The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 12, 1993 Page: 4 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
4 FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1993 THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
City of Angels fails to measure up to Hollywood's grand fantasies
by Jym Schwartz
The movie Falling Down portrays
Los Angeles as many things: filthy,
ugly, divided, massive, poorly man-
aged, sordid, crowded, filled with ha-
tred. Overall, it looks like a dangerous
and unpleasant place to be. And while
1 would agree upon initial reflection, I
d o recall there were many things about
A
r RATE
LA 1 really hated.
Just kidding, of course, folks. There
are many pleasant things about the
City of Angels I can remember from
iny four years as resident of the Golden
State. For example: only in LA can
you be invited to the opening of an art
gallery and get mistaken for a critic.
You can also act tremendously casual
about encounters with stars. ("Sure, I
saw Eddie Murphy driving down Sun-
set last Thursday. I didn't stop to talk,
though. I was in a rush.")
It seems that LA is a city which
polarizes people's opinions. Eitheryou
like it or you hate it; to be ambivalent
about it is an impossible art. The mov-
ies about it are the
same way: Falling
Down and Boys 'n
the Hood make you
think you're lucky
to survive 24 hours
there untraumatiz-
ed. LA. Story and
Father of the Bride
play up the ro-
mance and magic;
as if your dreams
couldn't help but
come true in such a town.
Well, I hate to spoil the illusion, but
in four years I wasn't mugged, shot at,
threatened, offered a starring role in a
movie, forced to be the love slave of
anyone famous, or become acciden-
tally involved in a million-dollar scam
at the end of which I got all the money
and walked away scot free. I did, how-
ever, see a building burn down in my
neighborhood during the riots and I
also talked on the phone for half an
hour with "Weird AT Yankovic. But
that's it for excitement, I'm afraid.
Los Angeles is just like any other
metropolis, it just happens to be the
home of the film industry, that's all.
It's quite convenient to make films
Well, I hate to spoil the illusion, but in
four years I wasn't mugged, shot at,
threatened, offered a starring role in a
movie, or forced to be the love slave of
anyone famous.
about LA, since you don't have too go
far to film on location. They freely
admit it's all illusion, but people don't
completely believe it. I know I didn't
until I'd been there a few years.
I kept waiting for a director to walk
up to me in a restaurant and say, "YOU!
You have the look I've been searching
for! Can you act'" Not only didnt it
happen, but the waiter also brought
me something which might or might
not have been what I ordered since
there was no common language be-
_ tween us. (To this
day I dont know
what it was, but I
ate it)
In fact, film-
makers go to great
lengths to be fake.
Once, when film-
ing a motion pic-
ture on campus,
the people in
charge decided
not to use any
members of our student body as ex-
tras because we "didn't look like real
students." (They used professional ac-
tors instead.) They also placed large
colored gels in the trees since "the
sunlight didn't look real enough."
Gosh, as far as I knew we were real
students walking around in real sun-
light. I guess our standards of reality
weren't high enough.
At any rate, it may be too obvious to
say don't believe everything you see,
but then again, sometimes even I for-
get So much of what we think and do
is perpetrated by Hollywood, it's no
longer an issue of art imitating life but
life imitating art Only Hollywood's
reality comes complete with stunt
doubles, makeup, costumes, and lots
of American cars to drive off cliffs so
that they'll explode in a spectacular
fashion, while our reality comes with
long stretches which need major edit-
ing.
You may wish for a more exciting
LA-style life, but just remember. If
you life was a movie, you might get
nifty theme music, but it'd also be over
in two hours. (U nless you're Ghandi.)
Jym Schwartz is a first-year graduate
student in the department of Geology
and Geophysics.
InterVarsity does not indoctrinate others
JOBS FOR STUDENTS
Permanent or summer full-time evenings
A SERIOUS START
American Learning Systems
Our business is Education, Information, and Marketing. We'd like to train
100 Col lege Students for positions in these areas during an intensive Student
Internship Program. No matter what you career plans are, there are certain
skills, talents and experiences that will help you succeed in life. Here are just
a few of the benefits of our Student Program!
• Professional training
• Excellent pay
• Self-confidence
• Self-motivation
• Communication skills
• Positive attitude
• Scholarships
• Self discipline
• Opportunity to travel •
To qualify, you must be sharp, bright, enthusiastic, enjoy meeting and
dealing with people and be willing to work harder than you ever have in
your life to make these qualities pay off. Pay during the Student Program can
range from $275 to $825 a week. We invite you to visit with us for an
interview.
CALL MR. BASS AT (713) 977-9107 FOR AN APPOINTMENT!!
