Word: givens
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Press; $9.95) speaks of another kind of legend. The moon goddess Mawu, say the West Africans, wanted to keep fire for herself. The lion, panther, elephant and antelope vainly tried to persuade her to part with the secret. Then the chameleon had an idea. Straw was gathered and given to the tortoise. He sneaked it up to the sacred flame. The glowing embers were gathered under his shell and valorously brought home, safe forever from the jealousy of Mawu. The secret of Susan L. Roth's retelling lies in the strong rhythms of oral history and the stark tints...
Tail Feathers from Mother Goose (Little, Brown; $19.95) skims a famous compilation of nursery rhymes by two Oxonians, Iona Opie and her late husband Peter. Their previous books include superior verses, but no better illustrations. Some 60 prominent artists from Sendak to Nicola Bayley have given stature to such street doggerel as "Once there was a little boy,/ He lived in his skin;/ When he pops out,/ You may pop in" and George Bernard Shaw's effort for the young, presented at age 93: "Dumpitydoodledum big bow wow/ Dumpitydoodledum dandy!" Not exactly Dr. Seuss, but, as young people know, many...
...masters. From his Malibu beach house, he skims the Pacific in a 20-ft. speedboat. Like most self-made men, however, Geffen is consumed by his work. "My greatest fear is getting bored," he explains. "I'm always taking notes on the imaginary yellow scratch pad in my mind." Given the profit potential of his daydreams, his competitors might like to have a peek at the occasional carbon copy...
...auto mechanic, he worked hard to keep his large family in their 400-year-old two-room ancestral home in the Casbah of Nablus. He lived for his children, hoping they would be educated enough someday to become doctors and teachers. Then politics intruded into his quiet life and, given the frequent general strikes called by intifadeh leaders, he decided to quit his job in Israel. The $130 a month he now earns as a guard at a religious school is not nearly enough to provide even modest comfort. "Financially," says Abu Ali, as he is called, "I am tired...
...Child Care Policy Group is committed to working with Dean of the Kennedy School Graham T. Allison as he searches for a way to fund the K-School child care program. As the Dean's Executive Assistant noted, merging with another school's child care center is one option. Given the fact that all the current child care centers maintain extensive waiting lists, we have some concern that this option would aid our parents at the expense of others...