CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, April 16, 1985
Page 6
Gahan Wilson, whose cartoons have been published in Playboy, Esquire, National Lampoon and The New Yorker, says he uses the bizarre to illustrate daily life. Wilson spoke to about 200 people last night at the Hallmark Symposium Series in the Spencer Museum of Art.
Cartoonist draws art from life
By PATRICIA SKALLA Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Gahan Wilson, author and illustrator, said last night that his unusual cartoons were merely scenes of everyday life, which he happens to find bizarre.
"People say my cartoons are bizarre, grotesque, macabre, weird — unlike day-to-day life — which is not true," Wilson said. "Day-to-day life is bizarre, grotesque, macabre and weird."
Wilson finds the basis for his cartoons in the lives of people he encounters daily and in the stories he
Wilson spoke last night to about 200 people in the auditorium at the Spencer Museum of Art as part of the Hallmark Symposium Series. His work, which focuses on fantasy and the occult, has appeared in many books and in Esquire. He also has written children's books and short stories.
sees and hears on television and in the newspaper, he said. He then brings out the humor or the horror of a situation.
"Take a perfectly ordinary thing and follow it through, and it's astonishing what you'll arrive at." Wilson said
WILSON SAID AN artist's purpose is to give the ordinary a surprising and interesting point of view. The artist something that everyone else has missed.
"I'm a firm believer that if you aren't amused with what you're doing, other people won't be," he回答. "I'm a funny one." I have to chuckle myself.
Although Wilson relies on everyday occurrences for much of his work, he also develops cartoons from the work of other artists and cartoonists.
For example, Wilson said horror movies and the monsters that appeared in them had influenced his work.
"I have a certain abiding affection
for monsters," he said. "I really do like them.
"THE THING ABOUT monsters is if they weren't real, they wouldn't have made all the money they've made. We know that the Frankenstein monster was created because among other things, we have been the Frankenstein monster."
Everybody has experienced being a monster as an adolescent Wilson said.
"All these things start happening, you say 'Why am I thinking about that?' and then you get all these pimples, he said. "You try to ignore it, brush it aside and say it's not happening, but it is."
The werewolf is another favorite model for Wilson's cartoons because everyone has a werewolf in him, he said.
"We're all werewolves. We all have our full moons," he said. "But they're all different. One man's full moon is another man's so what?"
professor of political science and Soviet and East European studies; Norman Saul, professor of history and Soviet and East European studies; Andrew Conteh, professor of political science and Soviet and East European and African studies; and Fletcher, spoke for about 90 minutes to about 35 people in the Council Room of the Kansas Union.
Profs examine Soviet power
But William Fletcher, director of the department of Soviet and East European studies, said Gorbachev would be unable to consolidate enough power to make changes in the Soviet system.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the newly elected first secretary of the Soviet Union, must consolidate his power in the nation's ruling body if he is to solve the social and economic problems the Soviet Union, three professors said yesterday.
Four professors discussed the succession of Soviet political leaders during a seminar designed to examine the shifts in power within the Politburo, the Soviet Union's ruling body. The seminar was sponsored by the department of Soviet and East European studies.
it was in now. The first came after the death of Vladimir IchinLenic, the first leader of communist Russia. The second period came after the death of Josef Stalin, the nation's leader after Lenin.
By J. STROHMAIER Staff Reporter
Stephan supported despite suit
Saul said he th. 'tgt the transition in leadership going on now, which began after Leonid Brezhnev's death and included the short reign of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernobyl to bring stability to the Soviet Union.
"There seems to be more unification in the leadership today than there was at the time of Stalin's death," he said.
Fletcher said the stagnation of the Soviet bureaucracy and the nature of the economic problems the nation faced made it impossible for Gorbachev to make any real changes in the system.
Conteh, a visiting professor and a former ambassador to the Soviet Union for Sierra Leone, a country in western Africa, said Gorbachev would have to bring younger leaders into the political system in order to consolidate power and push economic and agricultural reforms.
THE PROFESSORS, Roy Laird.
Schools face EPA asbestos fines
By United Press International
TOPEKA - Two school districts face $2,600 in fines for violating federal rules on asbestos contamination in school buildings, the Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday.
"It really doesn't matter who's in charge in the Soviet Union." he said. "The Soviet Union is plagued by an entrenched bureaucracy, pervasive corruption and a floundering economy. The system has reached a stage I call terminal incompetence."
"It was never my intention that the matter of my lawsuit be a public issue." Tomson said in the statement. "I requested that Mr. Stephan not discuss the terms of my settlement for a fee for the matter, and he was gentleman enough to agree and has abided by his word."
SAUL SAID SOVIET leadership had undergone two main transition periods before the transition period
In a statement issued from the agency's Kansas City, Mo., office, Morris Kray, regional EPA Director, said that $13,300 in fines had been imposed on him and his District No 249 in Frontenac. Kay said that $19,300 in fines had been
STEPHAN HAS COME under criticism from some lawmakers, particularly Democrats, for refusing to reveal the terms of the out-of-court settlement that he and Tomson reached last month. Much of the criticism against Stephan surfaced during House Ways and Means
charges of possible asbestos contamination at Alma Elementary School, Wauaiseun High School and Paxico Junior High School
Kay said that a 1984 EPA inspection of buildings in the two districts found violations of agency regulations governing asbestos in schools. In 1982, school districts were ordered to obey their 13 months to comply with EPA guidelines for containing or removing asbestos.
