each ttEhitoriuI'

The Elections:
Maybe Next time?

The results of last Tuesday's general election are, need-
less to say, confusing. Glancing froln one race to another,
a ,true liberal collegian is alternately elated and depressed,
unable to draw from the voting patterns any clear picture of
the ideological and political makeup of the state, lntlcll less
of the country.

(Illt‘ Start“ and ilililiti

Richard Nixon, to those of its opposed to most of his poi-

icies, is a political anolnaly, A Piesident who Ilas broken
practically every major campaign promise he ever made,
who has proved incompetent to deal with the majorlsstle
of the past four years—rthe war in Vietnamr—and a President
who has insulted the intelligence of his people as has no other
political leader in American history (the Committee for the
Reflection of the President had a wonderful name for the
bugging of the Democratic Headquarters at Watergate: they
called it “offensive security"), he has received the lnost
astounding positive electoral response of any President in
the history of the country.

Those who have long espoused the Democratic process, who
have faith in the ultimate wisdom of the people to elect the
men who most represent their cherished ideals, fiild the re,
sult disillusioning.

Other races, however, have a more comfortable ring. Dick
Clark, a virtually tlnkown candidate before his Senatorial
campaign, rose up to defeat an incumbent Republican Wltl'l
important business ties and an amazing lack of concern for
his constituents. Made famous by a lSOO-mile walk across the
state, Clark promised following his election to continue walk-
ing, and to search out the realinterests and ideals of the people
of Iowa. Edward Mezvinsky, a public-interest~oriented Demo-
cratic challenger won an impressive victory over incumbent
Congressman Fred Schwengel, and Iowails also elected two
other impressive Congressmen, John Culver and Neal Smith,
to give the Iowa Congressional delegation a decidedly liberal
orientation, And to put a final, touch of icing on the cake.
Democratic challenger Joan Orr defeated a crusty Republican
state senator, Charles Balloun, for a seat in the Iowa legir
slature.

Incredible. This, amazed students remember, is Iowaﬁthe
soecalled heart of middle America. The same Iowa which,
along with forty-eight other states, returned Richard Nixon
to the White House, All of which shows that this election
has, if nothing else, taught us that we know very, very little
about politics. Excited and enthusiastic, we went to the streets
and to the polling places to work for a candidate who repre
sented, we thought,the real ideals alld true values Of America—7
only to have him take an unprecedented defeat. Candidates
we liked but did not work for won impressive and unexpected
victories. Perhaps in the futtlre we Will once again work for
votesuhut it we do, under less lluivete and blian idealism
that we had this time around, We will. or at lease we hope
we Will, be politically wiser.

And, perhaps, we will will.

Closed Meetings

Last Monday’s faculty vote to close all faculty committee
meetings to observers is a reversal ofa trend towards open
communications on this campus which has, until now, proved
to be most satisfactory and in Dean of Administration Waldo
Walker’s words, has worked “admirably."

As such, we question the propriety of the move. Bllt perhaps
what is most disturbing is the process through which it was
made. The basis for the faculty decision was essentially the
question of efficiency, i.e. that with numerous observers pre-
sent the committees could not operate as efficiently as with
the Observers gone. Absolutely no data was presented coir
cernlng that subject, howeverLdst year the decision to change
the grading system, an issue of gient importunce to students,
was made largely in committee anti without serious disruption
of the structure.

Undoubtedly the move Will appear, whether intended so or
not, as a slap at students and a new barrier lIl OlltrOerlﬂSS
student-faculty relations As such, it seems remarkable that
the faculty took the action in such llaphi rd and illeintol mod
fashion. The issue itself is not of pttltlTIUUIll importance.
but the direction of the policy would seem to ttlstily a I’Qtﬂllsltlr
eratlon

Aronin: Freedom’s Miracle

To “It! Etlltni's

I've been going to schools oi one
sort or another ior 14 years and as
m buck as 1 cup remember, they've
only been mu mg me into a smaller
pcrson cdmpnitincntulizntion, tler
partlneiltltlizdtlon. always being pi-
geonrholcd or restricted senior
times with u wider choice pl pt-
gconholes or corners. but always
being restricted

