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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 2002)
West continued from page 1 The other catch is contestants only get 30 seconds to sing. Why don’t they just shove bamboo spikes under my fingernails? Thirty seconds isn’t enough to ac complish anything. As the Emer ald photographer — my so-called moral support — put it to me be fore I sang: “You’ve only got one shot, man. This isn’t like three strikes. You’d better not screw up.” Thanks a lot. When did 1 start taking this se riously? 1 was doing this for a laugh and a good story, but my pride kicked in somewhere along the line, and now 1 was envision ing myself drinking cosmopoli tans in a hotel room with Avril Lavigne. Maybe that’s what got me to the Wild Duck Music Hall on Wednes day night for the auditions. It cer tainly wasn’t courage, because I was shaking more than a Chi huahua in Alaska. The contest ants were called on stage in ran dom order, so I sweated it out while the other hopefuls per formed. “Wow. They’re all really good. IIovv am 1 going to answer that question? I think I’ll leave the mic in the stand. She’s only 17?!” My turn came up somewhere in the middle. The stage lights basi cally blinded me to everything but the judges, which made it easy to ignore the insane number of peo ple staring at me. I begin my abridged perform ance of “California” by Rufus Wainwright. I had timed the first verse at exactly 30 seconds. But most of the contestants were going over so 1 chose to sing the chorus as well. Here’s how that went: “Ain’t it a shame that at the top... man, I so just forgot the words.” I’m sure my face was rapidly approaching the color of my bright purple shirt. But I just smiled and said, “Well, I got in my 30 seconds, right?” Speaking of my shirt, it elicited the first comment from one of the judges from abc Model/Talent/Sport Management: “What made you decide to wear When did I start taking this seriously/ was doing this for a laugh and a good story but my pride kicked in somewhere along the line, and now I was envisioning myself drinking cosmopolitans in a hotel room with Avril Lavigne. that shirt? I mean, who wears purple shirts?” It’s not bad enough that I forgot my words, now they’re going to make fun of my clothes. Fantastic. 1 stumble out some shyly defensive response and she said, “It makes a statement, and I like that.” Oooo-K. Well, that wasn’t enough to get me into the finals. The last male performer, who thankfully sang af ter me, was phenomenally good, and he carried the male represen tation into the next round. My elimination was actually a relief be cause I don’t need that kind of stress to induce the ulcer my coffee intake is already working on. Though it was just for fun, get ting a remote chance at stardom was a nice thought. I guess I’ll have to settle for my picture in the paper twice a month. There is a brief epilogue to my sto ry: After the show, some guy came up to me, handed me a piece of pa per and said I should call him if I wanted to go out for coffee. I guess that was the statement the shirt was making. Contact the Pulse columnist at masonwest@dailyemerald.com. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. Need a Job? A Roommate? Or a Computer? Look in the ODE Classifieds! l Make your dream a reality... PowerBook G4 800MHz M8592LL/A 1 MB L3 & 256K L2 Cache • 133MHz system bus • 512MB SDRAM Memory • 40GB Ultra ATA drive • Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) • ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 W/32MB DDR video memory • 10/100/1000 Ethernet • 56K internal modem • 1 Firewire & 2 USB Ports • AirPort card included Was $3,007 Now $2,549 While supplies last! Must be a student, faculty, staff or department at the University of Oregon. Alumni and others affiliated with an Education Institution should ask a sales associate to check eligibility. Prices and availably are subject to change without notice. Open daily • (541)346-4331* www.uobookstore.com/electronics Authorized Reseller Vote continued from page 1 don’t care.” The last day to mail ballots was Nov. 1. For ballots to count, they must be dropped off in person by 8 p.m. today. Democratic candidates Peter De Fazio, Bill Bradbury, Tony Corcoran and Vicki Walker will be at the Uni versity today encouraging students to vote. The Democratic Party offers a shuttle from the University to the Lane County Elections Office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for students who have misplaced their ballots and need to get replacements. The Republican Party also arranges transportation to the Elec tions Office for those who need it, spokesman Bob Avery said. Regis tered Republicans who need a ride can contact the Republican Party of Lane County at 342-4166. Contact the senior news reporter at kenpaulman@dailyemerald.com. Week continued from page 1 he even higher. “By the latest census figures, 38 percent of all college students are over the age of 25,” she said. The University also classifies as “nontraditional” those students who are married or live with a lifelong part ner, are in charge of caring for elderly parents, have children or are return ing to college after taking a significant break to work or raise a family. Along with all of the regular pres sures college students face, Ilachten said nontraditional students often feel alienated in the college world. “It's a real culture shock for stu dents who have been in the work force for a long time to come back to school,” Ilachten said. “They have so much life experience that they feel it develops a chasm between them selves and regular students.” Brenda Tuomi, coordinator of non traditional student programs, said it took her five years to complete her bachelor’s degree with a husband and two children, while also working full time. Tuomi was excited when she first started attending classes at the University, but she also experienced a lot of self-doubt. “The first class I ever attended it looked like I was the oldest person in there and I wondered if I had any thing of value to say,” Tuomi said. “I was very unsure of myself.” Sayaka Mimura, a senior sociology major, said the most difficult part of being a nontraditional student is hav ing less access to campus resources and feeling alienated from the college community. Unlike Ilachten and Tuo mi, Mimura does not have a spouse or children. After working for six years as a bank teller, Mimura decided to re turn to school and get a degree, so she left Japan and began attending college in the United States. With all the demands on their time, Ilachten said nontraditional students often feel overwhelmed be cause they experience so much pres sure from outside sources. For regu lar students, college is their whole life, but for nontraditional students, attending the University is just one responsibility they have to deal with. “For nontraditional students, the rest of your life doesn’t go on hold just because you’re a college stu dent,” Hachten said the Nontradi tional Student Union has several events planned for students this week, such as a coffee hour at 8 a.m. in the NSU office and brown bag lunches at noon to tell nontra ditional students about campus re sources. Students can call 346 4305 for more information. Contact the reporter at jenniferbear@dailyemerald.com.
