The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 38, Ed. 1, Friday, February 4, 1994 Page: 3 of 8
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The Forum: Arena of Opinion
By Marty Rcvcs
Copy Editor
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ancl members sit awaiting
chances to speak. The attendants
listen to the individual speaking
awaiting chances to speak. The
panelists and the topic arc introduced.
The forum begins.
Discussion ensues bouncing between
the panel and the audience. Depending
on the current topic the tension rises or
remains stable when participants elicit
their responses and opinions.
Missy Wilson junior political science
and history major from New Orleans
scheduled the first forum as a senior
Honors Project and a Pope Fellows pro-
ject because she was interested in the
concept of forums.
"There wasn't anything like it on cam-
pus. Other universities have discussions
of topics that happen on campus for stu-
dents to go to if they want to ACU
didn't have anything" Missy said. "I
think that's part of university life. With-
out that I don't think a university has
really educated its students."
Nathan Williams senior chemistry
' major from Duncanvillc who also assists
Missy and Nathan with the forums said:
"The main reason we're doing the
forums is because we're raising issues
that we felt needed to be raised. We
want the students to come."
After the first forum Missy and
Nathan decided to
organize addition-
al forums for stu-
dents. "They bring up
a wide range of
issues and people
will need to be
thinking about
issues. We sit here on campus
in our closed society in the middle
of a community in the middle
of the world and don't even
interact with people'1 Nathan said.
"The forum gives you a way to
interact and to suggest things."
Three to four panel members
speak at each forum. Missy said
Dr. Henry Speck professor of
history; Dr. Don Jackson associ-
ate professor of economics; and
David Fry director of student
advancement in the College of
Business Administration; usually
present possible speakers for the
forums.
Then Missy and Nathan decide
who they want to speak. Speck
has' moderated choosing the
panel members and the crowd
participants for speaking turns.
"In the forum we try to get peo
ple there who have different opin-
ions about the topic at hand so that peo-
ple can judge for themselves what they
think their opinion ought to be." Missy
said adding that
she and Nathan
try to determine
what subjects stu-
dents arc interest-
ed in and gauge
about which top-
ics students want
more information.
They're allowing people who
come to have their tools to exam-
ine all the different sides of an
issue that we don't always get just
in the classrooms because in a
classroom you get a professor's
point of view" she said noting
that even other people's view-
points are presented through a
professor's prejudices.
Nathan said new ideas and per-
spectives arc gained from the
forums as well as a greater under-
standing for how someone else
might think about the sides of dif-
ferent issues.
"It's more of a mind-broadening
experience" he said.
Topics 'discussedln forums
during the fall semester
included church unity
American Indians inter
national relations and rebuilding
inner cities.
Problems occurred when the church
unity forum was advertised. Someone
collected all the fliers from the Mabee
Business Building before they were dis-
tributed among students. "I couldn't
believe that. This is a university; there
should be some sort of academic free-
dom" Missy said.
Tentative plans for the spring semester
include three additional forums with dis-
cussions on media and ethics teclinolo-
gy and ethics and the new ACU studies
abroad program.
The first forum of the spring semester
will discuss media and ethics Monday
from 6:30-8 p.m. in Room 201 of the
Mabee Business Building.
Panel members will include Phil Slate
chairman of the Department of Mis-
sions; Dr. Darryl Tippcns professor of
English; and Dr. Robert Green assistant
professor of art. '
Missy said organizing the forum has
involved much time as she has faced dif-
ficulties with panel members who can-
not attend and call at the last minute.
But some advantages she of running
the forum are learning organizational
skills and meeting many interesting peo-
ple from outside the university.
'"You get to sec other people's JjphV
ions. Either you walk' away believing
that you're right and you've always
been right .or you walk away really
kind of doubtful thinking" Missy said.
"Either way it's good: you get to eval-
uate what you believe and why you
believe it" she said. "
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:
Olympic diet
.
Runner snacks on worms soft-shelled turtles
By Ira Berkow
The New York Times 1994
Wing Junxia was placed
in an unusual position
Monday. She was sit-
ting. And she was not
' taring worms which she frequently
'does. This event occurred in a hotel
i rbom in midtown New York in a
I tufted chair. And people were tak-
Hrig pictures.