11 I got the m-gc to Wille a poem
or go out into the woods and shoot
some liliii or puck up some stulf
and lake u bike trip—4131i Itle titne
i couldn't hecuusc l luid to read
pages 230—345 in some dusty hook
or write it pipcrconlrusting two
viewpoints oi nusul surgery or
something equally worthless to the.
To nic, one oi tlte rcnl bcuutics
In life is lcttlltg myself go where-
ever I happen to lead tnvselfvto
let my imagination orci 'ttiviIVpOSr
5955 me, instead ol buying to pull
myself out at u dream lit 2 so be»
cause it's time to study or having
to put off .in urge so long that tlic
lhlilﬂl desire .intt motivation are
gone. by the time Ican get back
to myself

Glinnell is supposedly u progrese
sive institution. yet all it does is
take ttic .sume 99h, basics of any
college mid work froln there wtiilc
there ill'C independent protects and
things, tile emphasis IS on concrete
achievement or knowledge gain in—
stead of on self-expansion. through
freedom and the opportunity to he
inst whatever yoll wanna be that day
oi’ thut hour or that minute. Who
is to sziy tlmt it IS more beneftcV
(21:11 to me to Sll down or lie down
or walk around und daydream for
a couple oi liotlrs Whilelcouldpro
bahly give no accounting of anything
1 learned orachieved during that
daydream, it may have done a great
(Jedi tor my insides or mood or
any number of things that are not
clearly or consciouslv perhaps exe
pressihle ‘

The arguincnt is always raised that
you must learn this and this and
this so you can scire a purpose in
the world and get it you so you
don't starve or so you can have the
essentials of a happy life, material
or otherwise, but. to me, this 15
not the way to loot at things.

If Our society was in good shape
by these principles. I might think
differeli|ly, lit1| I think what we have

are lots of people who are only
grown in certain places, turning
around, humping olhcr people to try
und tind alike places on other peer
ple where they can touch and relate.

To me, and perhaps I'm cruzy,
uud ii I um I don't mind tit all,
lantasy anti imagination, anti timer
int-ting things like tltal are Just
as important it part of existence

5"1'eallty "

Why not develop some kind of 53157
tom of seminars all the lime or
all-open classes so you could go
wherever and whenever you wallleil
to) in n society where automation
is rapidly eliminating the need ior
American man to work, 1 suggest
that it 15 time to remove boundar-
lbs which serve iiopui-posc, toqucs»
tiou n11 restrictions and to develop
a liew American ethic oi happiness
through self~expresslon dnddiscuv-
cry, determined by me individual

If this letter is disjointed Di'gi‘am-
tnatically incorrect, it's because I
didn't write a scrutch copy or ally—
thing und I‘ve got so much work
to do, I don't have time to rewrite
it

Ira Aroniil

Neal: Apathy

(Ed. note: Linda Neal, ‘57, pre»
sently works ior the Los Angeles
Times.)

T0 the Editor

it fills my heart to see that even
in such an lgnominious category as
Insular Apathy our college has re,
ceived the national recognition it
so well deserves,

For fear your Subscription to the
Wall Street Journal has expired 1
am cnclosmg a clipping fortheflles.

Power to the Phi Betes!

Linda M. Neal

Kagan: China’s Value

To the Editors

As the misplaced object oi the re~
cent CIA investigation on travel-
lers to China. 1 want to make two
points about surveillance

One, legitimate travel to a social-
ist country, the People's Republic
oi China or the USSR, invites CIA
and FBI inquiries not into whal the
traveller saw, but into what the true
veller thought about what lie/she
saw. oh the basis oi expressed fav»
orable or unfavorable impressions,
you will already be associated with
one of the communist capitals (You
should remember that a Pentagon
official was amazed at the rapidity
of student reaction in May 1970 to
the Cambodia invasion He had calr
culated that it would take a couple
of weeks tor instructions to arrive
irom Peking and Moscow )

Not only are your reactions to the
country visited nolle of the business
of these two agencies. More impoi»
tantlv, they will neverbe considered
on their own meritsVas it were.
For you have no control over the
framework into which what you say
will be pttt. The investigation itscli
takes place on the basis of prior
conclusions about people who travel

- even legitimately, to socialist
countries.

TWO, the purpose of these inves-
tigatlotis lS yhst as much to gather
information on as it is to neutralr
ize the people questioned - either by
the intimidating effect of the inr
quiry itself, or by the suggestion
that there was more In the trip than
met the traveller's eye or crossed
his/her mind, ThispowerofsuggeSr
tion IS designed to generate unease
and confusion about what you didr
to erode vour own ability to have cone
Iidence in the purposes and actual:
ily of what you did and saw.

