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Fridav. March 11. 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Arts & Entertainment
Jacque Janssen, arts/features editor
Literary journal honors founder in its 40th issue
By Kevin Dilmore Kansan staff writer
In 1965, Edgar Wolfe and a group of graduate students in the department of English began Cottonwood, a campus literary magazine. After 23 years and 40 issues, the magazine has published a tribute to its founder.
Cottonwood 40, which went on sale this week at the Oread Book Shop, contains several poems by Wolfe himself, who is now a professor eremitus of English and living in Kansas City, and some of his former students, including Robert Day, author of "The Last Cattle Drive."
George Wedge, associate professor of English and editor of Cottonwood, said Wolfe was revered as the senior creative writing instructor during his tenure.
"He was, for many years, the fiction and poetry teacher in the department," Wedge said. "Sometimes, he was the only one."
Wedge said the magazine contained three writings in tribute to Wolfe, along with the new fiction and poetry that Cottonwood has become known for.
The magazine contains Day's tribute "I Look Out For Ed Wolfe," which he presented last year at the River City Reunion. It also contains a poem by Tom Avril, a former student of Wolfe's and host of public television station KTWU's program "Kansas Literature."
The tribute concludes with a review of Wolfe's 1968 book of short stories, "To All The Islands Now," written by Carroll Edwards, professor emeritus of English. Edwards is a longtime associate of Wolfe, and the two wrote an English textbook for freshmen, Wedge said.
Wolfe said he was very pleased with the Cottonwood tribute. Although Wolfe has been battling cancer for the last six years, he
still finds time to write.
"I mostly write letters nowadays, or a poem now and then when it comes to me." he said.
Cottonwood 40 is also illustrated with drawings of Lawrence scenes by Zi Li He, Nanning, China, graduate student.
Wedge said the Wolfe tribute followed one of the most successful issues of Cottonwood, a double-size issue celebrating 125 years of contemporary black writers that was published in June.
Wedge said that Cottonwood usually did not follow a theme but that he and other staff members wanted to tie the magazine in with the 12th anniversary of Kansas' statehood. The black history theme was suggested by Wedge's son Philip, a lecturer in English and the magazine's poetry editor.
The issue worked not only to increase awareness of Cottonwood, but it also brought an increase of submissions.
"We've had a lot more minority writers send things in, and not just black writers either," Wedge said. "We've received pieces from people whose names suggest they are Asian or Latin, and that pleases me a great deal."
But Cottonwood is not just a magazine. It is also a press that publishes books occasionally. Although the press recently printed a portfolio of poems on broadside sheets, the press has not published a book in the three years that Wedge has been head of the staff. That situation will soon change.
"Star Water," a collection of poetry by Denise Low, will be released April 4 from Cottonwood Press. Low is a KU alumna and now teaches at Haskell Indian Junior College.
Wedge said that he was currently seeking funds to publish two other works, including a collection of short fiction by Day.
COTTONWOOD 40 EDGAR WOLFE
The next issue of Cottonwood magazine, which features Edgar Wolfe, costs $5 and can be purchased at the Oread Bookstore.
"With those, the press would be back in full operation," he said.
Wedge said the press operated with funds separate from the magazine, which generates its money from sales and grants from the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Cottonwood costs $5 an issue or $12 for a three-issue subscription. A press run of Cottonwood is about 500 issues, and there are about 150 subscribers.
Wedge said that the next three issues of Cottonwood were already being planned. Cottonwood 41, which Wedge said would probably appear in July, and 42, which might appear in November, will both feature works by writers who attended the River City Reunion.
Reunion will be invited to contribute," Wedge said. "We want to feature established alumni写稿, along with young writers."
Wedge said an interview with Lawrence "Beat Generation" author William Burroughs was likely to appear in Cottonwood 41, along with photographs of the event.
Those who participated in the
Cottonwood 43 should appear in early 1989 and will return the magazine to a format with no theme, Wedge said.
tweed. Wedge said that the variety of fiction and poetry in Cottonwood gave the magazine an appeal that stretched beyond campus and even Kansas.
"We are carried in a book store in Chicago, and we even have a subscriber in Russia," he said.
Father-son shift gets few laughs 'Vice Versa' revisits old plot
By Kevin Dilmore Kansan staff writer
"Vice Versa," which opens today at the Cinema Twin Theaters, is a slightly funny retread that fails to entertain despite good chemistry between the two stars.
Judge Reinhold and 11-year-old Fred Savage play a father and son which switch bodies, thanks to a skull-shaped Tibetan "transmogrifier," a term more closely identified with the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" than a religious ritual. The two must then go to work and school in Chicago and act the ages they appear to be, making sure Reinhold does not lose his job as an executive of a large department store in the process.
Reinhold has no problem behaving as a seventh-grader, and he is sometimes amusing. But the real charmer of the film is Savage. Either finishing a math test in minutes or walking
ing. She shows none of the flair for a small comic bit that she does in "The World According to Garp" and "True Stories."
The saddest thing about "Vice Versa" is its overused premise of parents switching places with their kids. Not only was it done before in the Disney film "Freaky Friday," but it was just rehashed last year for "Like Father, Like Son."
As hard as Reinhold and Savage might try, they still can't make "Vice Versa" a good film. Most of the jokes are predictable, and director Brian Gilbert tries for a slam-bang ending that is unimpaired.
This week on ABC's "Disney Sunday Movie," the first half of the made-for-television "14 Going on 30" was broadcast. It tells the tale of a ninth-grader who uses an age accelerator so he can date one of his teachers. And if that isn't enough
around the apartment with martini in hand, he is believable as an adult trapped in a prepubescent body. His work earns the big few laughs in "Vice Versa," and it seems a shame that the film spends more time on Reinhold than on him.
When the two are on screen together, they interact well, especially during one scene in which Savage, as the father, catches his girlfriend kissing Reinhold, who is actually his son. Savage has a tendency to steal scenes, but Reinhold allows him to without a fight.
Some supporting performances in "Vice Versa" are good, and some are bad. Corinne Bohrer, of the short-lived sitem "E/R," knows just when to be cheerful and sympathetic as Reinhold's girlfriend and co-worker, Sam. She shows a sense of timing that transcends the script.
But Swoosie Kurtz as a smuggle trying to get the skull back from Reinhold and Savage is disappoint-
Tom Hanks' newest film "Big"
comes out this summer. It is about a
boy who wishes to be — you guessed
it — big.
Hollywood producers never have been accused of originality, but this trend has no excuse. The trend would not be laughable if the movies were.
And why is a humorous gimmick necessary for any movie that explores a father-son relationship? Even 1986's "Nothing in Common" kept the closeness of Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason shrouded in comedy. Whenever the relationship between Reinhold and Savage shows signs of development, the film cuts away to a quick laugh. This lack of control robs a viewer of any chance to get involved and makes "Vice Versa" stale.
state.
Fans of Judge Reinhold might like "Vice Versa," but otherwise, it is a forgettable film.
"Vice Versa" is rated PG for strong language.
WEATHER FORECAST see page 2
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