Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News- Sunday, January 10,1999. „ ...
Forsyth Life
Looking
for almost
happily
ever after
Laura £
Lavezzo 4
I can’t wait for the next William
Shakespeare to get published. I
hope he is currently the best little
story-teller in the whole kinder
garten, just biding his time in child
hood before that first great book
emerges from his fingertips onto
the screen of a word processor.
Better yet, I hope the next great
writer is much closer to fame.
Maybe she’s working at a boring
job simply to pay the rent, but late
at night you can find her pouring
her creativity out over the keys of
an old typewriter.
You see, I want to be alive when it
happens - when the next master of
story-spinning is revealed. Because
to tell the truth, I’m getting a little
bit frustrated with modern enter
tainment.
I made this discovery last week
end when I collapsed with a horrid
case of the flu. I had no energy and
my body wouldn’t respond to sim
ple commands such as “Get up and
DO something,” so I laid on the liv
ing room sofa, sipped tea and rotted
in front of the television. It was
great. I watched a good part of the
Twilight Zone marathon and sever
al movies that were made long
before I was bom. So don’t get me
wrong, I know there are a lot of
great story-tellers out there. Or at
least there were. But the majority
of what Americans are expected to
accept as great entertainment now
does not appeal to me most of the
time. I don’t think I’m alone.
So don’t watch television, you
say. OK. But after I turned off the
set, I made a mistake. I picked up
the book I’d been reading and fin
ished it. It was the second book I’d
finished in just a few months where
the hero, for some reason, winds up
committing suicide in the last chap
ter or so. I had a lot of stock in both
of those characters, and I believed
them to be strong-willed'people.
Then the authors had to do away
with them in order to have closure.
High school juniors learn that good
writers do not use this pathetic
device to solve a character’s dilem
ma simplyto end a book. It’s called
“deus ex machina” and it means
“God from a machine.” You see it
ail the time in cartoons. It is not a
device which entertains people who
have spent several hours devoted to
characters they will never meet in
real life..
I won’t tell you which books,
because I don’t want to rain on the
parades of folks who haven’t read
them yet, but I will tell you that
both books were published in the
last year, and one of the books was
made into a rather successful movie
with a rather different ending.
Nevertheless, television may dis
gust me sometimes, and a lot of
movies may not appeal to me, but I
will never give up on books.
My love of reading was really
established when I read Mark
Twain’s tale about “The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County.” I was only in fourth grade,
and I’d never heard of Twain, but I
knew the man could tell a story.
When I read Twain it was the first
time I had ever laughed out loud
while doing homework.
Unfortunately, I happen to know
Twain made'nasty remarks about
Jane Austen, whose writing fasci
nates me. But that’s OK. Just goes
to show even writers can disagree
on what’s entertaining and what’s
not.
There’s also a problem with the
“Disney-fication” of so many great
stories. American audiences want
happy endings, but do they want to
be sweetened to death with ersatz
scenes of life? What most of us
want is “almost” happily ever after,
but not quite. If you find an exam
ple of great modem writing, let me
know.
■ ki IlllliyV I i S
Photo/submitted
Band students from North Forsyth High School celebrate in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The
Raiders Marching Band won first place titles for jazz performance and parade exhibition at the Outback
Bowl Festival Competition.
Support team heads overseas
Submitted by Paul Turner
For the Forsyth County News
When Gene Wilson goes to visit family
next month, he won’t be traveling to the next
county, or even the next state. He’ll be going
to a different continent.
Gene’s son, Wade Wilson, who was pro
filed in the Forsyth County News earlier this
year, is starting his second year as a mission
ary to Ethiopia. Gene will be traveling as
part of a team whose mission is to provide
on-the-scene support for Wade’s efforts in
the Northeast African nation.
“Team Ethiopia” is composed of six men
from First Christian Church of Cumming
and Cornerstone Christian Church of
Dawsonville. Along with Gene, Joe Gaines,
Wes Davidson, Mark Coffman, Dennis
Gravitt and Frank Shirvinski will depart
Atlanta on Jan. 13 for a multi-faceted, two
week expedition. They will be carrying con
struction supplies, educational materials,
medicine and an agenda which promises an
exhausting but productive trip.
Wade Wilson serves in Ethiopia as a mis
sionary from First Christian Church of
Cumming. He is also affiliated with
Christian Missionary Fellowship, an evan
gelical organization which has maintained
Christian missions in Ethiopia since 1963.
The CMF compound in Addis Ababa serves
as the hub of Wade’s ministry and is in need
of substantial repairs. While there, the team
plans to replace most of the compound’s 50-
year old wiring, make some plumbing
upgrades, patch several roof leaks, repair ter
mite damage and add a new bathroom. And
I
Photo/Tom Brooks
Old favorites Tagalongs” and “Samoas” are joined by a new cookie, "Lemon Drop," in the 1999
Girl Scout Cookie campaign.
that’s just a start.
