The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 31

Thursday August 23 2001 SECTION JON WL SPARKS CA EYE TOM WALTER RadioTelevision Big bad Brad is die ambassador of genteel life The New York Post is salivating in its classy cosmopolitan way about "HoUywood hillbilly Brad Renfro the 19-year-old Itennessee-bom actor and former The Client child star" According to die Post Renfro who is starring in die Bully and GhasfWbrfd is better known for a teenage drug bust and arrest for attempting to steal a yacht in Fort Lauderdale last year In an interview in Details magazine Renfro says The press had a good old time calling me Gomer Pyle" Of reporters who try to interview him Renfro says "You can just feel the slime (hi them" And movie critics are fat kids in high school that nobody liked so they're out there to get you" A congressional intern in 1998 Chandler Gouie 24 works as legislative correspondent for Rep John Tw-ncr (D-Tenn) time on the Hid understanding the legislative process is invaluable Tending to the huge issues (Part 1) TV draws picture of of quandary Making the Grade is a dual portrait of the University of Memphis and its new president Dr Shirley Raines The program airs at 7 tonight on WKNO-TV Channel 10 The show clearly and concisely lays out the issues facing Memphis and Tennessee when it comes to higher education In short we are falling behind the rest of the region and the consequences could be disastrous That isn't exactly news but putting pictures to the news certainly helps make the point It hurt the program when producer Susan Howe can illustrate her points by showing water leaking onto books and equipment in a teaching lab History department chairman Dr Kenneth Goings tells us that die book budget for his 26-person faculty is $1000 this year (No this figure is not missing a few zeroes and yes this figure helped Goings decide to leave the university) The tale of woe extends to all aspects of the university Making the Grade cogently shows a university under siege Enter Raines the 11th president and first female president To call her optimistic is to call Memphis summers a bit warm been fighting all my life for these very same issues she says in the program "1 wouldn't miss the opportunity-' Making the Grade nicely sets out the problems and the way Raines intends to approach them but it is an odd program in one respect: It spends precious minutes almost desperately trying to convince viewers why a vibrant well-funded university is an asset to a community You might think that would be self-evident to anyone But Howe (probably wisely) figured Memphians needed the background You don't get the sense the average Memphian has given this problem much See Tit E4 "I told God Tm afraid if I give you my life going to Then a friend took me to a Stryper could be concert and I saw you a metalhead and wor ship the Lord" Michael Kirkpatrick fan of the reunited Christian hair band Stryper in Spin magazine Tending to the large issues (Part 2) "There are mornings I wake up and my butt feds faL All I can do is be who lam and hope people like that" Britney Spears confiding to the Daily Record of London Eye of the beholder and all that Ttacy Garrett (center) 28 deputy press secretary for Sen Bill Frist (R-Tenn) calls I internship that brought her to Washington in 1995 In response to lane i zinc's invitation to be I in a story on "natural beauty" Dolly Partonb assistant declined adding "Ms Parton also wanted me to let you know that she is definitely not a natural beauty and would not want to be photographed as one" seat or power Let the Geritol force be with you "Someday a tiny tot is going to come up to me and ask i flYn Luke Skywalker's grandfather Thaft my greatest fear because I know going to happen IVe already been asked if Lukefc father: Mark Hamill on Sear Wan and the batfle with aging in the Calgary Sun CA wry bur trustworthy car will continue to be that way until you fit it with four new tires Then it win fall apart And "during everyone in America knows refers to Monica Lewinsky the former White House intern who had sexual encounters with Clinton Chandra and Monica don't need last names for identification anymore And while their names are always followed in the public consciousness with the words their fates are bizarre aberrations from the usual course of such stints on Capitol HiU former interns say College students and recent graduates go to Washington as interns to improve their resumes to make contacts for future Jobs and for other such un-newsworthy purposes as learning how government wonts and doing public service The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars agrees with estimates that 30000 to 50000 young people work as interns in congressional and other government and lobbying offices in the Capitol each year: Memphis native John Fabian was an intern during the past year in the office of Repi Harold Ford In (D-Tenn) working for the See INTERNS E3 ByUgyBunb recent cartoon in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roil Call showed a Hollywood producer berating a screenwriter about a movie idea "You're giving me a script about an intern in DC who has an affair with a slide congressman? She disappears he lies to cover up the affair media goes bananas I can't read anymore of this Irt the most diched piece of I've ever read!" Tb make it worse the cartoon movie mogul complains the congressman in the movie script had even criticized former President Bill Clinton Muring Lewinsky" The first reference of course is to Chandra Levy a 24-year-old intern at the Bureau of Prisons in Washington who was last seen April 30 During the investigation into her disappearance Rep Gary Condi (D-Calif) who is married and 53 reportedly admitted after several interviews with authorities that he had had an affair with the young woman from his home district Our daily Web What do giris of the MTV generation like? tune in: httpdwwmmtucomkammtv- Never heard a discouraging word from Dc Shirley Ramefc president of the University of Memphis on WKNfft Making tha Grade You are SO CA EYE thanks Jack Chit-woodjbrsignalingthisonetous: You are SO Memphis when you have a "Honk if you love Jesus' bumper sticker on your pickup and when someone honks you Dip them oft Thought makes entrance in story THEATER REVIEW Contributtonsfivm our press services Leai messages fix CA EYE at 529-2810 E-mail spaihgomemphitcom bbnkCgonwmphitam doesnt dwell at length on intimate details dike Goldman's failed attempt at prostitution) and only tentatively on facts Instead he eases backward into the subject matter and lets the acting steer the show: The play opens bn 1930 with Goldman trying to write her autobiography Her fictitious secretary a French farm girl played by Anne Hamilton is frustrated because her father fighting capitalist oppression and standing up against moral codes she dian'toelieve in Goldman advocated birth control criticized the draft and supported free speech Most of afi she did it loudly openly on a working-class pulpit Many bio-plays are about as dramatic as that last paragraph a recitation of accom- peppered with uicy tidbits some might call scandalous Bettencourt her life story At performance the playwright explained some of his interest in the subject matter: "She was an actor" he said of Goldman's ability to stir up an audience It was one of essays on the power of theater to make political statements that inspired Bettencourt to write Though Goldman died in 1940 her life of 70 years was an international whirlwind of a respite from the musicals that dominated local theaters this summer but as a good dramatic start to a season that may seem to be mostly pap and no bee! As usual the company gambles on a relatively unknownplaywrighL In this case California-based writer Michael script about 20th Century anarchist Emma Goldman is a world premiere though it is not the first time he has wrestled with Ihougi Playwright Forum isnt known for lush scenery or gripping performances the pure has stacked the market witn thought-provoking drama The current production at TheatreWorks Dancing at the Revolution comes as not only Entertain youndf: See hapyVMwmgopbymefnphs xonV a.