Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist Dave Barry to present April Fool’s Day lecture at U of A

Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist Dave Barry to present April Fool’s Day lecture at U of A

Fayetteville, Ark. - Miami Herald humor columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Dave Barry will be the spring 2004 distinguished lecturer at the University of Arkansas. The event is paid for by student fees. Admission is free, and the university community, public and media are invited to attend.

Date: Thursday, April 1, 2004

Time: 8 - 9 p.m. Barry will be available for autographs following the lecture.

Location: Barnhill Arena, located on Stadium Drive

Tickets (Required): Tickets will be available beginning Tuesday, March 16, at the Arkansas Union Information Desk (575-2304), Barnes and Noble Booksellers (582-0045), Hastings Books, Music and Video Store (521-0244) and the Fayetteville Town Center (587-9944), located at 15 West Mountain, the south side of the Fayetteville Town Square.

Parking: Parking for the general public will be available in Lot 44, located at the corner of Razorback Road and Maple Street. Additional general parking will also be available in Lots 72 and 73, located on the west side of Razorback Road.

Accessible parking for vehicles bearing handicap permits will be available in Lot 59, south of Barnhill Arena. Lot 59 is accessible from West Meadow Street, off of Razorback Road.

Reserved parking for the news media will also be in Lot 59. Media must present credentials to gain access to Lot 59.

Press access is the southeast entrance of Barnhill Arena. Designated areas for cameras and equipment are nearest to this entrance.

Accommodations: Staging area will be provided for electronic media. Electronic media must limit shooting to first five minutes of lecture.

For more information, please call the Arkansas Union Information Desk at 575-2304.

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Dave Barry

Dave Barry was born in Armonk, New York, in 1947 and has been steadily growing older ever since without ever actually reaching maturity. He attended public schools, where he distinguished himself by not getting in nearly as much trouble as he would have if the authorities had been aware of everything. He is proud to have been elected Class Clown by the Pleasantville High School class of 1965.

Barry went to Haverford College, where he was an English major and wrote lengthy scholarly papers filled with sentences that even he did not understand. He graduated in 1969 and eventually got a job with a newspaper named - this is a real name - the Daily Local News, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he covered a series of incredibly dull municipal meetings, some of which are still going on.

In 1975, Barry joined Burger Associates, a consulting firm that teaches effective writing to businesspersons. He spent nearly eight years trying to get various businesspersons to, for God's sake, stop writing things like Enclosed please find the enclosed enclosure, but he eventually realized that it was hopeless. So in 1983, he took a job at The Miami Herald, and he has been there ever since, although he never answers the phone. In 1988, he won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, pending a recount. His column appears in several hundred newspapers, yet another indication of the worsening drug crisis.

Barry has written a number of short but harmful books, including Babies and Other Hazards of Sex and Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States. His books, including Dave Barry turns 50, Dave Barry is from Mars and Venus, Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs, Dave Barry in Cyberspace, Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Turns 40, Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down, and Big Trouble, and Tricky Business have been hailed by the critics as containing a tremendous amount of white space. His latest book is titled Boogers Are My Beat: More Lies, but Some Actual Journalism.

The CBS television series Dave's World was based on two of his books; the show has been canceled, but for the time being his life continues. Also, he set fire to a pair of underpants with a Barbie doll on national television and owns a guitar that was once played by Bruce Springsteen