Poet Meckel Gives

"Words have to be liberated
from libraries. Poetry must
be part of our existence. It
demands more than education;
poetry demands the wholeper-
son. Comprehension ofapoem
does not always require literr
ary training. In fact, training
might inhibit comprehen-

Christoph Meckel, Write]?
in-residence at Oberlin, ad-
dressed a capacity crowd in
South Lounge Sunday. He in-
sisted
discuss poetry at all, partic-
ularly not in English. He was
too modest. With help from
Brian Harris during the ques-
tion-answer period, Meckel
communicated admirably
well. Excerpts:

"Poetry is not created in a
vacuum, but in a historical
context. It must reﬂect the
human condition of the epoch.
For example, Rilke wasnever
poor, nor was he sensitive
to poverty. As a result, his
work contains many irrespon-
sible lines. You don't have to

that he could hardly,

be poor to write aboutpoverty
You do have to be sensitive.

"In many European count-
ries - particularly WeSt Ger
many ~ poems are now seen
as superfluous. Students are
antagonistic to poetryhecause
of New Left influence. Poems
are supposed to create class
consciousness. Their only re
suit is a crude journalistic
drumbeat which has nothing to
do with poetry.

"Oh the other hand, poems
devoted to the so-called eter-
nal vcrities take no responsi-
bility for their ovmtime.They
only prove that there is no
eternal absolute. Involvement
is the essence of poetry.

“It might take years for the
reader to understand how
much it cost the poet to put
his words on the page. The
poet can shape his style, but
he cannot force words to be-
come true. A poem has to be
far more than well put toge-
Lher. Workshops and creative
writing classes now tend to
encourage the idea that tech-

nical ability is poetry. Poems
produced this way are just
word games.

“You can study craftsman-
ship, but it is only one part of
the poem. I cannot imagine
that a poem exists without
sounds. Sound is as important
as the meaning of the lang-
uage, but it is not more im-
portant than meaning. Alone
it is not enough.

“A translation of poetry -
any literature , awakens the
need for the original. There
are some fantastic transla~
tions - Baudelaire in German
is the work of a genius - but
these are rare.

“A man who reads and
writes, oh, six or seven larr
guages told me this tory. He
once translated a Turkish no-
vel into French in the style of
Ernest Hemingway. It was a
big success.

“Enough. While talkingabout
poetry, I have the uneasy feel-
ing that poetry is listening to
me. Therefore, Iwillmake use
of my right to shut up."

line snarleli
nol black

El' HUMAN,»

Islb
@ﬁ.
l/M lothstG“

VOL. LXXIX NO. 14

MARCH 12, 1971

Grinnell, Iowa 50112

AlumniSecrelury Mary 6. Jones (’28) Retiring

by Susm Peterson

Mary G. jones is one ofthose
important people you don't
hear about too often. As alumni
secretary of Grinnell, her
chief job has been to keep the
lines of communication open
between the school and that
large and important group of
fund contributers, the alumni.
Mary G. (class of '28) has
been the school’s alumni sec-
retary since 1957 hutwillsoon
be retiring. Chris Nielsen
('56) will be taking over her
job this August.

Mary G. is a grayrhaired
lady with a sharp witand ready
smile. She graduated in 1928
when males and females were
separated and the library was
the chief meeting ground he-

Poli Scientist

Professor Mack H. Jones,
Black Political Scientist at
Atlanta University, delivered
a lecture to a Grinnell aud-
ience at 4:00 Monday after-
noon in the South Lounge.
' The lecture, entitled ”The

Poverty of Electoral Poli~
tics," dealt with the problems
blacks face when trying to
achieve ”liberation“ through
conventional channels ofparty
politics. Jones focused on the
problems elected black offir
cials face when they try to
implement policies favorable
to the black communities they
are supposed to represent. He
feels that blacks who fail to
conform to the ideals of the
“white ruling oligarchy” are
either ostracized and driven
out of the party or isolated
and kept out of positions of
responsibility. Either way,
the black community is kept
from enjoying its fair share
of representation and responr
sibility.

Jones cited numerous specie
fic examples of unfair [reat’
ment of black politicians in
Southern cities, adding that

now the RA suites, and strict
quiet hours prevailed in the
dorms. By 9:30 in the evening,
all study ceased and the girls
did their socializing for about
half an hour, then for fresh—
men, it was lights out at
10:00.

Mary G. ms a headwaitress
for three years while in schr
ool. The college then had its
own staff and dietician, and
prepared the food without the
aid of SAGA. One of the duties
of the dietician was to hand
out table assignments every
six weeks. As head waitress,
Mary G. checked to see ifSLU’
dents were sitting in their
assigned seats. Food selection
was more limited than it is

Jones Speaks

similar shenanigans go on in
Northern cities as well.

Although he made vagueallu-
sions to his personal beliefs
and to the black revolutionary
movement, Jones seemed to
avoid expressing what he felt
was the real solution to the
problem. Obviously-sarcas-
tic references to the "wts—
dom" of white politicians and
judges were made, but he
played the semantic game
well, managing to show his
derision for white electoral
politics while being careful to
say nothing incriminating to
himself.

Jones mentioned that a poli-
tical system equitable to
blacks could be devised. Such
a system would have to one
compass three separate poll-
tical and judicial elements W
one for blacks, one for whites,
and one for afﬁiirs extending
across racial lines. Such a
system would be tantamount
to the creation of a separate
nation for blacks within the
United States, though, and

(Continued to page 2)

now. Mealsweremore formal,
with grace being sung before
sitting down" to a leisurely
meal each evening.

