The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 12

Page 4B Saturday. March 23. 2002 CM fffo jVmttgtort O) mm) Associated Press WW Tujo talented girls 4-1 EH ttCBPttLIlirilIF in tough venues Nine-year-old Hayden Tweedie dedicates herself to being a dinosaur's friend By Terry La Goodrich BJ. It is one of the top-rated shows for children younger than 6 in the United States, with more than 10 million youngsters watching each week. Hayden's character, Sarah, attends classes there and is in the Kitten Company, which entertains at private parties and nursing homes.

"When I was little, I'd stand in front of the mirror and pretend I was in commercials," she recalled. At IV-' CATS production, and "we is described as quiet and reserved but quick to make friends. Hayden, who attends Donna Park Elementary School I finni i mv nir vn viii in Knight Ridder Newspapers EULESS, Texas Four short years ago, Hayden 'Tweedie was doing her best lion impersonation. These days, she's palling around with dinosaurs. The 9-year-old Texas third-grader has nabbed a role as one of Barney the dinosaur's friends on the PBS children's show Barney Friends.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh' when I found out, and I started crying because I was so happy," Hayden said. "I told my best friend and she said, 'Oh, Hayden, an ardent Barney watcher in her preschool days, is one of 1 1 children picked from nearly 2,000 candidates who wanted a gig as one little mouse voice at first very timid but then just blossomed after I told her she had to sing to the back row. She has this spark, knows when to turn on the pizazz." Randy Dalton, executive producer of Barney Friends, said Hayden is "very talented and extremely professional. She works very well with the director and choreographer, and she gets along great with other cast members." Shooting began in November at the show's Carrollton, Texas, studios. The new episodes, with an all-new children's cast and sets that include a park and a caboose, will begin airing in September, Dalton said.

"I always wanted to be on and I got my wish," Hayden said. "It's just fun. When I'm older, I think I'll become an actor but I'd like to direct, too. It seems like it would be really fun to say and all this business." Hayaen motner, Lisa Tweedie, remembered that "she ran off stage afterward and said, 'Can I do it Doug Miller, CATS sponsor and teacher as well as Hayden's vocal instructor, said the young actress is "a standout, very dedicat in Hurst, Texas, said she got her theatrical start at Creative Arts Theatre School (CATS) in Arlington, Texas. She There has always been a shorthand for American disaster: Three Mile Island.

Oklahoma City. Pearl Harbor. Now the nation appears to be settling on "9-11" pronounced "nine-eleven," not "nine-one-one" for the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. "9-11 is easy to say," English professor Wayne Glowka says. "It means the date, but it means a whole complex of things how we think, how we act, how we feel.

There's a whole 9-11 attitude." Language experts say the term offers clues to how the country is coping with the disaster. Placing a sort of slang on the destruction wrought by the hijackers is one way of putting the tragedy in perspective and moving on, says Geoffrey Nunberg, a Stanford University linguist. "There's a need to package things, to label them, to get a handle on them," he says. The disaster produced all sorts of options for historical reference "the terrorist attacks," "September 1 1 th," even "911," evoking the emergency phone number. But "9-11" appears to be sticking.

In a prime-time news conference just a month after the attacks, President Bush referred eight times to "September 11th." But earlier this month, he said: "Our economy was hurt by the attacks on 9-11." The American Dialect Society, which monitors changes in the English language, declared "9-11" its word of the year for 2001. There's just no better way to refer to it. To call it "the terrorist attacks' that falls flat for some reason. It's too vague, I guess. There have been other terrorist attacks, but certainly none so memorable," says Glowka, a professor at Georgia College State University who is also chairman of the society's new words committee.

Language experts say there is no way to trace exactly who is responsible for the term. Some point to the president, others to the teen-agers who often shape American slang. The cable news networks might have played a role, too. On the "crawls" that began appearing on TV screens after the attacks, "911" takes up precious little space. ed.

A lot of the younger kids look up to her. We tell them if they work hard, this could happen of the jovial, purple-and-green dinosaur's pals. The show, which is cele to them. "Her voice is Shirley Temple-esque but very mature for her age," he brating its 10th anniversary on PBS this year, features learning activities, singing- and dancing alongside Barney and dinosaurs Baby Bop and Hayden Tweedie, from a photo taken during a rehearsal said. "She had this Serious about her music since age 7, Myra enjoys double exposure with movies By Janls Campbell reached stores and Myra went back on the road, traveling to New York City, Miami a III I 111.

