The Monroe Doctrine Bluegrass Band played to a full house in the South

Lounge last Saturday evening.

Film' The Selling 0f Grinnell?

by Brent Schondeimeyer

it might have been the biggest
cinematographic attraction on ca-
mpus since Marlon Brando and The
Wild Ones. Tuesday night students
turned out en masse in Loose Lon
tinge to view the Grinnell College
admissions film made in the fall
of 1969.

While the film gave an archilem
tural survey oi numerous college
campuses, a college admissions of-
ficer was heard commenting that
if he were to recommend a study
of true small liberal arts school,
they would be Pomona, Swaihmore,

Oberlin, or Griilnell whereupon the
scene switched to iamilar surrcnu
dings and the camera zoomed in on
Burling Library and theccllegesign
in iront oi the school

What iollowed was a pictorial de-
pletion of wllal it was to share
something called Grinilell. Students
laughed and commented as iamiliar
faces went by noting how things had
changed.

In some ways, excluding iashion,
things hadn‘t changed, Onc student
was describing the diiiiculties that
resulted when a Marine recruiter
came on campus A black student

Court Ruling A 'Surprise’

by Fran Cutler

Although President Nixon has sl-
ashed the budget requests for many
environmental programs, it is en'
couraglng to note that the trans
Alaska oil pipeline has been held
up once again. On February 9; the
U.S. District Court in Washington,
D.C. denied a construction permit
to Alyeska Pipeline service Com-
pany because its requested right»
of—way exceeded those authorized
by the int) Mineral Leasing Act.
Because existing right of way li-
mits are insufficient for modern
pipeline facilities, construction will
have to wait for either a Congress-
ional amendment of statutes or for
the Supreme Court to overturn this
decision,

The Court’s ruling was a surprise
to both supporters and opponents oi
the proposed pipeline. it was ex-
pected that the court would rule on
the basis of environmental impact
arguments raised by the three en»
vironmental groups, who sought to
obtain an injunction ‘against issu-
ance oi the permit, However, be-
cause the court chose to ignore
these arguments in its decision,
opponents oi the pipeline will still
be able to return for a ruling based

on environmental issues if Cone
gress decides to extend the right
of way limitation, Consequently, pi—
peline construction will probably be
delayed ior many years .. it it
happens at all.

Speaking tor the Sierra Club, Dr.
Edgar Wayburn called the court’s

we Eco—7w

decision “Ct clear rebulf to tile oil
companies.” which “provides us
all with a tresh opportunity to plan
wisely for the great lands OfAlaska,
allowing for proper‘developmentwh-
ile protecting its tragile environ.
ment.”

Even prim“ to the court’s decis-
ion, Alyeska Pipeline Service Com-
pany, builder oi the proposed pi—
peline, experienced its first major
oil spill at its testing iacility at
the University of Alaska in Fair—
banks, Some 280 gallons oi iuel
spilled on the ground when a work,
man failed to completely close a
valve in view oi this iact thercourt
decision is a very comiorting fact.
indeed,

max ,J

nnnin

commented on the diiiiculties of
ndiusting and that socially speaking
if was not the place to be for
blacks A comment by a student
leader in the iiliii that student govr
ernmcltl was not a flii‘ce illicted the
same response it always has and

“no one likes to talk superficially”
even lot sday.

A big response was also invoked
to a student comment in the tilm
that "it is easy to do indepen-
dent wm-k in any area you want”,
in may aspects it was a well done
lilnl, but being intended tor promo—
tional purposes was committed to
a sell icb As one student noted
alter the film, “I would sure like
to transler there "

 

The Iconoclast

 

 

 

the Quartet and Blink

April 6, "73

lorry ,(oronI: Offering

by Scott Mason

A fine album which came out some
months ago was this latest from
Larry Coryell. A strong, innova-
tive voice in contemporary jazz
and rock, Corvell is often the only
guitarist cited as comparableto John
McLaughlin, and his latest album
Offering is his best release in quite
some time.

He has abandoned vocals and three
piece bands, which marred some oi
his earlier recordings, and has as-
sembled a fine group of musicians
to support his own superb playing.
Known collectively as Foreplay, the
band includes Steve Marcus on so-
prano sax, Mike Mandel on electric
piano, Mervin Bronson on bass (later
replaced; name not at hand at the
moment), and Harry Wilkinson on
drums. Together, they produce some
fine sounds on Offering.

