The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 2

STARJEDHRJG OUT Like dad, he writes what he knows CLEANING UP Philly trashes artist's exhibit Hilary Masters is an accomplished writer, photographer and cook versatile Masters. In addition to teaching creative writing at CMU, he is a gourmet cook and an accomplished photographer. Writing undoubtedly is what Masters does best, however, and whether the talent was passed on to him by his father or not seems a moot point. John R. Cunningham, a poet and freelance writer, addressed himself to Masters' literary heritage in reviewing his novel "Clemmons" in The Pittsburgh Press in March, 1985.

"The offspring of the famous often find it By Robert Johnson The Pittsburgh Press Many years ago, the late poet Edgar Lee Masters gave an aspiring writer the following advice: "Write about what you know," the author of the classic "Spoon River Anthology" said. Hilary Masters never compared literary, with his illustrious father but basically has the same philosophy. about what you know. It's almost a cliche. I tell my students the same thing," said Masters, an associate English professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

"Fiction, like all art, is a lie, but it has to be believable. The writer has to make it sound credible, so he has to know what he's talking about." Masters, who is 59 and lives on the North Side, said he was 22 at the time of his father's death in 1950 and had received no encouragement from him to become a writer. "He had only seen some of my early stuff, mostly poetry which he didn't care for. He was right. It was pretty bad," Masters said.

"It's just a coincidence that I ended up being a writer the same as my father. I started out as a press agent and then ran a weekly newspaper in Hyde Park, N.Y." Masters said he sold the paper in 1960 because "running it was a seven-day-a-week job, and I didn't have any time to write." "I figured I'd better fish or cut bait, so I became a full-time writer," said Masters, whose works include five novels, a collection of short stories and a family memoir. Masters' approach to writing borders on regimentation. "I work from 7 (a.m.) to 12:30 (p.m.) seven days a week," he said. "I consider writing a job.

You need discipline. You have to keep plugging away. If you wait for inspiration, you're not going to get anything done." But life is far from drudgery for the FARMING UP LINCOLN, Neb. (UPI) -Singer Willie Nelson finally signed a contract with the University of Nebraska to hold the FarmAid III concert Sept. 19 at Memorial Stadium.

Yesterday's contract signing ended weeks of troublesome negotiations during which FarmAid organizers, citing technical difficulties, announced they were dropping Elans to have the concert in incoln. Nelson assured Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, that measures would be taken to protect the stadium's artificial turf. Nelson, with previous FarmAid concerts in Illinois and Texas under his belt, said he wanted FarmAid III in Lincoln because "it's right in the heart of the problem. "No matter how much we raise it's not going to be enough," he said. Nelson said the agricultural crisis is causing several hundred farmers daily to abandon their land.

"FarmAid will help draw attention to the problem. The money is not the important thing. The important thing is the issue itself," Nelson said. Of the 70,000 tickets that will go on sale Saturday, the university will get 40,000, with the rest being sold through FarmAid outlets. The price is $20 per ticket.

Out She's hopes Mt. title A graduated College is a Her Slow More Tornabene Mexico. in the making He "The in the past "I The Ed program, Associated SHOWING UP if r6v to capture title a wife, she's a mother, she's Mrs. Pennsylvania. And now Beth Bercik Leonard to expand her domain.

Mrs. Leonard of Lebanon will compete for the Mrs. America on Aug. 2-3 at the Las Vegas Hilton. special education teacher at the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh, Mrs.

Leonard from Washington and Jefferson in 1984 and obtained a master's degree from Duquesne University last year. She 1980 Mt. Lebanon High School graduate. husband, Robert, is a native of Greens-burg, Westmoreland County. They have a 2-year-old son.

going than two months after leaving Pittsburgh for a solo sail around the world, Guy is still trying to reach the Gulf of His wife, Grace, who remained behind couple's home in McDonald, said he is his way down the Mississippi River. docked Sunday in Vicksburg, Miss. river is very rough," she said. Tornabene, 62, set sail May 11 from a marina Robinson in a 42-foot schooner he spent four years building. miss him, we all miss him," Mrs.