11(1 11.1 I III lllllll IIIL Al her album. Soon her CD will be released in Japan! j-. And in Decem Detroit Free Press Miracles happen? Just ask Myra, a 15-year-old singer from California. This year has been "a dream come true," she said when we caught up with her by phone at her home. It's also been a whirlwind.

In June, Myra's first CD, Myra, hit stores. Almost instantly, she had two hit songs tied to popular summer movies. "Dancing in the Street" popped up on the Recess: School's Out movie soundtrack and "Miracles Happen" can be heard in The Princess Diaries. That was cool for Myra, but ber, she performed in concerts with Dream Street. 7: It seems like in only nine short months, Myra has made her marie in music.

But it it was even more fun touring microphone. "I was always singing." When she was 7, she decided to get serious about her singing career. "I went to my parents and -asked them for help. I wanted help finding places to -sing," she says with a laugh. "I was determined." After that, her parents started taking her places to.

perform: "I did all the local stuff, like cancer benefits, church, restaurants, stuff like that." "I started to get a little attention in my community," she says. "My managers I'm working with now saw me in the local newspaper and they called my family." Right now, she's working on her music, but she's also working with a tutor, finishing her lOth-grade studies. Myra says school is a priority. If she weren't singing, she'd like to study to be a NASA astronaut. Myra, who has been working with a tutor for two years, misses going to school, but she hopes at least to go to a prom.

Myra turns 16 in May. Although she's looking forward to getting her driver's license, she hasn't had time to start taking driver's education classes. Going to the prom and getting her license are goals she shares with lots of teens. But Myra wants to use her star power to help reach some bigger goals; she wants to help people all over the world. "I hope someday to have the power to go around' the world to all the poorest places and take food and clothing and doctors and teachers," she says.

with Aaron Carter before her CD came out and again in the summer with Aaron and ATeens. Then, in October, Myra debuted on all started years ago. As a little girl, Myra loved to sing. "At first, my parents thought it was a the big screen with a small part in the movie Max Keeble's Big Move. Then a Spanish-language ver hobby," she says.

She says she'd go around the house with a sion of her CD, called "Milagros (Spanish for spoon, pretending it was a Calendar juice will be on sale for $1.50. Open to the -Theater- -EVENTS- -CONCERTS- "Area" "Area" "Area" in museum admission. 237-6766. Jacksonville State University's Little River Canyon Field School: Edible Plant Workshop. Saturday.

9 a.m.-3 p.m.. $20per-son. 782-5697 or visit ttatumjsucc.jsu.edu. Alabama Corvette Club Cruise-In. tonight 6-9 p.m..

Quintard Mall parking lot. Free admission. Music from the 1950s and 1960s. St Michael and All Angels Cakes tnd Afore Bake Sale, today. 8 a.m.-noon in the Parish Hall, 1000 West 18th comer of 18th and Cobb Avenue.

Sausage, biscuits, coffee and wrtB a Twist food court Thursday. 1 1 a.m.-3 p.m.. Kid Safety Day Friday. 1 1 a.m. and 1 p.m..

Mad Science Show, food court All events are free. Annistoa Museum of Natural History: Naturalists Series: Spring Break: Animals on the Loose. Tuesday through Thursday. 1 0 a.m.-2 p.m. Live animal programs at 1 1a.m.

and 1p.m. J2.50child and free to members and children under four years of age. Into the Wild: Summertime Jan with Geoff Johnson. Saturday. 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.

Included CAST (Community Actors' Studio Theatre) new season: Auditioning for parts in On Golden Pond, by Ernest Thompson; 7:30 p.m. April 1-2 at Grace Episcopal Church Fellowship Hall, for the June 6-9 production, at Donoho School cafetorium. 237-2827. Quintarri Mall Spring Break tvents: Monday. Professor twist Walk-around Magic Show.

1130 a.m.-2:30 p.m.. food court Tuesday, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.. Mad Scianca Show wilt take a walk on the wild side of science with demonstrations, food court Wednesday, 1 1 a.m. p.m..

Fairy Talas 1213 Rock Shows: Indianapolis. Yellow 5 and 1945. 7 p.m., tonight at 12 West 13th Street Admission is $5. Tickets are available at 1213. Shows are all ages..