Published: Wednesday, February 7, 1996
Section: East Extra
Page: 5
Compiled by Eric Johnson.
The San Jose Museum of Art is holding a special short-story contest to celebrate the opening of its exhibition, ''Electronic Super Highway: Nam June Paik in the 90s.''
In this show, Paik fuses art and technology to show his vision of future small-town America - ''Cybertown.''
The contest, open to Bay Area youth in grades nine through 12, asks students to focus on a piece in the exhibition titled, ''Warez Academy,'' which serves as ''Cybertown's'' school. This electronic one-room schoolhouse, shingled with hardcover books and topped with an old-fashioned school bell, features 10 television monitors that ''fire'' information to students who enter.
Focusing on ''Warez Academy,'' students are asked to create a story about the public high school of 2025. What aspects of the traditional high school will continue? What changes might occur to make high schools of the future different from those of today?
The grand-prize winner will receive $150, a one-year family membership to the museum, a $25 gift certificate to the museum's book and gift shops and a video catalog of the exhibition. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony at the museum April 7.
A runner-up will receive $75, a one-year individual membership to the museum and a video catalog of the exhibition.
The contest runs through March 12. All contest participants may view the exhibition once free of charge, between Feb. 18 and March 10.
To receive a copy of contest rules and information, call (408) 271-6840.
Gift to aid author series
and Steinbeck center
A retired literature professor's gift of two $50,000 matching grants will help ensure that teachers and students have access to San Jose State University's Steinbeck Research Center and to prominent contemporary authors.
Professor emerita Martha Heasley Cox, through her gift, has ensured the continuation of the Steinbeck Research Center and the Martha Heasley Cox Lecture Series.
The Steinbeck Research Center was founded by Cox in 1971 to further the study of the life and works of John Steinbeck. An initial $50,000 matching grant was made to establish an endowment to support the center and to hire a curator to keep the Steinbeck Research Center open afternoons to students, scholars and the public.
The Martha Heasley Cox Lecture Series Endowment Fund was established in October 1983 to fund a yearly lecture series through the Center for Literary Arts. Past lecturers include Paul Theroux, George Plimpton, Maxine Hong Kingston, John Barth, William Styron, William Kennedy, Toni Morrison and Wallace Stegner.
Cox joined the San Jose State University faculty in 1955 as a professor of English. She taught courses in composition, drama, poetry, Asian literature and American literature. Cox retired from active teaching at San Jose State in 1989.
Senior to be considered
as Presidential Scholar
David Christian Perry, son of F. Stephen and Kay Perry, has been named one of 2,600 candidates in the 1996 Presidential Scholars Program. Perry is a graduating senior at Leland High School in San Jose.
The candidates were selected from more than 2.5 million students expected to graduate from high school this year. Students are selected on the basis of academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities, character, and involvement in community and school.
Final selection will be made by the White House Commission of Presidential Scholars. It will select one young man and woman from each state.
Group to honor people
in letters, arts, music
The Santa Clara County branch of the National League of American Pen Women will be holding its annual Celebrity Luncheon on Saturday.
Each year, the Pen Women honor men and women in the community who achieve distinction in letters, art and music.
Dr. Charlene Archibeque, conductor since 1970 of the San Jose State Choraliers, will be among those who will be honored. Archibeque is a professor of music and director of choral activities at San Jose State University.
She is director of a master's degree program in choral conducting; founder and director of SJS Alumni Chorale, 1986-'88; and director of the Concert Choir, 1970-'88.
Others being honored are artists Collette Colosimo of Sunnyvale, Mattison Fitzgerald of San Jose and Bonnie Stone of Saratoga; and writers Ludmilla Alexander of Saratoga, Michelle Gabriel of Saratoga, Beverly Morgan of San Jose and Mari Lu Robbins of San Jose.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. with a reception. The luncheon will start at noon at Villa Felice, 15350 Winchester Blvd., Los Gatos.
A raffle and silent auction will help raise funds for scholarships, which will be awarded to high school students in letters, art and music.
Musical entertainment will be provided by the San Jose State Choraliers, with Archibeque conducting. The Choraliers were the 1994 Grand Prix winners at the Choral Festival in Tallin, Estonia, and the 1991 First Prize winners at the Choral Festival in Llangollen, Wales.
Luncheon tickets are $20 each. Space is limited. To reserve, call (408) 867-4089.
The National League of American Pen Women is a non-profit organization of professional women artists, writers, dramatists, lecturers and composers.
Stationers contribute
$118,000 to schools
McWhorter's has donated more than $118,000 to 656 participating Bay Area schools through their 1995 Back-to-School Fund-raiser. This year's total exceeded last year's by $22,000.
McWhorter's raised the funds between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 by donating 10 percent of its Bay Area sales. Customers, by presenting a voucher, were also able to directly donate to the school of their choice.
Each of the 656 schools will be able to determine how to use the money it receives.
Fair wins three awards
from association
The Western Fairs Association has named the Santa Clara County Fair as the winner of three awards.
The fair won First Place for Manuals and Handbooks, Second Place for Posters, and Third Place for Display Advertising.
Fair General Manager Ray Lueckeman attended the 73rd Annual WFA Annual Meeting in Anaheim and received the awards.
In the past, the fair has not entered many contests. Leuckeman saidthat it needed to ''get back to competing on this level because the fair has a reputation for being very progressive.''
Copyright 1996, The San Jose Mercury News. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.