INSIDE | , SECTION B COMMUNITY CRIS LEYKAUF EVENTS B2 “WHA CHARLYNN TOEWS A poetic look at dirty dishes O YOU EVER find yourself wandering simlessly though your house, unable to focus on clearing Bp one mess at a time? It makes me feel like the ghost of a housewife, drifting about, lifting a scarf then laying it down, pausing to sigh deeply in a doorway. ‘Whenever this happens to me, one line of a poem I hated in school will pop unbidden into my brain, ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’ This is particularly aggravating to me because Isuspect this poem was written by Wordsworth. He’s the guy I disliked the most. This is the one the instructor and I had a big fight about. I said to the prof that it wasn’t that I didn’t understand Wordsworth, I did; it’s just that I didn’t like him. The instructor insisted that if I did understand Wordsworth, I would like him. Because I didn’t like him, it was obvious I didn’t understand him. We were at loggerheads., So I am reminded, annoyingly, of this un- resolved argument at least every Garbage Day, if not more often. Picking up blocks, looking for the dustpan I just had, emptying bins, I think about that instructor, so tall and British and smart, and me, seventeen years ago, so stub- bom, arguing back and forth. Wiping a counter or a bum, I recall him saying that to like some- thing, first you have to.understand it. Disposing of various animal: droppings, I think, but what if you like something you don’t understand? For example, I haven’t got a clue about what goes on in my twelve-year-old cat’s head, but I do know I love him to bits. Same goes for my toddler and my husband. . So now I’m thinking that maybe to understand something, you have to love it first. Love fist, figure it out later, Because if you don’t love it, you will never understand it How can you possibly clean up a house you don’t even like? You wander around, grumbling, sighing, then annoyed when that stupid Wordsworth and his good friend the professor show up again. So my prof was wrong after all: he thought love followed understanding. But I was wrong too: I thought I could first understand some- thing, then decide to like it or not. Now I know I aust first love it, then understanding may fol- low, or not. Which brings me, naturally, to home decor. I must admit to having feclings of hatred for my poor little house. It’s too small, I think; it’s loo dark; there is no hardwood floor or Fireplace or even an upstairs, and itis way too messy. How can you possibly clean up a house you don't even like? You wander around, grum- bling, sighing, then annoyed when that stupid Wordsworth and his good friend the professor show up again. I started to try to understand my house, It is about as old as me, 37; it is a postwar boom house supposedly moved later to Terrace, it is very home-made and do-it-yourselfed, except for one built-in feature: the kitchen sink/cupboard unit. Looking at it closely, I could tell that profes- sional finishing carpenters built it because it is still straight and plumb and strong. It is trinumed up simply but properly, just a half-round mitered perfectly, nothing fancy or extraneous or luxurious. You can almost hear the 1950s real estate agent shout, ‘‘Hurry up in there! We got a woman in labour out here!”’ Such efficiency and simplicity with care and regard for detail deserves respect. So I will try loving my house. Maybe understanding will fol- low, maybe not, Cursing it just seems to make it worse, impossible to even begin to spiffy up, sa dreary. T finally looked up ‘‘I wandered lonely ai a | cloud,’’ which is both the tile and Girst line of that aggravating poem by that irritating ‘ Wordsworth. He lies on his couch in pensive thought and his heart with pleasure {ills recall- ing seeing a crowd, a host of daffodils, ‘‘A poet could not but be gay,’’ be claims, ‘In sich jocund company.”’ Come to think of It, that is very reminiscent of “It made the children laugh and play To see-a- Jamb at school,” and I’ve. always loved that poem. . Lighting AS THE AUDIENCE settles, the lizghis come up in the theatre, A warm flickering glow comes from the fireplace; outside a window an am- bulance light flashes. Inside the set, the ceiling lights fol- low an actor as he paces back and forth. These are just some of the effects that will be possible with a new light board Ter- tace Little Theatre has just purchased, “I's magic,’ says Gra- ham Maguire, technical director for TLT. The theatre group hadn’t planned on buying a new lighting board until it built its new theatre. But when they went to buy replace- ment parts for the old light board, none were available. “Tt was too obsolete,” complained Maguire. The new board is fully computerized, and will be used for the first