College Town

The gang rape of a bicyclist by skateboarding boys has fired fear, frustration and anger in this college town, reflected in nightmares, graffiti and flyers. Since the woman was knocked from her bicycle, raped and beaten by five teen-agers July 29, women have called crisis lines. "Dead skateboarders don't rape," says one spray-painted message. Anonymous fliers have questioned why there is no curfew.

In a world that seems to crave all things fast and flashy, Annie Baker celebrates the joys of subtlety ? and even silence. The 29-year-old writer has become one of the hottest young voices in American theater thanks to three poignant and funny plays inspired by life's small moments and precisely rendered. Baker's less-is-more approach is epitomized by "Circle Mirror Transformation," which opened at South Coast Repertory this weekend. The elliptical comedy observes a "creative drama" class at a community center in fictional Shirley, Vt. "I know," says Baker with a sigh over tea at a Silver Lake cafe.

The main suspect in the slaying of five Gainesville college students may be linked to a 1989 triple murder in Louisiana, police said in an affidavit unsealed Monday. The affidavit in support of a search warrant was released as jury selection began in a robbery trial for Danny Harold Rolling. The trial began a year to the day after the first two victims were found in Gainesville. Last week, police in Shreveport, La.

Like most college students, Cara Wood doesn't live extravagantly. She rents an apartment off campus at Ohio University and drives a used Jeep. But the living is easy, and she's enjoying her time in this college town. "Life is about having fun and being happy," the 22-year-old said. "I'm happy." Things are going well for the former waitress, who made headlines five years ago while still in high school when she inherited a $500,000 estate from a customer who had befriended her.

JOHN MELLENCAMP captured something about himself three decades ago when he penned the words, "I need a lover that won't drive me crazy." Someone who knows the meaning of "hey hit the highway." These days, he could say the same for most of America's politicians. Sure, Mellencamp is from the red state of Indiana, and he wrote all of those patriotic-sounding tunes like "R.O.C.K. in the USA" and "Small Town." But when it comes to matters of the country, Mellencamp is far from nationalistic.