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dailytrojan.com
Monday, October 90, 2003
p Vol. CXL1V, No. 38
Study may have found memory loss cure
By MARY HOLING
Contributing Writer
A recent study completed by professors Michel Baudry and 'Rkhard Thompson may have found a new drug possibly capable of preventing age-related memory loss.
The drug, which is soon to move into clinical trials, is believed to relieve oxidatiye stress, a condition where the balance between the prooxidant and antioxidant is disturbed by having too much oxygen in cells in the body.
Oxidative stress is known to be a leading cause of cognitive impairment and memory loss that people suffer from as they grow older.
“Oxidative stress is the price we pay for living in an oxygen environment," Baudry said.
A way to prevent oxidative stress is to chase antioxidants, which is precisely what Baudry, a professor of biological sciences, did.
He found that two small molecules, EUK189 and EUK207, can combine the activities of two large I see Memory page • I
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English professors are award finalists
Professors Carol Muske-Dukes and T.C Boyle are nominated for the prestigious National Book Awards.
By LAUREN BONIFACIO
Staff Writer
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Two USC creative writing -prafa-sors were among the 20 authors named as finalists last week for the National Book Awards.
Professors T.C. Boyle and Carol Muske-Dukes will find out in a month whether their books are winners in their respective categories.
Boyles .“Drop City" is a finalist in the fiction category and Muske-Dukes'
“Sparrow’' is in the poetry category.
USC is the only school with two faculty members as finalists, Awards
ty, but more than that it was hick of the draw,” said Meg Kearney, associate director of the National Book Foundation, which sponsors the awards. “But lucky (USC)."
The National Book Awards, names the best book of the year in each of four categories, as judged by panels of writ-
ers. The categories also include nonfiction and young peoples literature.
The awards had more submissions this year than ever before, said Matthew Venzon, a spokesman for the prize.
The books, by 20 finalists in four
tWeTTrom 1*8 publishers and
imprints.
With settings reaching from the Russian Gulag, to pre-revolutionary Cuba, to the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair, the books’ "only common denominator is astonishing literary quality," said Foundation Executive Director Neil Baldwin in a press release.
Here come the brides
Juushi Taburen. a sophomore majoring in East Asian languages and cultures, reads her vows to her partner Lauren Steeley, a USC graduate. The two participated In a mock wedding on Friday in protest of Marriage Protection Week, which seeks to discourage same*ex marriage. The event was sponsored by the Gay lesbian Bisexual Transgender Assembly. Inset: A man protested the event with a bullhorn and a sign before DPS officers took them away. For reaction, see page 4.
Including his newest addition. Boyle has authored nine novels and six collections of stories. He has been in the English department since 1986.
“Drop City” follows a five-loving hippie commune struggling to make itself work. Tfie group trftels from a Sonama County ranch to harsher Alaska to free itself from the constraints of its environment
Muske-Dukes, who is also a novelist and essayist, teaches creative writing and founded the university’s grad uate program in literature and creative writing. Her column. “Poet'k Comer,” regularly appears in the Los Angeles I see Review, page U I
Students form branch of Habitat for Humanity
By MARISA MUNTEAN
Contributing Writer
Three students are nearly finished in their quest to organize a Habitat for Humanity chapter at
USC.
Lee Diaz, a graduate student studying public policy, teamed up with Chloe Brown, a sophomore, and Rhea Rebbe, a junior, early this semester to start a campus chapter under the Los Angeles affiliate.
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit organization that builds low cost housing for low-income families. The United States has 1.500 affiliates that build homes in their local areas.
"We had the same idea at the same time," Diaz said. “We wanted to bring Habitat for Humanity to campus."
Organizations on campus must go through the local affiliates to find build siteS. The Los Angeles area has three affiliates located in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and the San Gabriel Valley, Diaz said.
"We hope to be an on-campus point person for the three," said Brown “When students want to volunteer, we will have the site informa-I see NmNt, page 111
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Service honors staffer
Sonia Foon, who worked in th$ Office of International Services, died Sept 5.
By SUMAYYA AHMAD
Contributing Writer
Friends, family, students and staff gathered at the United University Church on Friday in memory of Sonia Foon, a former USC employee who died of cancer on Sept 5.
An employee of the university since 1987, Foon served as an administrative assistant in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences advisement
office and, in 1994, became office manager of the Office of International Services.
“She was one of the kiadeat human beings I’ve ever met," said Kazi Mamun, director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising in the Marshall School of Business. “She would always think of others before herself."
The service included several speakers and a video montage created by Foon’s son Sean, which showed photos of Foon’s life.
The service was followed by a reception in the Fellowship Hall in United University Church.
Foon was born on February 10, 1943 in Honolulu, Hawaii She moved to California at the age of 10 and attended Manual Arts and Dorsey High Schools in Los Angeles.
In tbe late 1970a, ahe met her husband George and worked a* a reader and adviser in the Braille Inatitute for the Blind. She, earned her bachelor* degree from California State University, Los Angeles in 1981 When Foon joined LAS Advising in 1987, she became a friend and acquaintance to many. Mamun met Foon in 1989, when he was a graduate assistant at the LAS Advisement I see Pom. page • I
Sumtn* Ahmad I OaHy Troian
On Friday, downs of people paid tribute to Sonia Foon, who worked
in the Office of International Services. Her picture is seen in the middle of the photograph.