In the days of flappers and
prohibition, profs lecturedand
students took nates (seminars
being unheard of in those
days), and there were more
“pipe" courses (those require
ing littlework) than now. Class
was another place to meet
people. Formal college dances
were held oftenand the “Char-
leston” was then the rage.

Mary G. taught English in
town from 1928 until 1943 at
which time she joinedLhe Navy
to battle bureaucracy for three
years. In 1946, she went to
Minneapolis to manage a
laundry for eleven years. Af-
ter that, she returnedto Grinr
nell to become the alumni
secretary. When asked what
she would do after retire
ment, Mary G. smiled slowly
and replied, "I'm going to sit
upon the fence and watch the
snails go whizzing by."

Christoph Meckel
(Photo by Barry Zigas)

KDIC To Change Frequency

Later this semester, KDIC
will change its frequency from
89.5 megahertz to 88.5 megar
hertz in cooperation with (and
at the expense of) WOI radio
in central Iowa.

WOI in Ames and two other
stations in Des Moines have
recently erected a two lhOll’
sand foot transmitting tower
in Northeast Iowa. In combin-
ation with WOI’s recently in-
creased power, this new
tower, which is tallerand cloe
ser to Grinnell than the pre~
sent one, will interfere with
KDIC.

Although KDIC does not have
to change frequencies, it d5.
cided to because the change
seemed to be the most desir~
able one overall. The cost to
WOI of changing KDIC's fre-
quency is much smaller than
the cost of changing their own
transmitting facilities.

Paul Lewis, KDIC station

manager, views the change as
favorable because it willallow
Grinnell listeners to receive
both W01 and KDIC, which they
cannot do now. Furthermore,
KDIC will get a new crystal
and WOI engineers will make
a thorough engineering over-
haul of the transmitter.

The frequency change is sol-r
eduled to take place sometime
in May. The work, and all
costs and legal actions willbe
taken care of by WOI.

A new executive board will
take over at KDICllTimediate‘
1y after Spring Break. The new
personnel are:

Clayton Lee . Station Manager
Bob Sparks . . Chief Engineer
Bill Thomas . . . . Program

Director
John Seeley . . News Director
Wendell Taylor. . . Business

Manager

Wendell Taylor and Bob
Sparks have held the same
positions this year.

CBS Proposes All Black Floor

The Housing Committee has
approved a request from the
Concerned Black Students
(CBS) for an alleblack floor
for next year and will forward
that request, along with its
other housingproposals, to the
Committee on Social Policy.

CBS has asked that South
Younker 2nd be reserved for
black students w about 12upe
perclassmen and 10 freshmen.

This year about 23 black stu*
dents were scattered through
out Younker in the first trial
year of CBS's black freshman
orientation program. Difficult
ties were encountered between
black students and white studr
ents in Younker thisyear,whr

ich CBS and the Housing Com-'

mittee hope will be eliminated

SAGA Now Serving

by Marilyn McK enno

What are the strange powd-
ers, beans, and othersubstan-
ces that have appeared mys-
teriously on the Saga salad
tables? Friends, they arepro-
bably among the best things
yet to appear on the Sag
scene. The small light brown
ﬂakes in the little white soup
bowls are wheat germ, made
from the most nutritionr
packed part of wheat. It is a
top—notch source of high quar
lity protein and other nut-
rients. It can be sprinkled in
or on almost anything" salad,
cottage cheese, cereal, ice
cream, fruit, soup -- and it
tastes GOOD
Brewer’s yeast is the light
brown powder in the Other lit
tle white soup bowl and it is
a little trickier to use but is

one of the best things for your
body. Adelle Davis (in Let's
Eat Right To Keep Fit) tells
about it in glowing terms:
"More nutrients are more
concentrated in yeast than in
any other known food. Theuse
of yeast alone could correct
the majority of the world‘s
nutritional problems."

Impressive? And it's there
on the Saga salad table. What's
more, she also advocates
yeast as a source of Vitamin
B, maintaining that it fights
fatigue and stress--common
Grinnell phenomena. The
catch is that brewer’s yeast
alone tastes TERRIBLE. The
way inventive people get ar-
ound this drawback is to start
by adding no more than one
teaspoon to a large glass of
fruit juice or chocolate milk,
increasing the amount vary

by this new plan.

CBS had requested an allt
black floor last year, but the
administration compromised
to produce this year’s situa~
tion in Younker.

Celestine Bloomfield, a
member of both CBS and the
Housing Committee, told the
5&8, ”We think the all—black
floor will provide a better liv-
ing situation for both blacks
and whites.

“Younker had both its good
points and its bad points this
year. With an all-black floor,
many of the defects of this
year’s situation would be
overcome."

The 8&8 hopes to present
an analysis of the CBS prog-
ram in Younker this year soon
after break.

Nulrllion

gradually as you become acr
customed to it. But it isworth
the effort as it can result in
more energy and that’s in-
disputably a GOOD THING.
Just in passing, you might
like to know that 1/2 cup of
soybeans cooked has more
than three times as many
grams of protein as an egg.
Honey has been available for
a while now and has many ad-
vantages over the white gran-
ulated stuff. White sugar is
pure sucrose, which is very
rapidly absorbed by the body.
This induces the body to pro»
duce insulin which actually
over reacts and retards the
flow of sugar to the brain (and
the rest of Il’lC body), This
often produccs fatigue, d9,
pl‘ession .lnil hunger. The su-

(continucd to page 2)

 