In addition to his many formal duties,
Wade volunteers at the Mother Teresa AIDS
orphanage. The team will provide blankets,
vitamins, antibiotics and infant supplies for
this vital ministry. Wade writes of his heart
wrenching experiences there.
“It is so hard to hold, to'dry the tears, to
rock to sleep children that you know will
soon die,” Wade writes. “But it is impossible
not to know the love of God’when 10 such
children clamor to-s&on your lap, holding
you. hugging you, f wanting, to let you
go. I often
same time so draining, yet so fulfilling; so
sobering, yet so uplifting.”
Education is also on the agenda for Team
Ethiopia. Under the auspices of the
Seminary of the Nations, Frank Shirvinski,
FCC’s minister of education, will conduct a
four-day seminar on the moral vision of the
Apostle Paul. Assisted by the other team
members, Frank will present this material to
more than 100 Ethiopian ministers and evan
gelists as well as numerous local missionary
teams. The men will also visit churches
around the area. FCC’s youth minister, Mark
Coffman, will preach at several of these
churches, as well as address an international
youth group.
Though the team’s main focus will be in
the capital, Addis Ababa, a city of 1.5 mil
lion, there will also be time for excursions
into the countryside. Ethiopia is a country of
rugged mountains, high plateaus and fertile
river valleys, sometimes referred to as “The
See MISSION, Page 2B
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Photo/submitted
Missionary Effie Giles washes clothes the old-fashioned way.
It’s Girl Scout cookie time!
One of the most delicious times
of the year is just around the cor
ner. The 63rd annual Girl Scout
Cookie Sale begins in January and
Northeast Georgians can buy these
tasty treats from local Girl Scout
troops. Last year, the nation’s 2.5
million Girl Scoutssold nearly 200
million packages of cookies -
enough to circle the earth.
Scouts in the Northeast Georgia
Council kicked off their annual
cookie campaign on Friday, Jan. 8.
On Thursday evening, Jan. 7,
Forsyth County Girl Scouts gath
ered at the Sawnee Community
Center for a rally to generate
excitement over this year’s sale.
More than 250 girls attended the
fun event, singing and chanting to
get ready.
More than 700 scouts in Forsyth
County will be selling cookies to
friends and family this year. Area
troops are planning to hold sales at
local merchants for public pur
chase. Proceeds from cookie sales
help Girl Scout troops pay for
activities such as camping, field
Plan your own
tea for two'
RACE3B [J]
ft
» i ■
Marchers take
first place prizes
at Outback Qowl
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
There’s nothing more exciting than winning when you least
expect it. This is exactly what happened to the North Forsyth
High School Raiders Marching Band over the New Year’s hol
iday. Invited last spring to participate in this year’s half-time
show at the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., the band has been
preparing for the big event all school year. But following the
resignation of director David Carnes in November, students
had only a few weeks to develop a good working relationship
with new band director, Tim Keyser, before the big trip, which
included competitions against the other regional schools that
were there to play in the half-time show.
“They worked hard, and they didn’t get much sleep, but they
really did a wonderful job,” said parent Lucy Nutt. “They had
competitions throughout the week and did very well, consider
ing the brief transition period they had with Mr. Keyser.” Lucy
is the mother of Jordan Nutt, a junior mellophone player.
Among the 29 bands to compete at the Outback Bowl
Festival Competition, the NFHS band placed in all of its cate
gories under Keyser’s direction, taking first place trophies for
jazz performance and parade marching in Class 11. They also
won second place for the concert performance and third place
for the marching/field show category.
Overall, it was a busy week. Once the students arrived, they
were thrown into half-time rehearsals with students from the
other schools. Divided according to the instruments they play,
the marchers worked under different directors to learn the rou
tine for the half-time performance. Brass, woodwinds and per
cussion all went their separate ways for practice.
“It was very time-consuming, but most said it was the best
See BAND, Page 2B
trips, service projects and badges.
The Council receives funds to
recruit and train adult leaders,
organize troops and provide coun
cil-wide programs.
The Girl Scouts have eight kinds
of cookies to choose from. This
year, two new cookies have been
added to the traditional selection of
“Thin Mints,” “Samoas,” “Dt>si
dos,” “Tagalongs,” “Trefoils” and
“Striped Chocolate Chip.” The new
cookies are the “Lemon Drop ”
made with creamy lemon chips,
and the reduced-fat “Apple
Cinnamon,” which is naturally fla
vored with cinnamon sugar.
The cost for a box of cookies is
$2.75 in the Northeast Georgia
Council. Individual councils set the
price of their cookies. The
Northeast Georgia Council is cur
rently developing and improving
Camp Otaki and Camp Lanier. The
Council is smaller than others in
the state, and currently it’s going
through a growth phase.
See COOKIES, Page 5B