To the editors:
This letter is in response to John
Martin's criticism of the InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship fliers. I am a
member of InterVarsity, and although
I did not have a hand in the creation of
the fliers, I feel compelled to answer
some of the charges raised in his let-
ter.
First, he contends that the fliers,
and the ideas therein, are "intolerant"
and "ignorant," and that they lack re-
spect for other traditions. He goes on
to say that he resents Christian groups
on campus "preying upon" people in
crisis who need "friendship, not in-
doctrination."
Let me describe my experiences
with InterVarsity and Christianity in
general. When I came to Rice, I was
not a Christian. I had sporadically at-
tended church as a child, like many of
you, but had not been interested in it
What I did have was a philosophic
bent and a desire to discover the truth.
For I believed (and still do) that there
is an absolute truth, and that some
things are right and some things are
wrong. I quickly made friends, the
kind of college friends that are friends
for life. Some of them were Christian.
I went along with them to a meeting of
Campus Crusade during my first se-
mester. Some of the things I heard
there sounded good, and some
sounded silly. But I talked with my
friends, and researched it on my own,
and gradually began to learn about
the tenets of Christianity. I d iscovered
The extent of our 'intolerance,'
as Martin puts it, is that we
believe we know the right
answer to some questions, and
that we would like to share
these with others.
it, like most other mainline religions,
claimed that it provided the truth: true
knowledge of God. Christ claimed, "If
you make my word your home, you
will indeed be my disciples, you will
learn the truth, and the truth shall
We'vefound the hottest places-
at the lowest prices
ha, Lets Go-
v
WfP?*
^ v ^
fa,
Zgr
/s
/aJ
7
******
sr
The travel guides
you can count on for fun
within your budget
Let's Go: • Europe • Italy • Britain & Ireland • France
• Germany, Austria & Switzerland • Greece & Turkey
• Israel & Egypt • Spain & Portugal • London • Paris • Rome
• Mexico • U.S.A. • New York City • Washington, D.C.
• Pacific Northwest,<w6stern Canada & Alaska
• California & Hawaii
Let's Go, Inc.
a subsidiary of harvard student aoihciis, inc.
St. Martin* Press
make you free." This is a weighty
claim, but, to make a long story short,
as I investigated it, I became more and
more convinced that it was true. I had
my doubts, and at times questioned
my own motives. But at last I decided
to serve Christ, because to the best of
my ability to tell, He was right
For this is Christianity's claim, that
it is true. If it is not,
I have no use for it,
and its followers
are worthy of no
small degree of
pity, to be so de-
ceived. But saying
something is true
necessarily means
something else is
wrong. This is not
intolerance, it is
logic.
Let me recall
part of the William
Jamesquote Mr. Martin used: "it takes
the whole of us to spell the meaning
[of the 'divine'] out completely... for
each man to stay in his own experi-
ence, whatever it be, and for others to
tolerate him there, is surely best" I
see. So no one should bother try ing to
learn anything. Even the cultists in
Waco, who have slain four law en-
forcement officers over the break,
should just wallow in their own igno-
rance. As long as they feel they have a
"worthy mission," they are just spell-
ing out the meaning of the "divine." So
then, intellectual suicide is the solu-
tion to the question of truth.
I think most people know that some
things are right, like love, and some
things, like hate, intolerance, and
murder, are wrong. And I encourage
you to seek out why these things are
right or wrong. That is the beginning
of the way to truth.
Since then, of course, I have not
stopped learning. And I have started
going to InterVarsity, where we sing,
pray, and listen to a speaker each
week. That is no more "indoctrina-
tion" than any other lecture. I have
never been strapped to a chair while
Bible passages were flashed on a wall
in front of me. I have never been at a
meeting where we sat and plotted the
death of the non-Christians on cam-
pus. The extent of our "intolerance,"
as Martin puts it, is that we believe we
know the right answer to some ques-
tions, and that we would like to share
these with others. As for being "preyed
upon," many of my closest friends are
Christians, and we love each other
greatly. Even better, we have learned
more about love, a love which denies
jealousy,conceit, and malice anyplace
in arelationship. Christianity preaches
love for all people, and if any Christen
has been rude or hateful towardsyou,
he or she will certainly have to answer
to God for it, for that is even more
displeasing to Him than to you. But do
not let this dissuade you from search-
ing for truth. And remember, it is no
real search that is afraid to find its
object
Emest Conrad Mueller IV
Lovett '93
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Kim, Leezie & Carson, Chad. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 12, 1993, newspaper, March 12, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245835/m1/4/: accessed June 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.