ustxtxb_obs_2005_06_10_50_00019-00000_000.pdf

FIFTY YEARS OF FORFWORt , riY MOILY IVINS Fifty Years of the Texas Observer Edited by Char Miller Foreword by Molly Ivins “From Molly Ivins to Willie Morris, Jim Hightower to Larry McMurtry, no other against-the-grain publication in America has helped to nurture such a stellar array of writers.” Adam Hochschild For updated event information, go to www.trinity.edu/tupress TRINITY UNIVERSITY PRESS wvvw.trinity.edu/tupress Distributed by Publishers Group West write dialogue The Texas Observer 307 W. 7th St. Austin, TX 78701 [email protected] do. Plus there’s also this pervading feeling of, “Our vote doesn’t matter; our voice doesn’t matter.” And sometimes it seems overwhelming, with so many terrible things coming down. It’s tempting to say, “I’m just going into the library for four years, and I’ll think about it when I come out.” I Because the problems are massive, and you don’t see a solution. Living in Texas, I know my vote does not matter. I know that while I can go into the Capitol and testify as much as I want, the conservative legislature is still going to vote how they want. But I still do it because I think the voice of opposition is very important, and I think that somebody out there is listening. But most college students feel like, “If I can’t do anything about it, I’ll just stay here at school and party and live my life.” TO: What do you think is the best way to reach those young people? Through film? SK: I think so. A very powerful film that tells people what the issues are. Not telling them how to think about it, but just laying an issue out there and saying, “This is what’s happening, what are you gonna do about it?” I’m hoping that’s what my film does; there’s a teaching guide around the film that I hope incites people to action. I think it’s integrating those things into students’ daily lives and making it something that they have to be aware of. But I don’t really know how to do that. I know that we’ve tried. The group that I’m in, we try all the time. TO: Do you think that after having this film made about you, you’ll get into film yourself? SK: I think about it sometimes and I get random ideas and think, “Wow, I should make a film on that!” but I can’t. It’s not necessarily time issues, it’s that I’m a political science major and I’m going to go on with college. My brother is going to be the filmmaker in the family. TO: So, would you ever want to run for office while in Austin? SK: Ha! Ha! I did think that, but I’m going to leave. But in the future, it’s definitely something that I want to do. I want to go somewhere, a liberal area, hopefully on the East Coast, or Seattle, and start running for lower offices and eventually be able to run for statewide and maybe national office. TO: That’s all I’ve got. Do you want to talk about anything else I haven’t mentioned? SK: No, I always end up giving really bad quotes if I do that! Star Silva graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May. The Education of Shelby Knox will be broadcast nationwide on PBS on June 21 as part of series. JUNE 10, 2005 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19