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In the News
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Week of 23 October 1998 |
Vol. II, No. 11 |
In the News
"The opportunity to tackle the Holy Grail of sequels wasn't on my agenda, to say the least. I swallowed hard and tried to think of something to say." Such was the reaction of Michael Walsh, visiting professor of journalism at COM, when the president of Warner Books suggested he write a sequel to the classic movie Casablanca. Walsh describes how he wrote the resulting novel As Time Goes By in an essay in the Sunday New York Times on October 11. Unlike a simplistic sequel, the novel reaches behind the events in the movie as much as it chronicles what happens after. "I won't tell you who dies and who lives to love again, but I can tell you this: we'll always, all of us, have Paris," he says.
He had resolved never to "go back into that rink until I could do it on skates," but Travis Roy (COM'00) has changed his mind -- and the rink has changed its name. The Maine rink where Roy first learned to skate will now bear the BU junior's name, a fitting tribute to the student whose varsity hockey career was cut short in 1995 in his first college game by an accident which left him a quadriplegic. Renovations have also changed the rink's look, and Roy calls his visit "a new start, a time to move on" in the October 14 Boston Herald.
It's no secret that high-tech is the cornerstone of the Massachusetts economy, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the prospects for the future are bright. "Right now one of the greatest threats to our economy is lack of an adequate technical workforce," warns John Bonanno, executive director of the Corporate Education Center on Chronicle, WCVB-TV's news magazine October 13. The segment focuses on alternative educational programs, with greater career orientation. "We talk to hiring managers all the time," he adds. "It's one of their greatest challenges right now because they're investing in all this technology. But they need the workforce to be able to manage technology."
It's hard to talk back to a winner, which may explain how NFL coach Bill Parcells can keep up his General Patton style while migrating from team to team. "In football, a tough guy can get away with [abusive behavior] for a year or two only if he's successful," says SED Professor Len Zaichowsky, an authority on sports psychology, in the September 22 issue of The Village Voice. "With Parcells, his great reputation allows him to do this a little longer." But even in the army it's a kinder, gentler world, and Zaichowsky suggests that younger athletes may not be as tolerant of that style of coaching. "The contemporary athlete feels entitled," he says. "It's OK to question your coach. And in most cases, the athletes are making more money than the coach."
Extensive publicity about Viagra has tended to obscure a fact that School of Medicine Professor Irwin Goldstein continues to emphasize: it is a medication for impotence, not a recreational drug. Goldstein says in the October 11 Boston Herald, "Viagra does not improve a normal erection. If a man is not suffering from erectile dysfunction, he should not be given the medication." Strong demand for the drug has been accompanied by indications of health risks, especially for those suffering from heart disease. "A reasonable gauge of exercise tolerance is to identify if a man can climb several flights of stairs without angina or severe shortness of breath," Goldstein says. "If this is possible, he should be able to withstand the exercise load of sexual intercourse."
"In the News" is compiled by the Office of Public Relations.