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Show Life The College Times B1 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2008, How to survive until good television is back wmm Mel Sundquist Life writer The writer's strike is officially over. However, goodness knows how long it will be until we get some new episodes on the air. Until then, we have to find a way to make due without our favorite stories. 1. Get a hobby. Find something to do that keepsyour mind off of your vacant television screen. Learn to roller-skate. Make macrame plant-holders. Trim hedges. Knit a sweater. Just find a way to keep busy during prime time. 2. Make your own drama. If you are so accustomed to living with languishing lovers, medical mysteries, courtroom conundrums, and suburban comedy, you'll just have to create those situations without the help of Hollywood. Convince yourself that your roommate has a disease that only you can cure. Tum that spring fling into a whirlwind romance that you can regret later. 3. If you simply can't do without television of some sort, go to ABC and NBC's websites. They have a really great online episode viewer, so you can catch up on all those shows you didn't know you liked until now. And each commercial break is only thirty seconds long. 4. Learn to love reality television, because it may be all you get for the next few weeks. Dance War and America's Next Top Model may just be the funniest things to ever be shown on television, Survivor can assuage your need for interpersona! drama, and there are about a thousand gameshows broadcasting now that can help you hone your useless-trivia skills. 5. Read books. They don't come in nice, tidy, half-hour packages, but they S « HOW TO-83 Ralph Alswang/Cllnton Foundation - Edited by The College Times President Clinton greets Rwandan youth as part of a 2006 seven-country visit to view Clinton Foundation initiatives in Africa. Bill Clinton announces CGI University Jack Waters Managing Editor Former President Bill Clinton spoke on the phone with The College Times' Jack Waters, announcing that his foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) will expand its effort to college campuses through CGI University, CGIU is a meeting that will bring together students, academics, and social, political and cultural leaders to discuss pressing issues and ways to bring about global action to solve them. Similar to the Clinton Global Initiative annual meetings held each year in New York City, CGIU will inform and motivate a new generation of young- people to act on urgent challenges focusing on energy & climate change, global health, poverty alleviation, and peace & human rights. According to the group, CGIU will concentrate on the following: * Identify, cultivate, and engage college students to make tangible commitments to tackle global issues; * Challenge universities to organize research and service-oriented commitments in targeted areas; * Introduce and promote CGI's work and mission to a new, younger audience; and * Connect students, organizations and university administrators around the world with others working on similar issues. Former President Bill Clinton: "Today's college students have an unprecedented capacity to make a difference, both in their communities and half a world away. They also have incredible enthusiasm, optimism, passion to learn and a desire to help others. The CGI model is about collective action to make a difference, and it works because people who care come together not just to talk, but to form partnerships to bring about change. It's a model that we know works and by offering it to college students I hope CGIU will give them a new outlet to tackle problems and foster social change." Jack Waters: President Clinton, what steps can we take as college students in society to become more proactive rather than reactive to the issues CGI addresses? In other words, should we independently organize, or affiliate with a university or national en: tity? BC: "Well. I think whether you affiliate with a national entity or not is your own choice. But i think that you ought to just as Tulane has a community service requirement - every college or university in this country could at least have its own non-governmental organization with its own charter, organized as a 501(c3) so you can get tax deductible contributions. And then you can pick projects that you're going to deal with, and it would grow over time. You could start with one domestic project and maybe one international project. But I think this ought to become a part of college life. I think stu- Two nights of joy Ray Cheatham Life writer Director, Jens Hoffman. Courtesy of the Banff Centre 5till from the film 20 Seconds of Joy. On "the nights of Feb. 12 and 13, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour presented over a dozen films about mountain sports and culture to sold-out audiences in the Ragan Theater. Since 1976 filmmakers and adrenaline junkies alike have assembled in the city of Banff. Alberta, Canada, to participate in the Banff Mountain Film Festival. When the festival comes to a close, the best films go on a world tour. For the past seven years, the Outdoor Adventure Center has brought the tour to campus. Films presented in the Ragan Theater included Trial & Error, a film about mountain biker Ryan Leech and an incredible trail in dents should think of this as just another part of their education, another part of their development as citizens, and another part of the opportunity to learn and the responsibility to leave the world a better place. I think that I'd like to see colleges brand their non-governmental organizations the same way they brand their sports teams or their bands or their orchestras or their choral groups. You know, I think that really is a way to get everybody into it. I would like everybody to want to join that more than they wanted to be in their favorite fraternity, sorority or other group. My recommendation is that's a good way to start because then'people can get involved and you know it's yours, you own it, and you can measure what impact you're having." The inaugural meeting of CGIU will take place March 14-16, 2008, at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. CGIU will consist of plenary sessions and panel and group discussions that will give students the opportunity to ask questions, develop ideas, and form commitments. Before the event's closing, students will be asked to make a commitment to do something - whether big or small - to improve the world. Students will also have the chance to participate in a day-long service project in the Katrina-affected area of New Orleans, sponsored by CGIU. Pres. Scott Cowen of Tulane University took part in the conference call as well, saying, "I am hoping that all of you, will join us at Tulane in New Orleans for the Clinton Global Initiative University because I think you'll be exposed to individuals and thinking that will transform you and hopefully transform the world." Students who are unable to attend CGIU, and those wishing to apply or to submit comments, can visit CGIU's Web site at http://www.cgiu.org Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to campus coastal British Columbia. In King Lines climber Chris Sharma challenges himself on thrilling lines around the world. It's Fantastic is the first documentary about the new fringe sport of "speedflying" and featiires three speedfiiers from Salt Lake City. With the exception of a single film titled Great Day For Climbing, which was a baby boomer bust, the films were e n tertaining and engaging creat- ing a perfect synthesis of cinema and spectator. The most captivating film of the tour was 20 Seconds Of Joy. This film was the recipient of both the People's Choice Award and the Best Film on Mountain Sports Award in Banff. Filmmaker Jens Hoffman chronicled the Base-jumping career of Norwegian Karina Hollekim beginning with her first jump from a bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho in 2002. The audience can't help but feel something for Hollekim as she talks about her past, including why her mother did not recSet TWO NIGHTS. 83 |