Normally when you sec Junxia
the small 20-year-old from China
she is running She runs every day
Vith no break up to 22 miles
land that feat sometimes is only
i before breakfast. One wondered if
she ran this way to avoid breakfast
given what she sometimes finds on
her plate. The worms like the elixir
from caterpillar fungus and the soup
'mdde from the blood of soft-shell
tunics arc all part of the nutrition
required by her coach Ma Junren.
Junxia who seemed in 1993 year
to emerge from nowhere to break
vorld records was the center of a
(news conference in New York
londay. She was in New York to
accept the Jesse Owens Internation-
al Trophy at a dinner Tuesday night
rat the Waldorf-Astoria. The trophy
is awarded annually to the athlete
Kho according to Herbert P. Dou
glas Jr. founder of the award best
personifies excellence in athletic
snormance and promotes sincere
Cooperation and understanding
among peoples of all nations."
I Junxia is a slight-looking woman
Am dark hair cut very short bitting
In the hotel room she wore a rcd-
Knd-white warm-up jacket and blue
leans over her 5-foot-3-inch 97-
rpound frame She seemed a little
uncomfortable in the setting since
lie is relatively new to the business
)f being an international phe-
iflomenon.
In an almost shy manner Wang
explained that the worms and the
caterpillar fungus and the turtle
soup are all old Chinese customs
used like herbs like ginseng and
not unusual for China. And how
asked on American reporter with his
brow knit do worms taste?
A little smile broke across
Wang's face. She did not answer
immediately but the smile seemed
to indicate that she liked those
worms about as much as the
reporter might.
She looked across the room at her
Junren who leaned against the wall.
Junren a man in his 40's had
accompanied her on the trip with a
self-assured air. She looked at him
for help. He smiled.
"It's OK" she said about the
worms through a translator. It is
widely known that Junren is a strict
disciplinarian a kind of Bobby
Knight of Cathay. And a pretty
good entrepreneur as well since he
has devised an elixir from the worm
that he has bottled and sold with
earnings estimated at $1 million.
So perhaps any reflection on the
worms can be construed as either
good for business for Junren or not.
Wang chose what was obviously
the diplomatic route.
But the diet is only part of
the running story. She runs
so much because the
heavy running is the rou-
tine also recommended to her by
her coach. And she runs this way to
fulfill ier dreams she says of
breaking all the middle- and long-
distance women's world records.
Right now she holds two world
records in the 10000 meters and
the 3000 and has run the second
fastest 1 500 in history.
Last year when she set the
10000-mcler record in 29 minutes
31.78 seconds she .shattered the
previous mark by 42 seconds in a
sport that usually measures its
newly established marks in hun-
dredths and tenths of seconds.
She also became an international
sensation and a controversial one
in August when she and her
teammates swept the gold medals in
the 1500- 3000- and 10000-mctcr
races at the world championships in
Stuttgart Germany and won six of
the nine medals in those races.
Wang also ran the second fastest
marathon of the year in April 1993
and six months later won the World
Cup Marathon.
Many followers of the sport won-
dered if something fishy was occur-
ring with their training methods.
Rumors of drugs circulated for one
thing but when the women were
tested at the World events the tests
returned negative.
How did she feel about others
diminishing the achievements?
"I was very angry about it" she
said and the look in her eyes under-
scored the words. "The truth is we
made the records by ourselves. It is
a big disappointment for people like
us to work so hard and achieve such
records and then hear that we didn't
accomplish it properly."
All five women who made such
an impact train under Junren in the
Liaoning Province of western
China. Most of the 18 girls who
train under Junren are from peasant
families Wang's father for one
raised clams to support his family
of four.
Part of the runners' work has to
do not only with running and eating
or "eating bitterness" as Junren
calls his rigid techniques but
concentrating too.
When Wang's brother was killed
in an automobile-bicycle accident in
July she was not told about it until
her coach thought it best after
the world championships and the
Chinese nationals games two
months later.