The hearings disclosed that over $12,000 in state funds were spent to defend Stephan and two others named in Tomson's suit. Stephan and Tomson last month agreed to settle the case out of court.
Committee hearings on an annual appropriations bill for the attorney general's office.
The districts have 20 days to enure request a hearing or meet with EPA officials to work out a settlement. Kay said.
proposed against USD No. 329 in Alma.
Glickman questions air base cut
Tomson, a former state employee who worked in the records department of the attorney general's office, charged in her lawsuit that she was dismissed after complaining of sexual harassment by Stephan.
By United Press International
The EPA guidelines also required districts to keep records of asbestos contamination.
TOPEKA — Although she filed a $750,000 sexual discrimination lawsuit against Attorney General Robert Stephan, Marcia Tomson said yesterday that she still was friends with her and hoped he would become governor.
Asbestos is a fireproofing and insulating material that many rescuers use in mining cask cases.
TOMSON SAID SHE made the public statement in response to all the unsupported speculation that has been in the press. Since the settlement, news reports have speculated that Tomson would seek allegations and Stephan's refusal to discuss the case would hamper his possible gubernatorial bid.
In a statement issued yesterday by her lawyer, Tomson called Stephan, often mentioned as a possible Republican candidate in the 1986 gubernatorial race, a good and decent person.
Tornson filed her suit in December 1982, alleging that Stephan made sexist advances toward her, including continual kisses, pinches and pats.
She claimed that Stephan; Robert Alderson, deputy attorney general; and Betty Johnson, Stephan's assistant, had launched a slander campaign against him. The case was dismissed. Both Alderson and Johnson have left Stephan's office.
By United Press International
The Frontenac school district was charged with failing to sample and analyze building materials and warn parents of possible asbestos contamination at Frontenac High School and Layden Elementary School.
An aide yesterday quoted Stephan as saying only, "I appreciate her statement," after learning of Tomson's release.
Although Stephan refuses to discuss the case or the terms of the settlement, he has said that no state court was involved in the out-of-court agreement.
The Alma district faces similar
WASHINGTON — Rep. Dan Glickman, D-Kan., is trying to find out why Wichita's McConnell Air Force Base is among the 22 bases denied authorization for military construction by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
asked Dellums' subcommittee "to avoid any temptation to use what appears to be a list drawn up in an arbitrary manner."
Aides to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole have said the Kansas Republican will work to ensure continued financing for McConnell.
The Senate committee denied spending approval for 22 bases that apparently are on a Pentagon deficit reduction list given to Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., and chairman of
Glickman, who hopes to testify before Dellums' subcommittee later this week, said he had been trying to "secure from the Pentagon any consistent rationale for inclusion of the various bases on the list they provided Goldwater."
"Based solely on what was described as a list of facilities which might be suited for closing, such action seems precipitous and ill-defined," said in a letter last week to Defense Secretary Carl Weinberger.
the committee. McConnell was included even though it recently was removed.
Glickman also has written Rep. Ron Delhums, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Installations and Facilities, and
TUDENT UNION ACTIVITIES
Marge J. Phelps, Tomson's lawyer, denied that her client's statement was part of the undisclosed out-of-court settlement.
for
PLANNING TO GO TO EUROPE?
Phelps said, "She feels strongly about making this statement because there has been so much criticism of him (Stephan) for sticking to his part of the agreement, which was not to reveal the settlement."
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In the statement, Tomson said Stephan and his wife, Betty Nell, were friends of hers. She also said her dismissal from Stephan's office was motivated by people no longer working for him.
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A WORKSHOP TITLED "Marketing Skills: Resume and Interviewing Skills will be presented in the International Room of the Union
THE SEMINAR "THE Committed Marriage: A Christian Perspective" will discuss "Saying the Peace" since Jesus Christ is the Reasonable Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread
THE PUBLIC RELATIONS Student Society of America will conduct officer elections at 6:30 p.m. in the Regionalist Room of the Union.
ON CAMPUS
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS will conduct officer elections at 7 p.m. in the Council Room of the Kansas Union.
TODAY
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- Preparation & review of legal documents
- Many other services available
- Preparation & review of legal documents
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Legal Services for Students
8:30 to 5:00 Mon. thru Friday
117 Burge (Satellite) Union 864-5665
THE TRANSCENDENTAL Meditation Club will meet at 8 p.m. in the Pine Room of the Union.
A BIBLE STUDY will be presented by Campus Christians at 7:30 p.m. in the Burge Union. World Vision's "Africa in Crisis" will be shown.
Call or drop by to make an appointment.
Funded by student activity fee
THE ST. LAWRENCE Catholic Center will conduct its weekly
KU SWORD & SHIELD will meet at 7 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the Union.
scripture study at 7 p.m. at the center, 1631 Crescent Road.
THE WEEKLY FOUNDATIONS of Catholicism class will meet from 7 to 8 p.m. at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center.
THE STRATEGY GAMES Club
2pm in the Library, 30th floor of the Triangle
THE KU GUN Club will conduct its weekly meeting at 7:30 p.m. in 217B Snow Hall.
SUA FILMS
TONIGHT
7:30 $1.50
2nd film in a series by Dir. Preston Sturges:
THE PALM BEACH STORY
"A hilarious screwball comedy."
Starring Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea Alderson Auditorium
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 17 (April 18, if it rains) East of Kansas Union
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