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Show iUUU features(a)statesman.usu.edu 79Z=lZ6i_ -Monday, Oct. 15,2007 _P_age_5 PROFESSOR PROFILE -*•• , s * * * authorities were on to them and they were going to escape. "(My mother) had visited her brother like a week before assistant features editor she left. And he was the only one that knew she was planning to escape. She had a boyfriend and so she had gone to her older brother and said I want to to stay because I Associate professor in the English department, Evelyn love this man. and he said I don't think you can do it. Funda, said she wants her mother's courage. T. . Her mother, Antonia, escaped from the communist "So she left everything." regime in 1949 at age 23 by crossing the Czech border Funda, who teaches in the English and American studinto Austria while hiding in a false-bottomed wine baries department, said something her students don't know rel, Funda said. Communists, who she said had just swept about her is that her mother and father's story is being Nazis out of Czechoslovakia, tried their hand at liberating compiled into a creative nonfiction book written by Funda the country until some Czech people realized the commu- herself. The book, which is not yet completed, came about nists were just as bad as the Nazis. after her family farm land in Idaho was sold, she said. The book delves into the metaphor of her family's experience While working as a nanny, Antonia realized the family being compared to weeds. i ^" £ she was workingforwas involved with the underground, which aimed to help dissidents escape from the commu"Weeds are particularly adapted to survive harsh condinist regime, Funda said. She soon became involved and tions." she said. "1 kind of was interested in the idea of eventually had to leave the country to ensure her safety. their resiliency." /;; , f But one of the only ways she could do that, Funda said, "Wild Oats" which is a weed often found on road sides, was by wine barrel when the country exported grapes. is a title chapter in Funda's book that talks about Antonia "This is like Napa Valley, Czech style," she said. "This and her immigration experience from her home country is real wine country, so a lot of grapes are transported to of Czechoslovakia to a small town in Idaho. Each chapter wineries and there was a false-bottomed barrel, so she is named after a different kind of weed, she said. escaped across the border into Austria." ' ' - ^. \ Funda, who is "100 percent Czech," said she compares Consequently, Funda said her mother has kind of ,;' X' a wild oat to her mother. When the awn (an appendage) become a motto or theme to live by and remember. of a wild oat is wet, Funda said it begins to unfurl or twist itself around its body since its position is at an angle. Its "I'm a coward in lots of ways," Funda said with a smile. an evolutionary thing, Funda said, that says this weed is "And that's one of the regrets I have, that I didn't do the amazingly adapted to survive. things that I wished I'd done. I didn't sort of push myself. And my mother, there was a sense of courage about her , "The reason I put (wild oats) in the book is because I'm that I really admire. really interested in the idea of the wild oats almost consciously making a choice to embed itself in the landscape" v This decision changed the rest of Antonias life. She left without saying goodbye to her parents, Funda said, and she said. "So I kind of saw this as a metaphor for my i didn't ever see them afivragain.~A"nT6hTa^dfFt se^'hef * • mother whtf had been thisrefiige,I mean she literally had ' village again until 1993 when she went back with Fundas a refuge card, and I was interested in that idea of someEVELYN F U N D A H A S T A U G H T A T U S U since 1995 and said her Job is rewarding father, she said. body who escaped, who was a refuge, of a very conscious because of the classroom experience. She said she enjoys seeing students be engaged in what "You know, to face that kind of uncertainty, and she she is teaching them. "That's a high," she said. NOELLE BERLAGE photo just did it," Funda said. "It wasn't as if she had a choice \1 See FUNDA, page 8 of course because what they knew at that point was the By BRITTNY GOODSELL JONES uGQ I wasn't saved by the bell Student wants to be a doctor and write book on skin cancer Caught on -4 Campus lg Vanesa Webb Peru Sophomore Premed ByTONNIEDIXON staff writer US: What brings you to USU? VW: Well, because it's the only university in Utah pretty much, well in this part of Utah. My dad came here, so he told me it'll be better if you get a bilingual education and everything because I was studying genetics in my country. So yeah, he pretty much made me stay. So I stayed and it was good. I'm so happy with it. US: How many people are in your family? VW: Well in my family, my husband and my baby. But in here, it's my dad, my mom and my two brothers. US: What is one of your favorite hobbies or talents? VW: I love to play soccer, and I love to dance and listen to music, and whatever I'm up to, whatever my mood tells me to do. US: If you could write a book about any topic, what would it be about? VW: Skin cancer. I want to be a dermatologist, so I love every- thing