The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 39

iRI AY -11-11-A1 THE NEWS OBSERVER Parker 2 Achenbach 3 TV 4 Cornice 8 11111 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 1994 Farmer's Almanac weathers on View from the cellar at VVRDC rir (3sk 0 Are our sons sentenced to be aggressive and violent? notice of authors and educators After years of attention to girls' issues from self-esteem to classroom equity the spotlight is shifting to boys Skim the recent titles: "The Courage to Raise Good Men" "Strong Mothers Strong Sons" "Between Mothers and Sons: The Making of Vital and Loving Men" "Raising a Son: Parents and the Making of a Healthy Man" and more bluntly "The Trouble with Boys: A Wise and Sympathetic Guide to the Risky Business of Raising Sons" Often at odds with each other with a tendency to raise more questions than they answer the books indicate that the dialogue on what it takes to grow a man has just begun Evelyn Bassoff author of "Between Mothers and Sons" said she began writing her book after her son Jonathan now BY CECELIA GOODNOW SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER arents are starting to admit that boys are different and that rais- 1 iinngasnoangseiswahednauthnetinveg prdoesFienci tion of manhood is up for grabs Given the startling rise in youth violence parents sometimes feel they're dancing on the edge of the abyss unsure whether to celehrate their son's rough edges or start lining up bail right now people are hopelessly said Nancy Kenney associate psychology and women's at the University of Washington of an 8-year-old son "You've real ingrained tradition of what like they're strong and and outgoing then you've fear of excessive aggression" confusion has not escaped the BY SCOTT MILER STAFF WRITER RALEIGH ipping coffee in The Mecca Restaurant Tim Clark hardly looks like the executive editor the Old Farmer's Almanac In a gray pin stripe suit and red polka-dot tie he looks more likely to start a conversation about Tom Fetzer or Dan Blue than about the weird arcana that show up in the Almanac "How to avoid dying" he says plainly just the hint of a smile on his lips "Don't rock an empty rocking chair If you're on a train and a woman dressed in black gets on get off "Never make fun of an owl "And whatever you do never let a lizard count your teeth" Yep That's the Old Farmer's Almanac all right That venerable publication the oldest continuously published periodical in North America put out its 203rd annual edition this month and Clark is making the rounds We get the obvious question out of the way right off the bat The Carolina weather according to the almanac will be cooler than average in November March and April and a little warmer the rest of the winter Looks like we get some snow before Christmas though (The almanac covers from November through October 1995) Clark gladly explains the method by which the Almanac makes its predictions A scientist examines sunspot data Sunspots follow an 11-year cycle so he goes to corresponding years in previous cycles and looks at the two years previous If the weather of those two years matches the weather of the two years previous to the year he's working on he'll use the year they precede for his projection (Other elements also may come into play like El Nino volcanic eruptions and the like) Clark doesn't overestimate the accuracy "When it comes down to two- or three-day units our accuracy is about as good as a guess" he says For longer periods though the news is better The University of Illinois did a study on the Almanacs of the 19705 and found that for months as a whole Clark says with a smile "We do consistently better than random chance" Fair enough but hardly what you'd want to bet your crop on 1 "It's worth noting though that of the Almanac's 224 pages only 18 are devoted to weather" Clark points out Which brings Clark to what he real' ly likes to talk about: The almanac's astronomical tables and those arti des about how to avoid dying "I thin confuse( profess( studies and mot got the boys arE aggress got the Theca "I think confused" professor studies and mother got the boys are aggressive got the The ex of se What will happen now that Communications Corporation of America has taken over at WRDC? Will it cam the new Paramount network? Will it become a Fox affiliate? Will it stay with NBC? And NBC with it? "Who's gonna win the Super Bowl?" Since those last words come from Jim Lapiana the guy who has been running the place the last three weeks obviously nothing has been decided yet The best guess is that RDC will be the Triangle's outlet for the new Paramount network and that VVYED will carry NBC But all that Lapiana really knows at this point about the beleaguered station is this: "There's 'Nr A nowhere to go -6'i but up" i- And he knows 1 that RDC and and WLFL will 40 4 almost certainly -71 be joined at the MitIN Aled hip if the FCC approves LFL's BOB sale from LANGFORD Paramount to Sinclair Broadcasting The two have plans to operate under a Lease Marketing Agreement or LMA (Sinclair put up 98 percent of the money for RDC but doesn't own any voting stock) If the deal goes through as expected the two will eventually share a building some personnel and maybe even a newscast But until that happens RDC is still RDC And it's being run by a guy who and doesn't mind saying what he thinks (Actually Lapiana works for FSF-TV a company hired to manage WRDC) II On the subject of WRDC's previous owners: "The station was run to maximize cash flow" On its longtime owners Durham Life Broadcasting a company that put money into the station but never could attract viewers: "The fish stinks from the head down -They were an insurance company running a broadcast business" II On his station's lack of a news presence: "You turn on at 6 o'clock what do you see body bags fires mayhem I don't think news is such a great product at least news that I've seen in a lot of markets "I don't have the answers but again that isn't the beginning and the end What is the value to the community to see people brought out in body bags with your children