Production journeys 'into the woods'

-Photo by Wendy Alexander

By Ashley Lowe

The story of Cinderella is one everyone knows and loves. Cinderella goes to the ball, marries the prince and lives happily ever after. But what if the prince wasn’t all he was cracked up to be? This is the idea behind Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Into the Woods,” currently playing in the John Wright Theatre. “Into the Woods” not only takes audiences through the familiar storylines of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk, but past the happily ever after, where these famous characters must pay for their mistakes. When a baker (Brandon Petrie) and his wife (Shannon Estep) learn they have been cursed with childlessness by the witch (Katherine Dorian) next door, they embark on a quest for special objects required to break the spell. They get these objects by swindling, lying and stealing from the other fairytale characters.More>>

End of an Era

-Photo by Ryan Smith

After 15 years of making music together, Hmong band Paradise gets ready to call it quits

By Chhun Sun

Next to earsplitting Highway 180 situated in West Fresno, Paradise amalgamates at a recording studio to make noise—in music form. For the next four hours, the band, comprised of six Hmong musicians, ignores the world outside. Maiku Vang sits on a stool expressionless while her bandmates intuitively prepare for practice. Her feet dangle inches from the ground, while she unleashes muffled yawns—due to daylight savings time, she, and her bandmates, lost an hour of sleep. Still waiting, the young, petite singer sits with patience.More>>

Sweep prevents 'Dogs from clinching

-Photo by Cary Edmondson

Tulsa's doubleheader sweep prevents the Bulldogs from clinching the WAC title

By Zack Walton

Fresno State entered Saturday’s doubleheader one victory shy of clinching the Western Athletic Conference title, but that chance vanished with one swing of a Hurricane bat. Even after losing the first game 7-1, the Bulldogs were only five outs away from their seventh WAC title in nine years when Tulsa’s Lindsay Galloway belted a 1-2 pitch from Laura Ferreira for a grand slam in game two, snatching the 4-2 lead and eventual final. Ferreira never would have made the “misplaced” pitch, as Bulldogs coach Margie Wright called it, if not for two Bulldogs errors that loaded the bases.More>>

Don't care for Kerry as president in '04

-Art by John Rios

The Son of Thunder

By John Brannon

Want to know why you should not vote for John Kerry ? • He never can figure out what he believes. He votes for $87 billion to help fund the Iraq war, then he votes against it. He protested the Vietnam War, then he tries to use his service in it to help his image. In a speech on Feb. 25, 2003, Kerry said, “I believe that the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq poses a real threat to the security of the region and of the United States and that he must be disarmed.” But now he criticizes Bush for disarming him.More>>