Tornabene said. write stuff Ochester, associate professor who directs the University of Pittsburgh's writing has been elected president of the Writings Program, national orga- PHILADELPHIA (AP) -An artist who built pillars of garbage cans and pork barrels to show how it feels "to work in a city as dirty as Philadelphia" is complaining about censorship after being kicked out of a municipal art exhibit Daniel Lowenstein, 32, contends that his First Amendment rights of free speech have been violated because his creation for a City Council hallway was ousted from the "Art in City Hall" show. Oliver Franklin, deputy city representative for arts and culture, said Lowenstein was ejected after he got approval for one design and then changed it without telling anyone. "It was strictly the concept we threw out," Franklin said. Art, he said, "should be uplifting.

I don't want an artist who feels that Philadelphia is all garbage." He said Lowenstein had bragged about how he had fooled the city into giving him approval, and that he had never intended to follow the design he submitted. The artist, who holds fine arts degrees from Kansas City Art Institute and a master's degree from the University of California, San Diego, said he was told at a May 14 meeting with Kathy Cogan, the coordinator of the program, that the 15 artists in the show would not be held to their first proposals. Lowenstein originally submitted a proposal in which he said he was "fascinated by texture and distorted shapes caused by tree roots and traffic on some of the older sidewalks of the city. In this piece I would present a series of castings of these sidewalks." Lowenstein said he resolved to fit the project to the site. "My work is about feelings, it's about what it feels to work in a city as dirty as Philadelphia," he said.

Officials in Philadelphia, which recently adopted a recycling program to deal with increasing amounts of trash, "might spend years talking about the trash crisis in Philadelphia, but I wanted them to see it. They have to deal with it. It might motivate them to do something." Let's hear from you If everyone in your neighborhood is talking about something, we want to hear about it. To contribute news tips and story ideas for this page, mail the information to The Pittsburgh Press, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh, Pa.

15230, or call Jean Bryant or Jerry Sharpe at 263-1441. Air pollution Air quality In Allegheny County Is good to moderate; no unhealthful areas. Source: Allegheny Co. Air Pollution Control Bureau Jvou have a pollution problem In your area, call Beth Bercik Leonard Going national nization representing 130 writers including Pulitzer Prize winning poets Caroline Kizer and Rita Dove. Pitt board named TV host Fred Rogers has found another forum for influencing education.

The host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," a children's show on WQED-TV, has been named a member of the board of visitors for the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education. The board, which will hold its first meeting in October, will advise the school about the difficult to live up to genetic expectations or, worse, succumb to a convenient life, of riding parental coattails," Cunningham wrote. "Hilary Masters, son of American poet Edgar Lee Masters, fortunately does not suffer from either of these afflictions." programs and issues it should emphasize and what faculty expertise it should develop. Also on the board are Terrel H. Bell, former secretary of the U.S.

Department of Edu- cation; author John Goodlad; Jerome Apt engineering and financial consultant; David Bergholz, president of the Public Education Fund; Doreen E. Boyce, director of the Buhl Foundation; Robert W. Cole editor of the Phi Delta Kappan, a magazine on education; Frances Partridge Connor, professor of special education at Columbia University; Ronald R. Cowell, chairman of the education committee of the state House of Representatives; William M. Dyal president of St.

John's College in Annapolis, Helen S. Faison, deputy superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools; Frank Farley, professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin; Gary D. Fenstermacher, dean of the college of education at the University of Arizona; Aklilu Habte, director of the education and training department of the World Bank; K. Leroy Irvis, speaker of state House of Representatives; Sandra J. McLaughlin, senior vice president of the national consumer market division of Mellon Bank; John U.

Ogbu, professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley; Michael Radvansky and William H. Rea, trustees emeriti at Pitt; Eugene E. Silla-man, former trustee at Pitt; Joan M. Smith, alumni trustee at Pitt; and Stephen J. Wright, resident of the Virginia State Council on igher Education.

40th Anniversary The Rev. John Wheeler, returning from the Diocese of San Diego where he is now assigned, will commemorate the 40th anniversary of his ordination by offering a mass Sunday in Resurrection Church, Brookline. 1 59 1 0 71 21 72 20 55 1 1 17 tRtMOUAf conditiona 0 c. have The weather front today Extended forecast Thursday, July 16 Saturday, July 18 Partly sunny and less humid each day with a chance of storms Saturday. Lows in the 50s and low 60s with highs In the 70s to low SOs.

forecast and cooler today with a 50 chance of showers and thunderstorms, high in the upper 70s. Partly and cool tonight with a low in the SOs. Partly cloudy and warm with a high in the upper 70s. Temperatures in Pgh for 24-hour period ending today. Highest 90 Lowest 70 Mean en.

low. precip. a year ago. 79, 63. 00.

