable and Wireless, is legacies they would bequeath to an excellent overviewof the structure more commonly known as "Careless Jamaica? and issues associated with Jamaica's and Worthless." Yet these minor As we began our exploration, all education system. In Mandeville, vexations to us were part of everyday of us were impressed by the dyna­ the provost of Northern Caribbean life to many Jamaicans. mism of the Jamaican people, and University, Althea McMillan, certainly During a session at the U.S. as time passed important aspects seemed capable of holding the uni­ Embassy, we learned that 30 percent of the Jamaican experience were versity together in the absence of of the population is unemployed revealed by the individuals we met. its dynamic president, Herbert or underemployed, that the gross Sean, the driver of our van, confided Thompson. Her personality filled the domestic product had contracted that he would "do anything to get to room as she filled our heads with between 1996 and 1999, and that America," where one could see some information about NCU's programs interest rates were "high" (35 per­ tangible progress after, say, 10 years and its relationship with the Seventh cent). Over the years, it had become of hard work. He was not certain Day Adventists, a denomination with difficult for Jamaica to maintain its that he would be able to see the deep roots in Jamaica. competitiveness in world markets fruits of his labor in Jamaica. We But these traits of energy and for agricultural products such as sometimes hoped that we would live acumen were not limited to academic sugar. Tourism has become a major to see the fruits of our labor, as there contacts. Jacqui Francis, the mother source of revenue ($1.3 billion per are thrill rides less exciting than tra­ of Furman freshman David, invited year), but it was astonishing that versing some of Jamaica's byways us to her beautiful home. Beside a Jamaica had been experiencing with Sean at the wheel, happily pass­ burbling pool overlooking Kingston another form of '1ourism." In addition ing (no pun intended) signs with at sunset, she offered a delicious to the 2.5 million Jamaicans who live helpful sayings such as "Undertakers sampling of the fare she prepares on the island, a similar number live Love Careless Overtakers." for state dinners for the prime abroad, primarily in the United 4 Kingdom, Canada and the United in areas we had visited.