that has to do with skin and things like that. So I really like that. US: What is your favorite candy bar? VW: Hershey's or Milky Way. I really love them. US: Who is the most important person to you? VW: It's kind of hard to say that because I think my husband and my baby mean the world for me. I mean my parents are the best. My grandparents, you know what I mean, and I could go on, but my husband and my baby are there! US: What would you do if you were given a million dollars? VW: I want to go to Africa. And I'm just gonna put a whole charity place cause I'm really a fan of Mother Teresa because I think she was a really important person, you know what I mean? Not just in the Catholic Church, but everywhere. Like a person, 'cause she helps a lot of people that it really needs, so if I do give some to anybody, even if it's just a $100,000, I'm just gonna give away. Because I learned that you come here without nothing, and you're gonna leave this earth without nothing either, so I'm just gonna give my money to everyone else. US: What is one of your favorite TV shows? VW: It depends. In Spanish, some of my soap operas. I'm still looking at my soap operas. I love VANESA WEB, SOPHOMORE FROM PERU, SAID she if she had a million dollars, she would give it away. NOELLE BERLAGE photo Discovery Channel. I love "E.R.," "CSI." I love those kind of shows though. US: How would you describe yourself in three words? VW: Um, I don't give up easily. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I always have stuck to it, to whatever I think is worth it to go for it. I always keep hope no matter how dark it can get. You know what I mean? Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's really stupid to see. You know what I mean, like, 'I'm hoping this. I'm hoping this.' And just live on hopes, but I love to go for it. Whatever seems impossible to everybody else, oh I'm gonna be there to just say, "No, I'm gonna go this way." So ya, I'm way stubborn. US: What are your plans for the future? VW: For my future? If God allows me to keep living, I'm gonna be a dermatologist. I'm planning on having one more baby. Probably my husband will disagree with [1 See CAUGHT, page 8 elevision lies. I'm sure this doesn't come as some grand revelation. Anybody who's watched CNN or FOXNews for more than 10 minutes can figure that out. But there are some topics that should not be lied about. One of these is school. Having been in school for nearly my entire life - depressing, isn't it? - I'm somewhat of an expert on school. This doesn't necessarily mean I'm always a good student, but I've learned how the game of school works. Really, it's a game. The teachers try to force you to do things against your will and you try to find a way to either get out of it or procrastinate it. Sadly, teachers always seem to hold the trump card, and there's no "get out of jail free" card with homework or tests. This is unfortunate because the way I learned about the game of school was likely the same way all of you did through television. And it was all a lie. Since I can remember, there have always been shows on TV about school: "Magic School Bus/' "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," "Doug," "Recess," "Boy Meets World" and the all-time school classic, "Saved by the Bell." As a young child, these shows left deep impressions on me, so much to the point that I can still sing the opening song to "Saved by the Bell": "When I wake up in the morning and the alarm lets out a warning, I don't think I'll ever make it on time. By the time I got my books, I give myself a look, I'm at the corner just in time to see the bus slide by T about school. I learned I could goof off all I wanted and get into trouble on a daily basis but it would be OK because ! would have a large group of politically correct, ethnically diverse friends who would bail me out of the principal's office and steal his toupe. Growing up, I wanted to be like Zack. He was charming, witty, mischievous and most of all, he was always trying to hook up with the beautiful Kelly Kapowski. She was easily the most gorgeous teenage girl on television. Who wouldn't want a girl who was a cheerleader, played volleyball, was on swim team and could make your heart melt every time she smiled? Sigh. As much as 1 wanted to be like Zack, the only character I could really relate to was Screech. Although I don't have a white-man fro, I was quite similar to Screech in junior high. I wore those crazy elastic waistband pants with bizarre patterns on them, frequently carried pens, pencils and an occasional calculator in my pocket and squeaked all the time. It was a sad time in my life. Going into junior high, 1 was terrified for what awaited me based on Screech's experiences. As 1 walked down the hallway, I was jitterier than an Enron executive with the Feds after him. I kept waiting for a Hulk Hogan-sized football player to shove me inside my locKer (I was particularly scared of this because I was pretty sure I couldn't fit inside my locker without breaking multiple bones) and keep me in there for hours before reappearing after school was-out to meet me at the flag pole "Saved by the Bell" taught me a lot of important thines [MSeeIJES,page7 — |