The overall sound of the hand can
best be described as midway bet—
ween jazz and rock, a point in bet-
ween the Allman Brothers at their
best and Miles Davis‘ recent recur,
dings with John McLaughlin, Both
Coryell and Marcuspossess considr
erable technique, and are chiefly
yazz-oriented in their solos, though

An agreement has been made
with SAGA allowing faculty me-
mbers to eat lunch with stu»
dents in the dining halls for
the nominal charge of $.50, In
order to encourage student/fa-
culty interaction, the Student
Coordinator's Office urges stu-
dents tO take advantage of this
opportunity to invite iaculty me-
mbers to lunch with them.

Mickey Spillane-l,

by Gregg Daiiiier

This is the story ofanzluthorwhose
popular appeal is allegedly a collse»
quellce of his use of “sex and vio—
lence it is the story of a man
who has been subjected to a sus
tained campaign oi smears,attacks,
and denunciation W "nutfor errors,
but for his artistic virtues.” In
reality this is the tale of an intran-
slgent moral crusader » Mickey
Spillane.

in simple, primitive fundamentals,
detective fiction presents the con-
llicl of good and evil. This is the
basis of its greatness and the root
of its appeal. Mickey Spillane is
at Ills best a moral dbsolullst whose
characterizations are done in black
(ind-Whites with neither halfrtones,
nor cowardly evasions. There is no
forgiveness and no doubts about
the evil of evil.

While Spillane's wr ing possesses
an element of tragic bitterness with
ll beliel that evil is powerful, his
strength as a writer lies in his
projection ol man's capacity to fir

Middleton, Justice Share Insights,

by Marty lker

Donald Justice and Christopher
Middleton were on campus last week
in conjunction withGl‘inllell’sailllual
Writer’s Conference. The two poets
met with interested students in sni-
all groups throughout the week and
discussed various topics of cone
cern, such as translation,

Justice and Middleton capped on
the conference with a poetry reading
Friday night at which the winners oi
the Sheldon L. waitcomb poetry
Competition and the Steiner Mem-
orial Fiction Competition were anv
nounced,

The two poets met with English
students and other interested peer
pic at an informal tea in Grinnell
House last Thursday. spoke to a
few classes and talked to selected
groups ct students on things of pare
ticular interest to both.

The poetry reading was wellratr
tended Middleton was adventurous
and concentrated on newer material,
which received a lukewarm i‘eace
tion from the crowd. Justice read
many of his wellrestablished tav—
orites and established a much clo-
ser rapport with his audience. Al-
though the poets tlifleretl greatly
in style, the poetry of both wasvoi-y
exciting to listen to and think about

yitllvtvvlll inn / mun

Christopher Middleton

Altei the reading was over. Press
ident Leggcll came up to announce
the winners oi the two contests,
The iinalists ill the poo y comper
titicns were noliled cu oi in the
litions were noliiicd earlier in the
day, and each received nuindividunl
comerence with Middleton dud ins»
tice to discuss tticirpri uwiiuiine
entries The winners had been sclv
ectell by i consensus oi the two
poets. Members oi the English lace
ultv pinged the iictinn competition

ninth in llpn / inn n

Donald Justice

A total oi 123 poems and 18 pie-
cc oi tiction were submitted. First
pr e in poetry weiil to Scott Well—
mun Second prize weiil to Samuel
llimmcr Mary Cnlbv and David
Min-o split tliiid prize Honorable
mentions wci-r unaided to Donald
Wecdi. lrmi McClainin, James Ric
kocn, lfll nrmmi and Howard llui'OV
witz. Tobv WUsk llilti (‘hris Bulk
took top honors in lirtion, tying ior
first prize

ght it with neither concessions nor
compromises morally conceivable
or possible.

But Mickey Spillane is an uneven
writer. From his first novel in 1947
(i, The Jury), until 1964 the moral
fire and passionate dedication to jus-
tice resounds through his works.
His greatest hero, Mike Hammer,
is a moral avenger, dedicated to
)ustice. defense of the wronged, and
to the destruction of evil. Then in
1964 with the introduction of Tiger
Mann, an embittered cynic, until a-
bout 1970 his works are sorbidly
“gray." But by 1970 although some-
what older and more mature, Spil-
lane returns to his iormer style
and reremerges with his brilliant
literary talent.

There are few writers today who
can approach his originality, imag»
inatlon, sense of drama or ingenuity
of plot structures. And although his
style is still uneven, I would chall—
enge anyone to iind among the works
of most of todays soAcalled “sere
ious” writers a style literally sup»
erior to the best passages in Spill-
ane’s novels.

