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Professor role-plays to reach students
Melissa Bryant | For the Wichitan

Will the real Dr. Hoffman please stand up?
What if you had a chance to meet a character in one of your favorite novels or short stories? One MSU professor might be able to make that come true.
Tom Hoffman, professor of English, makes it possible for students to meet their favorite novel or short story characters, from Jonathan Edwards to Captain Ahab. How exactly? By transforming himself into a specific character and playing that role.
Meet Edwards, an early-day colonial minister.
He strolls into the classroom wearing a black choir robe, a top hat with fake black curls sown on the left and right side of his hat. After kindly introducing himself, he informs the class he lost Hoffman on the way to class. In the middle of explaining the professor's absence, he stops abruptly and looks troubled.
A look of disgust overwhelms his face.
“Why are there women in a higher learning facility?” he asks.
Hoffman proceeds to explain to the class how women were not allowed to go to a higher learning facility in his time period.
After making all of the women in the class move to the back of the room, he belts out his sermon so loud it's a wonder the building doesn't collapse.
Hoffman sits behind his wooden desk. The light shines on his white and gray hair, and his full cheeks bounce as he talks.
“It is difficult to keep the attention for any extended period of time of a person who's been taught all of his or her life information by means of audio, visual and multimedia,” Hoffman said.
Because of such competition, Hoffman decided, 35 years ago, to develop a technique known as dramalogue, a combined use of drama with monologue. Hoffman's double major in English and speech helps him pull it off.
Hoffman studies a character for six months to a year to make sure that his every mannerism is precise.
When it is time for him to perform, Hoffman not only knows the character inside out, but he dresses the part as well. When he imitates Jonathan Edwards and delivers Edwards's sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he wears a black robe.
For Kilgore Trout, the crackpot in Kurt Vonnegut's “Breakfast of Champions,” he wears a moldy, musty smelling suit with his hair chaotically arranged. It is important that he create the character to the fullest, so that the students take his performance seriously.
Hoffman's favorite character to portray is Muley Graves from Steinbeck's novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” the professor's favorite book. He comes into class with bib overall's, a 1930's cap, with a blue denim workshirt, country bumpkin shoes and a brown paper sack with two hard boiled eggs and an apple.
The most challenging character Hoffman has portrayed is the ape in “The Hairy Ape,” by Eugene O'Neil. He considers it the hardest performance because he cannot use human language. Because apes have opposable thumbs they have been taught to use sign language.
He rents the ape suit from Pansy's Costume Shop.
“They know me as the Gorilla Man,” Hoffman said laughing. “When I come in they ask me, ‘Are you teaching The Hairy Ape this semester?' They are always disappointed when I'm not.”
When Hoffman walked into his class, in his shaggy ape suit he went to the chalkboard and wrote “Dr. Ima Simian” on the board. He climbed up on the desk in a simian, or ape, position, pointed to a student in the class, and then to the page number that was displayed with white chalk on the board. When the student received the cue, they would read that particular passage.
During Hoffman's performance as the ape, many students tried to argue with him. They overlooked the fact that he was an ape and debate the theme of the story.
“What delighted me as a teacher is they overlooked the fact that I was a simian and started arguing with me over the theme of the play and the symbolism of the play,” Hoffman said, laughing. “I even had one student goes as far as to say, ‘I'm a human being and I am smarter than you, ape!' and he wasn't kidding when he said it to me,”
The students seem to accept Hoffman's dramalouge. He has only had one strange incident where a student followed him until he took his costume off.
The class had been studying Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Minister's Black Veil.” One day Hoffman walked into the classroom with his entire face, except eyes, covered with a square, black, transparent veil.
“I had one young lady that would not leave the classroom until I took this [the veil] off and I refused to take it off,” Hoffman said.
He refused to take it off because he stays in character from the time he leaves his office until the time he returns to his office. The student followed Hoffman to his office and asked him remove the veil.
“She followed me down the hall and made me let her into my office where I removed the veil and she said, ‘Good! Now I'll go to class. That thing creeped me out so badly, I had to see your eyes and know it was Dr. Hoffman instead of somebody masquerading,'” Hoffman recalled laughing.
His method of teaching has never gotten out of hand, he said.
“There is always an initial reaction to, ‘Oh God! What's the old weirdo doing now,' but I have never had a student take it the wrong way,” Hoffman said. “My purpose isn't to make a fool of myself, it's really to make the literature more vivid to them, and I have been very happy with the response.”
Hoffman doesn't limit his performances to MSU. He was portrayed King Arthur at a three-day conference at the Kemp Public Library, Yaohan Sebastian Bach at the Kemp Center for the Arts, and Arthur Dimsdale at a conference for Dr. Millie Gore, associate professor of counseling and special education.
So why does Hoffman take so much time in energy using the dramalogue method? Thanks to a knowledgeable, yet boring professor at Ball State University, Hoffman learned a helpful lesson.
“He was a very valuable teacher because he taught me what not to do,” Hoffman said. “Because of him I promised myself that I would never bore my class knowingly or consciously.”
For Hoffman, being able to teach his class a non-traditional way is something special.