in front of the TV set?" 111 And on INYED becoming the area's NBC affiliate: "I can't see how NBC is willing to make the commitment in Raleigh-Durham with an outof-market television station They're licensed to Goldsboro That is not Raleigh" There are a few changes that have occurred right off the bat The logo is changed it's back to the call letters and station number With the overlapping NBC signals in some counties the last thing the station needed was to confuse people about what to write in a ratings book One thing that won't happen is a call-letter change (Stations in trouble or wider new ownership often change their letters But usually it's like giving your dog a new name because he doesn't come when called) Lapiana promises that RDC won't drop "Later" to show infomercials The station will start doing IDs from small towns It will air a public affairs show once a week I SE SONS PAGE 5D Anthropologists and archaeologists credit females with the civilization of humankind Except for muscles the female body is stronger than the male body in every way Overall females are better drivers than males Shannon who lives in San Diego is concerned about the downward spiral of self-esteem that sucks in so many girls between ages 9 and 14 She cites a 1991 American Association of University Women study that found only 29 percent of young teenage girls were happy with themselves compared with 60 percent who were satisfied in elementary school Sitting in her living room on a recent afternoon Shannon recalls her own loss of self which occurred when she 111 was between 12 and 14 "I just suddenly became a SEE DAUGHTERS PAGE 5D BY CATHERINE KEEFE ORANGE CC LINTY REGISIIR acqueline Shannon was lying in the hospital after the birth of her first child Madeline when she heard her roommate crying with her husband disappointed because their newborn was a girl "I even heard her say 'I'm sorry Next time I'll do better' Madeline was in the room with me and I put my hands over her tiny ears I guess I'd been blind to the fact that there was still a lot of sexism in the world" The incident gave Shannon an idea and the result is her book "Why It's Great to Be a Girl 50 Eye-Opening Things You Can Tell Your Daughter to Increase Her Pride in Being Female" Shannon's goal is simple: to make girls aware of the advantages of being female The book is a compilation of historical physical and practical tidbits such as: I' i) i 1 1 I I i 4 41 1 1 't '1 1 41' '4 i it Ao-Ati 4z--4- 3 I I i 1 0010') '1 1 i 0-11c4S i A Are our daughters doomed to low III In 1962 the first black enrolled at the University of Mississippi when James Meredith was escorted onto campus by US a his a SEf ALMANAC PAGE 5D TODAY IS: Feast of St Jerome the patron saint of scholars and librarians Wonder if they eat their words? TODAY WAS: The following happened for the first time on this date: In 1630 the first criminal was executed in the American Colonies John Billington was hanged for murder I In 1641 the first annual fair was held in America in New Netherlands (We suspect the first waffle cone was soon to follow) III In 1882 the first hydroelectric plont opened Si f7c11? 71'--: ''ci: lz i --E IkotS Ali i ti---K-Alf 1 Ii' e''A 4' if pt: ti It It 1 i km- ----A: 7 ''Zif14'077 102 4 Ott i i ov ey -ttit tp)'-: ltz4 't '110 ip 'i 19)9T 4 IL 1 i '''-j6 -(7 tr' '-A 7 7421f '''k- 1 kti Asi k' 1 OP' t''' t1p0 1 ''7111e ''''-1' 'Iltil: t'''''''''''43''''141(' 04i ea- -t A'-44-1 1 Prk I ir S11 1 t'et11-14i i t)---- 1 i '11 -----f'--3 1 F'f-'----4 (A' "-r----- p-WATIN11311110010 Intril II FIJI WU 1 -YI 1 I SE LANGFORD PAGE 5D between your mattresses It appears to be a diagram of various vantage points for viewing the Buxley twins' bedroom window" Make a family bulletin board: "What the How'd this letter from my boyfriend get on the fridge? Come here you little Start an extended family postcard chain: "Dear Grandma: I'm writing because I no longer am appreciated around here and think it best that I be taken in by a kind understanding relative" This didn't actually constitute a chain however Grandma never wrote back FACIAg STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS troops remote-control toy yacht racing We'll travel to exotic lakes and ponds throughout the Triangle in search of adventure Enjoy a good burp every once in a while too (Photo not available) Again good thing FAMILY TIME Your fractious family in need of a little spiritual Bondo? Then pick up a copy of "100 Things to Keep Your Family Together" which offers a whole bunch of activities the family can enjoy as a whole Most of t1 ideas ore good i 1 ood guy gets the best response to personal pitch when he indicates he is 'solder taller professionally successful likes expensive hobbies and conveys sense of masculinity while avoiding sexual references? Hence our ad would read something like: Remember Fizzies? We do and we've got the hole in our tongue where one dissolved to prove Successful businessman who practically has his own cubicle to himself and who gladly gets supplies from top shelf of supply hut for shorter coworkers (OK so its port of our job) looking for special someone to share exciting interest in Mt a IW we 71 ones Several in fact were staples of FYI's own childhood though revisiting them conjured some peculiar memories: III Make a family video Memory: "Hey get out of the bathroom with that camera you little Pass down a family 'heirloom Memory: "I'm -fa missing a bunch of jewelry anybody seen it?" I Make a family time capsule Memory: "What's all iEf I-) 1 my jewelry doing in your toy :41311 chest you little Make a map of your ttc'-'-': neighborhood Memory: "Son your mother found i this this piece of paper no mu "Hf Wit PI hell ar ill -Ill cc 4 171 I ti thi 4 (Its )4i011416 ZA '-ii4! 1 ---): -11--- i If 's-' )--v --1Y- -A ON THIS DAY: II In 1955 actor James Dean was killed in the collision of his sports car with another automobile near Cho lame Calif He was 24 TRUTH IN ADVERTISING Good thing we're already spoken for According to the booklet "20 Tips to a Dynomitc Personal Ad" 7- -r Tot ale nal en I I 14.