June 11, 1979

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Sports

The class of '79

The students are marching again. Not in the convulsive manner of the ’60s, when campus causes billowed like spinnakers and Dylan sang Blowin' in the Wind. Those days have gone. That mood has changed. The Canadian Class of ’79—hardened by current unemployment statistics and tempered by economic forecasts which promise to rain on their parade until 1990—is a conservative class. By Jane O’Hara14 min

Frontlines

John Irving adjusts: is there life after Garp?

Outside the offices of Pocket Books in New York two buses creep along in the noon-hour traffic. On the side of one of them is a banner that reads BELIEVE IN GARP; on the side of the other is another, GARP IS FUNNY. Garp is writer T.S. Garp of John Irving’s wildly comic and equally melancholic novel, The World According to Garp, last year’s literary sensation —a serious novel by a relative unknown that sold over 100,000 in hard-back. By Lawrence O’Toole9 min

People

In the beginning there was “Grok,” the Martian password that united groupies of science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein’s 1961 novel, Stranger in a Strange Land. Then came the Trekkies, who lobbied vigorously for the big-screen revival of their beloved Star Trek. By Marsha Boulton7 min

Frontlines

The‘giveaway man’ of the North moves on

He had a habit, as he hopscotched across the tundra, of promising a fire truck in one settlement and a school in another. After 12 years as the first resident commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Stuart Hodgson, on his final tour of his Arctic domain, couldn’t resist making a few parting gestures: a half-day holiday for one settlement, a free coat of paint for a community hall. By Susan Rogers7 min

World

Birth pangs of a parliament

The cast is nothing if not star-studded. The plot line spills over with historic resonance, international intrigue and a cliff-hanger final act. As if that weren’t enough to ensure a knock-’em-dead extravaganza, the producers have poured more than $2.3 million into public drum-beating. By Marci McDonald7 min

Films

Using darkness to bring light to Cannes

Soon after takeoff, the captain of a transatlantic flight to Nice, France, announced apologetically that none of the crew seemed to know the title of the in-flight movie. “Maybe it’s a sneak preview of Apocalypse Now,” said one movie-wise traveller to his companion. By Richard Corliss6 min

World

First step in an uncertain journey

Despite the ringing words of newly installed Prime Minister Bishop Abel Muzorewa—“this is the day the Lord has made”—last week’s transfer of power in Rhodesia was surprisingly quiet after 14 suspenseful years that triggered the tempers of governments throughout Africa, Europe, North America and the Eastern bloc. By Robin Wright6 min

Canada

Return of the native scion

While the rest of the nation slowly recuperates from election fever, party workers in Newfoundland are just replacing the old posters with new ones bearing new faces, new names. But the names hardly matter, since the June 18 provincial election will likely boil down to a battle between two men. By Robert Plaskin5 min

Sports

The man who would be king

Suddenly, the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey filled the arena. In a second, the crowd responded and burst into a chant: “Melo! Melo!...” In the throng, no one could see him— yet everyone knew that he was there, somewhere in that wave making its way toward the ring. By David Pappin4 min

Environment

Down East: Russian roulette with a drill bit

"It makes me sad, this impatience of the white man. Because of his impatience there is pollution all over the world.” With these words Titus Allooloo, the mayor of Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, signals the danger of the headlong scramble for new oil reserves taking place around the globe, but especially in his own backyard—along Canada’s East Coast. By Robert Plaskin4 min

June 41979