Students see chivalry as medieval concept
Melissa Bryant | For the Wichitan

It was Valerie Martinez's first day of college. The excitement was overwhelming. She barely reached the door because the two heavy boxes she was carrying were blocking her brown eyes. She stretches her thin arm for the doorknob. BAM! The door knocked her back. Instead of kindly helping her, the tall, broad guy threw curse words at her and stormed off in a tiff.
“I couldn't believe that someone was rude to me on my first day at MSU,” Marinez, junior political science major, said.
Chivalry is defined as: “The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor and devotion to the weak.”
Is chivalry only alive with parents and grandparents, or is it dead in everyone?
Many college students believe chivalry is outdated. Are college students the only ones that feel this way? What has caused such a change among a society that once believed being courteous was the only way to act?
Some people believe the reason for that abrupt change is the increase of people too busy focusing on their own lives.
Stephanie Brownie, senior theater major, believes since college students now have to be the adult in their lives, their only concern is getting themselves through life.
“They [college students] are all grown up now,” Brownie said. “They are on their own and have to worry about themselves, not others.”
This particular mindset has developed among several college students.
Crystal Krueger, a senior history major, agrees with Brownie.
“I think the main reason for the lack of chivalry is college students are more self-centered,” Krueger said.
While some believe the reason for the decline of chivalry is due to self-centeredness, Christy Baker, a graduate of English returning for teacher certification, believes it is a lack of morals and values that families do not possess anymore.
“Values and morals have fallen by the wayside,” Baker said. “People think that they don't have to be nice anymore, so the outcome is people being rude.”
The woman's liberation movement has also played an important rule in the decline of chivalrous acts.
“I think why guys aren't as chivalrous as they used to be is because of the women's liberation movement,” Ryan Lewis, freshman mechanical engineering major, said. “One time I held a door for a lady coming up behind me, and she was offended by my polite gesture.”
Women are becoming more independent. They are raising families by themselves, holding high positions in companies and have become leaders of the country. Because of such advancements, men do not know if they are supposed to open doors for women, pay for meals or treat them politely. They do not act on such polite acts, in fear that a woman might take an offense to it. This leaves males confused. Therefore, they do not even try to be chivalrous.
Elizabeth Schlager, senior kinesiology major, said, “I think people aren't as chivalrous because of females becoming more independent than they were in the 50s.”
So is it just the younger generation that has adopted this rude lifestyle, or is it infecting older generations?
Ken Baker, graduate student in special education, believes it is not restricted to college students.
“I do not think it is an age specific problem,” Baker said. “I think it crosses all age lines.”
Baker encountered an unchivalrous older person when he was leaving Wal-Mart.
“I was walking across the crosswalk at Wal-Mart with my groceries, wife and daughter, and an older man started screaming at us telling us to get out of his way,” Baker said.
Although acts like these are becoming more re-occurring, some still value the importance of being chivalrous.
Lewis said his parents raised him to respect everyone that he meets.
“My parents made it a point to teach me to treat others the way that I would want to be treated,” Lewis said. “Anytime that I was caught being disrespectful toward anyone, I got in loads of trouble.”
He said he will still open the door for people and still says “thank you” and “you're welcome.”
So what actions should be taken to keep society from slipping further into the rude and harsh mold of unchivalrous acts? Should we leave this mindset alone? It is not an easy answer. Although some think it is a lost cause, some believe there is a chance to return to a chivalrous society by setting examples.
“By setting an example and being courteous, maybe it will be contagious and people will catch it and start being nicer,” Lewis said.
Will Richter, a senior Spanish major, believes it is contagious.
“Walking through campus I will hold the door for the person behind me,” Richter said. “I also smile at others, and most people will return the favor.”
While some think just setting a mere example is good enough, Richter believes that is not all that needs to be done. He Believes chivalry needs to be done. He believes chivalry needs to be taught to people at a young age.
“I think to change it we would need to start with young students to get the best results,” Richter said.
By taking this route, he believes it will stick with them, just come naturally and in turn help society in the end.
Unless you like being the object of an unchivalrous act, hold the door open for someone. Remember, what goes around comes around.