"I thought it was the right thing"
she said Monday. Wang said it was
clear that she could not have con
centrated as the event required.
At the dinner Wilma Rudolph
was co-chairperson along with
Muhammad Alt. Someone told
Wang that Rudolph said she felt
like a butterfly while running.
How did she feel when she ran?
"Like a deer" Wang said. And
she pointed to the pin on her jacket
and the one on her sweater; they
were both deer. And Wang Junxia
smiled broadly a smile quite differ-
ent from when worms not deer;
were the subject.
ACROSS
46
1 Fort Worth theater:
Manana
5 TXlsm: 'got knocked
down or two
6 XIT Ranch covered
counties
7 Anthony Is 'Leap
Capitol of the World'
8 TX Poetry Day Is In
this month (abbr.)
9 'Is this
question?'
15 TXism: 'never sign
anything by the
glow of a light'
17 TXlsm: 'could talk
of a ditch"
21 Toxan who sang 'Oh
Pretty Woman' (Inlt)
22 TX George Jones hit:
"The Race "
23 Bush Illness on
92 Tokyo trip
24 TXlsm: '
wet hen' (angry)
30 TX. Ranger sorlos:
Texas John "
34 Davy's state (abbr.)
35 TXism: 'restless as
Church'
38 Alpine TX named
for these Swiss mts. .
37 TX comedian Foxx -or
Farr of MASH
39 Hilton called Cisco's .
Mobloy 'a cross
between . .
a flophouse
43 TXlsm: 'scared the
dickens out '"
44 Tho Lone
45 ox-Maverlck Alex (lnit.)
TX rovlvod this
duck hunt In "92
TXlsm: 'a legend In
his own mind (big )
Oilers: "Luv Blue'
Gonzales Co. state park
precedes Soto or Leon
TX Jim Reeves tune:
' I Losing You?'
tho way some Yonks
describe Texans
TXlsm: 'wobbles like
a calf
iHeOMmC TEXAS
CROSSWORD
6jf Charley & Guy Orbison
CcpyrtQht 1994 by Orbboo Brw.
12 3 T
7 k
S MHi 10 11 12 13 uHBL
is i ' ?o
HHHp4 23 20 27 2 2H33 31 32 "HB"" mV X
U HflP" HP'' M B i
"N 40 41 42 H43 jH
m H ' Hto mm
MUUMlA Hll Vt BM 43 &1 M
S7 3S 59 Lgmp c4i
" po" mwwa'
di vr-
" W
HM W
rise
and
CltyTX
(Upshur Co.)
TX newspapers
sell 'em
documents (abbr.)
DOWN-
Palo Duro
TXIsrru 'Just down
the road '
Hutchison and
Gramm
follows toon or man
Olney h.s. class
Cannonsnap Creek
was misnamed for
this In 1837 (2 wds.)
TX poison Ivy can
give you one
TXlsm:'
sheqred like a
spring lamb'
bluebonnet: 'fel "
Dallas Cowboy or
boxer Norton (lnit.)
16 retlrod Rangers'
pitching legend
18 TXlsm: "pick
the litter'
19 TX Cindy Garner
book; Tho
Jokebook About Men'
20 Wichita Falls dancer
and actor Tommy 29 TXlsm: 'lie's all
24 '' Ferguson was show go"
1st female governor 31 Texas oatery:
25 also known as (abbr.) steak and
26 TXlsm: 'shln' 32 TXlsm: 'woko
(big event) bear (trouble)
27 lovod 33 TXlsm: 'fast as a
28 TX forage crop rat up a "
38 film: Tho Texan
Calamity Jano
40 Houston's Gllley (Inlt)
41 that Is (abbr.)
42 female deacon
47 TXcroek:
Yo DIrjo
50 TX or Iowa town
52 TX Fctk Society
53 Waco's Jules Bledeoa
sang "Old River
58 Charlie Pride tune:
Then I?"
59 Fort Worth was
ones known as
Fort"
See solution p. 5 j
ia
c
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 38, Ed. 1, Friday, February 4, 1994, newspaper, February 4, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92222/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.