temperature this date since 1874, 102 in Airport temperature data for yesterday Normal temperature for the day 72 Excess in temp, tor the day 9 Excess in temp since July 1 55 Excess in temp, since Jan. 1 535 Airport precipitation data for yesterday Total precip. since July 1 2 30 a'risbt Suniv 1 temperature this data since 1874. 52 in 1 barometer reading 29 75. steady.

humidity reading 93 percent. river stage 16 1 pool 6 02 am. Sunset 6 50 rr 7 National forecast Rain is forecast from central Texas to Florida and along the entire Atlantic Coast from Georgia to Maine. Rain also is forecast for parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Nation high, low The highest temperature reported yesterda by the National Weather Service, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, was 120 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.

The low was 32 degrees at Jackson, Wyo. Lowest International weather Sky Amsterdam 68 54 cidy Bangkok 95 81 clear Bailing 91 70 clear Beirut 64 72 clear Berlin 64 55 clear Bermuda 60 75 cidy Brussels 77 50 clear Budapeet 80 63 clear Buenos Aire 67 59 cidy Ceiro 91 70 clear Copenhagen 68 54 cidy Dublin 70 57 clear Frankfurt 77 59 cidy Hong Kong 91 62cieer Istanbul 64 68 clear Jerusalem 84 60 clear Johannesburg 63 37 cleer London 79 61 cidy Madrid 91 66 cidy Manila 86 73 cidy Mexico City 79 57 cidy Montreal 91 75 cidy Nassau 93 77 clear New Delhi 101 82 clear Oslo 68 52 cidy Paria 79 59 clear Hio 89 59 clear San Juan 69 76 clear Seoul 81 70 cidy Singapore 86 77 cidy Stockholm 64 59 cidy Tel Aviv 66 70 clear Tokyo 66 79 cidy Toronto 92 73 cidy Vienna 79 59 rain Warsaw 77 59 cidy Tomorrow's highs, lows Sky 63 70 Cidy 93 62 clear 89 60 clear 64 50 cidy 66 68 cidy 6t 72 clear 63 66 cidy 97 62 clear 88 65 Clear 85 54 clear 95 59 clear 63 70 rain 75 57 cleer 91 73 cidy 86 66 clear 76 55 rein 78 55 cidy 75 55 cidy 77 54 cidy 93 66 cidy 91 57 clear Oea Moines Detroit Dukith El Peso 62 59 cidy 75 52 clear 69 46 cidy 4 67 cidy 94 S4clear 86 72 clear 90 71 rain 80 56 cidy 90 67 cidy 93 74 cidy 65 60 clear 111 79 clear 66 62 clear 87 64 clear 63 60 cidy 67 67 cidy 94 77 cidy 74 54 rain 76 55 cidy 64 60 cidy 0 73 cidy 64 72 cidy Albany Albuquerque Amarillo Anchorage Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Bismarck Boise Boston Buflelo Charlton. Charlotte. C. Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dallas Denver Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jackson, Miss.

Jacksonville Kansas City Lea Vegas Little Pock Loa Angeles Louisvwe Memphis Miami Beach Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Local Cloudy percent cloudy upper tomorrow early High, Highest 1936 Latest Latest Latest Sunrise Normal precip. since July 1 Excess in precip. since July Total precip. aince Jan. 1 Normal precip since Jan.

1 Excess in precip. since Jan. tOBtaOO MURlCNt TROPICAL STORMS Tm 8361 51 Oklahoma Oty.K 8766 A.2ock Houston. JO tOBH0 River Ri Pittsburgh change in the next 24 hours. Billings J'M s-JJQZ I '57 -7" NUh ff Norfolk 84 71 rain Oklahoma City 90 66 clear Omaha 64 59 clear Orlando 94 73 Cidy Phoenix 109 68 cidy Portland.

Me. 87 65 rain Portland. Ore. 80 58 cidy Providence 83 66 rain Rapid City 88 57 cidy Richmond 66 67 cidy St. Louis 64 61 Clear St.

Peteraburg 90 76 cidy Salt Lake City 98 63 clear San Diego 76 64 clear San Francisco 70 56 Cidy Seattle 72 55 cidy Spokane 90 59 clear Syracuse 76 63 clear Topeka 65 61 cleer Tulaa 91 65 clear Washington 66 70 cidy Wichita 68 63 clear 111 V7 B.IN tMUNDtR SMOWtBS SHOW S10BMS.