Right: Ed
Dangler
checks his
math in front
of Viper
Photo: Bob
Hoffman
Far Right Tim
Pumarta
calculates the
killer Cruz
'cave. Photo:
M.Fo
MEDIA
BLITZ
FUTURES: Get Yer Ganas Out!
by Brad Moldstien
Back when I was a kid, I thought life was swell, except
for the school part. That was living hell. Gettin' through the
school day was an accomplishment, not to mention getting
to class on time. Me and my bros figured that math, English,
and biology weren't gonna do us any good once we got on
the outside. We could already count, read traffic signs and
we knew what frog and worm guts looked like. Eventually
we realized how much of a jungle the real world really is.
Without basic skills, we couldn't swing our way through.
Tarzan's movie set.
Recently, however, I heard about a teacher who doesn't
let his students get bored. Jaime Escalante is a Bolivian-
born crusader for education. You may already be familiar
with Escalante-he's the guy the movie Stand And Deliver
is about. He encourages his students, mostly minorities, 10
study fields that will help them secure more lucrative futures.
He teaches by using encouragement, threats, intimidation,
puppets and even rock music. Escalante is considered a
folk hero in Hispanic communities for helping to tear down
racial stereotypes and he's recently been named to
President Bush's Educational Policy Advisory Committee.
Escalante's classroom will be brought home to you this
school year on a new PBS program, Futures. He will make
points clear not only with his own
dynamic style, but also using special
guest stars. Indy 500 champion Danny
Sullivan will appear on the series pilot,
which is about the application of
mathematics to automotive design.
Super-tough but nice-guy pilot
Lieutenant Commander Donnie
Cochran (USN) will guest-host a
special segment on flight. The glamors
of hydro-engineering will become clear
when James Cameron discusses his experiences directing
The Abyss. The star list continues to glisten when renowned
photographer Mary Ellen Mark enlightens us in a segment
on optics... If you're shuddering from excitement now, just
wait till you hear Arnold "The Bulge" Schwarzenegger on
statistics, actor Eddie James Olmos (who portrayed
Escalante in Stand And Deliver) and Kareem Abdul Jabbar
and Jackie Joyner-Kersee on the sports/performance
segment. Hold onto your stomach when Ed Dangler tells
QUICK STROKES how he designed Viper and several other rides at Magic
Quick Strokes wishes good luck
to all the members of harangued
hacker network, the Legion of
Doom. Thought getting a fifty dolar
ticket for skating was bad? Try
being the focus of an investigation
involving over 150 Secret Service
agents serving 30 search warrants
in 14 clies across the country just
because you used a computer and
modem to explore America's
electronic infrastructure. Case in
point: hackmaster and part-time
Thrasher BBS contributor, The
Mentor, was awakened at 6:30 am
with the gun of a Secret Service
agent pointed at his head. Not only
did the feds throw him in jail on
unspecified charges, they confis-
cated all his equipment and files
from both work and home (includ
78 THRASHER MAGAZINE
ing a completed novel which he
was to send to the publisher in two
weeks). The Mentor is as much a
criminal as your average skater is a
devil worshipper, but those minor
details don't seem to make much
difference in the United Police
States of America.
On the comic front, look for the
latest issue of Steine. This barbaric
mind-bender, penned by Simon
Bisley, receivas a 9.1 on Rick
Roasted's rollickin' Rick-tor Scale,
so you know rocks.
The latest video release from
Santa Cruz, A Reason For Living,
is as skate-action-packed as ever.
Watch Natas, Kendall, Flej The
Wizard, Thiebaud, Knox Dressen
and others rip it up and groove on
the rockin' sound track
Mountain, and don't quit the tube till you hear the segment
on skateboard configuration and concaves, featuring Tim
Piumarta, designer for Santa Cruz Skateboards.
Futures doesn't exactly teach you how to do math
(though I did learn a thing or two), rather, it answers the
question "What good is math ever going to do for me?" So
tell your favorite teacher (or if you don't have one, the
nearest one will do) to order the series for your school. It will
be available this fall from PBS Elementary and Secondary
Services, as well as PBS Video and PBS Broadcast. The
twelve segments are targeted for junior and senior high
school students and are fifteen minutes each. It's very
affordable at around two hundred bucks for the whole
shebang.
Be sure to tell your instructor you found out about this
highly educational series through the same magazine he or
she probably banned last year. Hey, you never know.
THRASHER might become required reading in the future.
DANFORTH,
STREET
BBC
SIMPSON
STREET
BOARD DIVISION