Report Card:

Performances: B Story: C Style: B Entertainment Value: B overall GPA: 2.75

‘Barbershop’ sequel trims the top of competition
Jason Kimbro | Staff Reporter 

What a glorious weekend for movies! Such a grand selection to choose from, I had such a hard time figuring out what to see! In case you could not tell, I am being very sarcastic. Almost sardonic.
It didn't turn out to be too bad, though, for this week, your favorite movie critic went and saw "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" the sequel to 2002's sleeper hit about barbershop amity and enmity and how it brought a neighborhood together.
Director Kevin Rodney Sullivan (“How Stella Got Her Groove Back”) takes over the reigns from Tim Story to bring us a fairly decent facsimile of the first film. Screenwriters Don D. Scott and Norman Vance Jr. returned to pen the script, thus giving us the same fun and unbridled shots at public figures that made the first film so enjoyable.
The ever-so-impressive Ice Cube reprises the role of Calvin. Eve returns for another trim as well, but once again Cedric "The Entertainer" steals the show as the geriatric man in the chair, Eddie, shooting his familiar words of disapproval to many, including the D.C. sniper. Kenan Thompson of "All That" and "Mystery Men" (About time we have a real name in the credits) joins the group.

Here's the gist:

Calvin's Barbershop has been a social institution on the Chicago South Side for over 30 years. It has been through a lot, but now, a shady yet slick entrepreneur named Quentin Leroux (Harry J. Lennix of the horrid final two installments of "The Matrix" trilogy) wants to open a new, yuppie-ish salon across the street called Nappy Cutz.
This wouldn't be too bad because of local support, right? Well, even that is hindered by the Nappy Cutz's backing from Alderman Brown (Robert Wisdom of "Duplex" and "Face/Off"). This just cannot be happening! Chicago's South Side turned into a yuppie playground? What next? A Starbucks? Or Borders perhaps?
In the midst of the main story, there are many tangled-up sub-plots and not-so-blissful batches of bureaucratic gooble-di-garb-bashing-and-brown-nosing mixed together to make this film a bit too full. And thus, though fairly entertaining and joyful, not quite the gem the first film was, but a pretty close facsimile.
A couple of the many minor stories worth noting involve Eddie's flashbacks and his obsession with his dream girl, betwixt his dealings with rioters and his cut-down battles with a hair stylist from a nearby salon played by the ever-so-talented Queen Latifah.
The performances were not sub-par in the least. Ice Cube always does a good job with a movie that isn't from the makers of “XXX” and Queen Latifah has been able to hold her own since her early films like “Juice.” But Cedric remains king of the South Side, stealing the movie and hiding it in his frosty, parted fro.
The story was a bit thin. Though the ending wasn't nearly as ridiculous as the ending of "Barbershop," the overabundance of miniature storylines and the attempt to fit them all together is a little constricting.
The style, derived from the first film, is much the same: very comfortable and laid-back. Makes me wish I could just walk in there and hang out, but I will not go into the proclivities that would be involved in such an endeavor.
The entertainment value is positively lofty. Many a joke told and most were actually funny. Though the absence of Anthony Anderson as a key character in the film was a bit beleaguering, the return of Sean Patrick Thomas, Troy Garity, and Leonard Howze as our favorite trimmers help to keep audiences rolling in their seats.
The film definitely has its flaws, which is why you won't see a 4.0, but this would probably have to be one of the first sub 3.0 films I would actually suggest going to see. All I know is that the movie was a refreshing change of scenery from the upchucked surprise left outside my front door this morning.
Regurgitation. Had to fit it in somewhere, eh?



