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Show STUDENT SPECIAL! AGGIE -"- LIFE Buy 2 meals, Set $5 off the second meal Valid on dinner combos #1-16. Valid everyday after 4pm. Must present student ID. Not valid for take-out or with any other offer. Expires 1/24/05. 1079 N. Main 753-4084 Perfect Partner. Let us help plan your big day. 630 West 200 753-8875 WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12,2005 Modern tale of Oz is definitely worth visiting It may be true that tic fantasy, politialmost everybody knows cal discourse, relithe story of farm-girl-fargious ambiguity "Re-visiting and from-home Dorothy, her and sardonic Re-visioning Oz" dog Toto, her motley humor, Maguire Grade: Acrew of companions and proposes a differthe Wicked Witch of the ent take on the West. seemingly simple Wicked Witch of But look closer. the West. In his first novel for adults, published nearly a decade ago, Centering on the green Gregory Maguire revisited the myth Munchkinlander Elphaba (a name creatbegun by L. Frank Baum in 1899 (and ed using Baum's initials LFB), "Wicked" subsequently embellished through sev- tells her story from the beginning. eral different novels and authors in Born with an unexplainable greenensuing decades). The novel, which tinted skin, the story follows Elphaba sports the subtitle "The L ife and Times of through college and beyond weaving the Wicked Witch of the West," suc- into her tale the lives of Galinda the ceeds in breathing fresh life into a cen- Good Witch, the Wicked Witch of the tury old story that has captivated and East, and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, bewitched generations. while explaining many questions left One of the great mysteries of this unanswered in the original tales, such book is why it has taken so long to as: spread across the country (Utah of Where did the Witch come from? course being one of the last stops). I How did she become Wicked? suppose that, with the exception of ficHow did the wizard become the tion suggested by Oprah's Book Club, supreme ruler of Oz? treasured novels sucn as this one are What are the true stories behind the only shared between close friends or cowardly lion, the brainless scarecrow whispered about around the company and the heartless tin man? water cooler. But, since the release of Why is the Witch so fixated on the the Broadway adaptation, "Wicked," in ruby slippers? 2003, the country has begun to take What about the flying monkeys? notice. Of course the musical's 10 Tony Spellbinding to a fault, Maguire's Nominations didn't hurt either. fresh and seamless prose flows from With its unique blend of quasi-realis- page to page engaging the reader at Book Review: MattWrigM every level. His wry and subtle narration includes timeless questions about the true nature of good and evil and brings to mind the equally timeless predisposition of humanity to judge books by their covers. Before I continue, I must in good conscience point out that, though I agree with Oscar Wilde who said, "there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written or badly written. That is all/' this novel might not be enjoyed equally by all folks living in this highly conservative valley. The novel includes sexual situations and adult language, though most of the accounts are, in fact, tasteful and wellwritten. Critically acclaimed across the nation, the novel deserves each of its spectacular reviews which bill it as "an instant classic," "a punchy allegory," "a staggering feat of wordcraft" and an "amazing novel." Whether you know the Baum's books by heart, or you only have the faintest recollections of singing lions and melting witches, Maguire's "Wicked" deserves a moment of your undivided attention. Or, at the least, a closer look. Matt Wright is a book critic and assistant features editor at the Statesman. Comments can be sent to him at mattgo@cc.usu.edu MOTIVATION Aggie Special - Z strips of chicken - 1 biscuit - 1 side item ^£ E. 400 N. 752-9673 From Page 6 object spoken of the next and the crowd would immediately start pushing old people and children out of the way to get at it. Inexplicable though this behavior is, I realized that it is the solution to all of our motivational problems. As students, all we need to do is get a hold of a bunch of worthless objects and give them to our professors on the first day of classes. Then, once the professors suspect that their students have lapsed into a particularly low level of motivation, they can pull out a little mug holder thing-gummy (or whatever the item may be) and offer it to first student to answer the next question. Instant motivation. I actually have at least five or six more ideas on how to get more motivated for this semester, but as you may imagine, I just can't summon the energy to mention them right now. Marty Reeder is a senior majoring in history education. Comments or exciing worthless objects can be sent to martr@cc.usu.edu Wrist action: Bracelets bring in bucks for causes Available Everyday! BY KATHARINE GOODLOE KRT The rubber is hitting the wrist. Hard. Modeled after the ubiquitous yellow Lance Armstrong "LIVESTRONG" rubber wristband that supports cancer research, charities across the country are selling spinoff bracelets. And many can't keep up with demand: Two teens selling $5 blue bracelets to aid the New York hospital that treats their juvenile diabetes sold 10,000 in four weeks. Children With Diabetes ran out of their $5 red bracelets, recently back-ordering 10,000. KRT Photo Even Target temporarily sold out of a ALl MECGS SHOWS HER "LIVE5TRONC" bracelet that were sold by Lance Armstrong's foundation lo raise money for pink band it sells cancer research. The popularity of the bracelet has inspired others to use the idea for charity. online to support breast cancer prisoner-of-war bracelets during The Greater Dallas Chapter of the research. Vietnam and ID-tag bracelet Juvenile Diabetes Research "It's almost like the spread of a exchanges for anyone who went steady Foundation hopes to begin widespread virus," says Dr. Daniel Howard, who in the mid-'70s. sales in January of $2 orange bracelets chairs the marketing department at saying "MAX-LIFE." The brainchild of The bracelets are expanding far Southern Methodist University's Cox a St. Louis couple whose son, Max beyond illnesses. School of Business. "It's the thing to Rowe, has the disease, the initial run A student at New York's do, to wear a bracelet to express yourof 5,000 sold out before the first shipManhattanville College launched an self, your causes, your beliefs." ment arrived. Now more than adopt-a-soldier campaign with a Experts say the fad combines a hip 200,000 have sold. "starter kit" that includes a red fashion statement with the goodness bracelet saying "MY SOLDIER." And the buyers keep coming. of giving to charity - which has, itself, Austin-based Herobracelets.org offers Sixteen-year-old Carolyn Comer of become hip. another military option, selling $7 alu- Dallas says she was one of the last peo"Every now and again, one of these minum bands engraved with the name ple at Ursuline Academy to get a things will happen, and nobody quite of a solider killed in Iraq. LIVESTRONG bracelet. She also expects it," says Robert Thompson, a A student group at Yavneh Academy wears one for leukemia research and professor of popular culture at IN Dallas sold 2,700 blue $3 bracelets another from a local school. Syracuse University. in their first four days, supporting a "They're cool to look at, and they're He compares the fad to knotted camp in Israel for children with relaa symbol for something," she says. "I friendship bracelets in the mid-"90s, tives killed by terrorists. never take them off.1' |