The key to Mickey Spillane’s pope
ularity is his bitter yet intensely
moralistic View of life. It is this
(which like Ian Fleming) makes Sp-
illane a true voice of the people
in the twentieth century While ev-
erywllere men teel trapped by the
spread oi incomprehensible evil,
have borne so much iniustice, and
have acquiesed so often to frus-
trated indignation » the image oi
Mike Hammer becomes an embodied
dream, like an answer to a cry for
help.

So long as Mike Hammer is fighting
criminals as a private individual,
his battle can be taken as an ab—
stract symbol oi man’shaltle again.
st evil, But Spillane's novels are
much more. They are brilliantly
sustained suspense mysteries.
Reading them, one enters the world
as it is with a guide who rarely
fails to give one a vision of man
as he might and ought to he,

Observe the extraordinary popu-
larity oi Mickey Spillane und Lin
Fleming While neither present .1
laulllessly rational sense of life.
both offer the cardinal element of
Romantic fiction 7 Mike Hammer
and James Bond are heroes Their
popularity attests to the pi-oinund
gulf splitting today‘s culture between
the people and its alleged intellec-

the rhythm has a distinctly rockish
flavor about it.

The soprano sax is a highly ef»
fective complimentary voice to the
guitar, and Mandel is a solid sup—
portive player, though his solos
are sometimes overshadowed bythe
facile, creative work of Marcus
and Coryell, The latter has cap-
tured the drive and energy oi rock
in his solos while retaining the
complexity and advanced harmonic
thinking of contemporary jazz, att-
ributes that place him in the fore-
iront oi guitarists today.

Though Foreplay doesn’t possess
the dynamic presence or overwhe-
lming technique at the Mahavishnu
Orchestra, they present on Offer»
ing a fine, tight collection of or-
iginal material. Their themes and
melodies are interesting and oiten
quite complex, and their chord pro»
gressions are innovative and mov-
ing.

The Solo work of Marcus and
Coryell remains the chief attrac-
tion at the band, but that work is
so good that the album should be
checked out for that reason alone.
Looser playing, less reliance on
patterns as the background tor solo-
ing, and a better iob oi recording
could make the next release by this
fine band a milestone.

tual leaders, The roots iorthis pheni
omenon lie in the fact that todays
“intellectuals” feel hatred for “,Ci'
a projection of ‘man as‘a clean,
self—confident; efficacious being.
While they extol depravity and relish
the sight oi man spitting in his own
[ace -- the true object of their hat-
red and fear is moral values.

Thrillers are taken symbolically,
dramatizing one of man's widest
and most crucial abstractions ”the
abstraction of moral conflict. The
popularity of thrillers is the spec-
tacle of man‘s efficacy —- ofhis abil-
ity to fight ior his values and to ac-
hieve them It is a pattern reduced
to its essentials: a man fighting for
a vital goal, overcoming obstacles
and facing incredible dangers and
risks, persisting through a terrible
struggle and winning, The thriller
doesn’t present an easy or “unrear
istic” view of life W rather it sug-
gests the necessity of a difficult
struggle, and if the hero is ‘larger
-— than -- life’ then so are the vill»
ains and dangers.

Essentially the hero (Mike Ham-

mer, James Bond, etc.) projects
the image of “It can be done "
If you protest that "life isn't like
that, happy endings aren't gliaranr
teed to man" w the answer is Sims
ple. A thriller is actually more
realistic than such views of exis-
tence in that they show men the
only path that can make any SDrt
oi happy ending possible.

it is in this manner. in providing
an inspiration to iiglit for one‘s
own Values in the moral conflicts
of one's own life. that Romnnti»
cism trains and equips man for

the battles he has to face in real-
ity. And it is only the siipei-iiclality

of the Naturalists that causes them
to classify Romanticism as an "95»
cape." it is Naturalism. which in
fact represents an escape —- Jn
escape from choice. from \'«llll€§.
from moral responsibility

The generalized abstraction or a
hero permits eve - min to identiti-
himseli with Mike Hammer. earn
supplying his own cenrretes which
are supported and illuminated by
that abstraction. It is .i pi-oiuundly
personal experience. but what one
seek s a son-cunlutencc and sells
dsst‘l‘tlull. -\lul nearly eiei-rmieieie
erpt tlic enrruplt can teel . 1 hint
to be like Mike Hammer."

 