time during the production of Harvey, next month. TERRACE STANDARD: COMMUNITY The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 23, 1996 - B1 It cost close to $8,000 in “PLUGGED IN — David Neal took abaut 20 people through a course on the new light board that Terrace Little total, and money for the pur- chase came out of the equip- Theatre recently purchased. Getting a hands onlesson is Dave Liscumb. the capabilities of this new light board will be fully realized. ment replacement budget and the new building fund. “We would have had to buy it at some point,’’ said Maguire. There’s another $25,000 going with six effects going budgeted to spend on more at once,” said David Neal, a lighting equipment in the .iechnical lighting expert new building. That's when who came up to Terrace last Around Town Terrace — how sweet it is LESLIE DICKSON’S Oct. 9 column in The Terrace Stan- dard certainly provoked a response, The column, entitled ‘‘It ain’t so bad efter all’? compar- ing Terrace with the big city drew two critical letters, one handwritten and the other typed. Problem is, they weren’t signed. We'll be glad to consider them for publication but we have to know your names. You can call the newsroom at 638-7283, In the meantime, here’s a couple of segments from those letters. From the handwritten letter comes this: *{ don't really care about this hole. Why do you think most people do right after they graduate — get the hell out of Terrace!” And from the typewritten letter: “The after-bar crowd at The Terrace Inn and some- dimes Hanky Panky’s looks like something out af the last scene in Reservoir Dogs, and if you don’t agree that at least half of Terrace’s population is doing some kind of illegal drug then you're either on the stuff yourself or have some sort of ‘naive lever’ pudled active in your brain.” Let’s set a record WOMEN ARE heading en masse to sce the hit movie The First Wives Club, starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton. And a local woman is hoping to see a similar turn out here. The movie is about three older women whose husbands dump them for younger models. Revenge is definitely on their minds, The film has struck a chord with women across the con- tinent, and they’re showing up in record numbers, includ- ing 60 women who gathered first fora birthday party, then headed to the movie theatre. Here in Terrace Anne Venema is hoping to sect a new record. **{ just thought I bet we could do better than that in Ter- race,’ said Venema. She’s hoping 100 women will show up to see the late show on Monday, Nov. 4. The theatre has set aside 100 seats, and Venema has secured a special deal — $4 a ticket for women. ‘It’s just for fun. We want to have a good time,’’ she said, Venema is hoping to sell the tickets in advance. You can reach her at home in the evening at 638-8116, Or call Joanne Jones at 638-0302. Women can meet in the Skeena Mall parking lot that evening at 8:45 p.m. Dear red pickup driver ALLYNE SANDBERG of 70 Mile House in the Cariboo has an apology to make to the female, French-speaking so- cial worker from Terrace who was driving south of 100 Mile Howse on Oct, 3. Allyne ran over some metal on the road, flattening the right front tire of her blue Pontiac Sunbird. When she pulled over to change it, she found herself next to the above Terrace driver who was changing her own tire be- catise of running over some metal. Allyne incorrectly first thought the metal that punctured her tire came from the Terrace driver's car. “She thought we were blaming her car but we now real- ize we were wrong. I just want to thank her for her help and to apologize,'* she says. se ‘You can have a scene weekend to teach TLT of light, to mimic a sunset, members how to we the can be done far more casily new board. with the new board, Instead Lights can be operated of manually tuming down perfectly in time with the lights slowly, the com- music, 50 to create a variety. puter will do this, throwing of moods, ‘ In a touch of an orange Even effects which look glow. simple, such as a slow fade = ‘*]t makes it fun,’ says Neal. And it removes the element of human error, That's because up to 192 lighting effects can be pro- grammed into the board — more than enough for a single play. By opening night every- thing is already in place. Rescuing Fred TWO LOCAL KIDS got a chance to be fire chiefs for a day last week. Here Ryan Saete of Kit| K’Shan school and Brian Daly of Thomhill Elamentary find out how hard it Is to drag an unconscious person out of a burning house. "Dead Fred” as he is affectionately known around the fire department, weighs about 175ibs, so it was no easy task, The two youngsters also learned how to put out gasoline of grease fire, and got a tour of the firahall. 638-7283 "os