It’s Miller time for Texas music fans
Kat Vickers | Staff Reporter

I may have never listened to Chris Miller's new CD, “10 more miles”, had I not heard him live in December. When I was introduced to Miller, I thought he was just another pretty kid trying to make it. I could not have been more wrong. In an over crowded Adair's Saloon for the 6 th annual Texas Songwriters Christmas Benefit,Miller was a new name on the bill. It didn't take but a few seconds into his first song for this tall Texan to turn heads and attention to the stage.
Come to find out, Miller is not as young as he looks, and he is more talented than I could have imagined. He has over 15 years of songwriting, studio and stage experience to his credit. He began playing in small clubs around Houston at the age of 15. In 1991 he moved to Dallas where he was playing honky-tonk bands. In 2000 he went out on his own and was soon making a career with his own music. In 2001 he released his debut CD, “Singing for the Dogs,” which caught the attention of the DFW audiences and got him named Best New Country Artist in DFW by KSCS 96.3. The next summer he released his all-acoustic CD “Hey Now.”
Miller's smooth voice and amazing presence has led to him to share the stage with Texas greats such as Gary P. Nunn, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, Stephanie Urbina Jones, Mark David Manders, Max Stalling, and even pop sensations En Vogue.
Which his latest release “10 more miles,” Miller has incorporated pop, country, and blues to verbalize his life, loves, fears, goals, family, and home. The lyrics are amazing. All songs were written or co-written by Miller, and his talent as a musician shines stronger with each track.
The title cut, hits the ground running with hot harp licks and a driving beat. Miller handles the vocals with fervor of a man on the run but enjoying the chase. With “Doing Fine” he tells of the hardships of the different employees that work “at the restaurant with the big yellow sign” while explaining that each is doing fine. “Let It Ride” is a blues influenced lament about being on the road too long.
If you like your country with a bit of rock and sass you will love “Ace in Your Hand,” with lyrics like “… Cause if jokers are wild girl, you gotta ace in your hand.” Or check out “Lie to Women” for a future honky-tonk classic with can't beat lyrics like “Now there's so many ways a man could sin; But there's just one thing that I don't do and it's lie to women.”
A reviewer will usually have a cut or two that really catches their attention. But I could not find one song on this CD that was not worth having. Miller gives this CD his all. He handles the lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals, percussion, harmonica, and piano. He also mixed and produced this project. This is a talented, seasoned, and gifted artist who's well worth a listen.
Check out www.chrismillermusic.com where you can get a sampling of this CD. He will be in Wichita Falls on Feb. 26, at the Iron Horse.



I’m turning Japanese
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

In British novelist David Mitchell's debut work, “Ghostwritten,” he creatively ties together nine chapters set in distinct time settings, places and peoples. My favorite revolves around a teen working in a Tokyo used jazz record shop.
Addressing the mad influx of American movies, literature and music in Tokyo culture, the teen, Satoru, observes that it's not America that Japanese kids “are aping, it's the Japan of their parents they're rejecting.” Japan continues to export amazingly good music, literature and movies back to America. Here's a gathering of CDs, novels and DVDs worth looking into.
Cornelius “Five Point One” DVD and remix CD
Keigo Oyamada's 2002 CD “Point” is now a DVD of 12 award-winning videos that visually emphasize the CD's organically psychedelic musical collages of pop, alt and world sounds.
Mostly abstract, the videos interpret his rich songs, constructed from up to five or six musical genres. And while Cornelius's aural sculptures hold together as intriguing landscapes, the videos further fill these pop songs out.
The strength of the DVD is that, despite its gather-all influences from around the globe, it cannot be reduced to a mishmash.
The 12 periods of music and visual forms cohere into a 45-minute experience that travels from bright sambas to splatted death metal, by way of spray painted breakbeats, geometric soundtrack music and green-filled nature samples.
A trippy experience worth taking.
Haruki Murakami “Vintage Murakami”
With his 1987 coming of age tale, “Norwegian Wood,” it was as if Murakami had written a contemporary heartbreaking F. Scott Fitzgerald tale, and half of Japan discovered something of themselves and their stories in reading the book.
Murakami's wistful prose style, his characters that readers can read themselves into, and his trenchant themes of loss and realization develop a powerful reading experience. His work doesn't overpower the reader, but rather subtly evokes emotions and understandings about mortality and living.
His novels also center around a tireless searching for a sense of place and the divided (almost surreal) reality of contemporary Japan as a split between an old traditional culture and the modern influence of the west.
This well-chosen collection takes a chapter of “Norwegian Wood,” and other novels and short stories for a representative collection of the novelist's ideas and themes.

“Lost in Translation” DVD

Sofia Coppola's newest film “Lost in Translation” speaks lyrically through strong images, a minimal script and mood. It's a tale about alienation, life and an unlikely friendship developed between two lost tourists.
Set in Tokyo, a city of endless concrete structures, neon signs and humanity, an aging actor meets, by chance, a recently married philosophy graduate. The two develop a friendship based on a mutual search for definition amidst the strange streets and signs. They enjoy quiet talks, energetic karaoke and dashes through Tokyo arcades.
Cinematographer Lance Acord's night images of the city and his character close-ups are inspired. “Lost in Translation” slowly brings viewers into a memorable relationship set against the backdrop of a strangely intriguing city.
Viewers familiar with the fiction of Murakami will further appreciate the film's mood and timbre.