Surveillance operates by succeed-
ing first of all in instilling doubt
and disposing you to protecting or
covering yourself what have Idone
after ztll’J and what shall I Say about
whatever it is that l have Clone?

Tile consequences of surveillance
are to curtail normal politicalac-
tivity by making people defensive
about what they have done andcaus~
ing them to consider what they will
do on tile basis of personal fears
as well as the worth ofthe projected
trip or what have you.

Leigh Kagan

Myth Magazine: To Return laughter

by Brent Schondelmeyer

They say it uns a dark and stormy
evening, but i wouldn’t ti'tlsl them
because they were probnhly just
trying to mike Inc lziugh or even
giggle nloiig ulth tlletn. out prlr
nmrily. I didn't want them to know
I thought tllev were iuimy und perr
petuale lllell' idrulniity

Perhaps it wits .i dai'k und Stoitliy
evening mid llicv stood Sillioilted
ugninst the sky on the loggid roof
when Alfred t: ucninun came to
Ilietn in a bolt oi lightuning sti'lkr
mg dcltly the keys of .i lone sinitli.
Coronu typewriter causing -t to exc»
cute endless lines of \ylticism of
wind Wits to become the first copy
oi Myth Magazine-A Gazette for
Liberated Youth.

Bv the title. onc would suspect
thnt the iimgnzinc \NS yet another
iiiistcrc effort on tlle purt oi Ede
itli llumilton, but it IS instcud the
sole crcution, production und colld~
bnrution of Myth Susan llvutt dud
Myth Tumui anmn Confused?
Well, Myth is thc numc clorm Slelr
mini uotlld giyc to her publicntioii
it site tulkcd with .. lisp. :i rciciu
once to .i upmrn tlrtt dooslit tllSr
tingihsh muiitul stwtuc or up
ncndemir cntltuvoi ol Olympian
mugiututtg,

Originillr intcndctl to rultivutc thu
litcruiy interests oi acid Hull. thr
twu ctiralttllors .iic cngigctl in .m
effort to e.\|idli(t thcir circulhtlon
in .i rocctlt public relations rclcisr
train their tiiiirrts) on item St‘tttiild
thev nnntnmtrd ttnd ‘ottltifltlc coin-
Ilultls of l‘Ittstcl'tl 1min .t ncu pub.
licutiun . this htii-sl iorth upon tlic
lilo irv scum» inking t\1lict’irtt's lllr

tellectual elite by storm "

The two co-uutliors prefer to have
themselves lookeduponuseuliemei»
ists. Besides the Similarities to the
word humorists, a euttetnerists IS
one who interprets myth as his-
torical Itict, One complements the
other as they try to throw thc right
angle on the myths that concern
tlte activities ltnd individuals oIRcud
Hall. the social scene, ltcadelnia.
gossip, helpful hints on how to make
nutumn leaves in to beautiful re-
plicds ol the Bayellx tapestry. und
surfing in Iowa. Tlicy pcriorute mi .
ogi-uphs with putts thut oven the lnost
pi-imitivc ptltlsters wouldn't profess
to mid delight in usmg words that
the 20th edition of Webster's New
Collegiate Dictionary won't huvc
litaitilv liecuusc up to this point
these words .irc non-existent.

The coruutliors stated irtticir first
edition. "file gazette IS the result
of a closely monitored experiment
conducted to discover new outlets
ioi the release oltcnston." Thcir
mum purpose is to ”entertain" nnd
upon consulting Roget's Theasaurus

Lt'llr iﬁrlltlltll
évidrltt anti itlltiiti

rm Crimp-ll Surlt‘l nit “Lick is int sluurnt um.
panel 0! Critinoll comm published miiy lmle
in. mint. ,, in mod. it» for CiiiinrllCollt‘txr
Cnnlmlttcc ,,, Shah-HI Publication: and mum in.
mmi uDimons tin nol necessarily mum lhr virus
of lite siphon rout, pinto M «minimum .u
Emmi-ll Collvxr umnu limit in smut ind
Ditch cannot lit: rrt'rodturtt lot littliliranun Mittmtt
mt- rim m pump at in. rtlizor

swim this Ilostauf pmi Crinnrli, limo mu:

included diversion, fun and sport
"One of ouraims IS to put the the-
saurtls on tile New York Times best
seller list,

The staff IS limited to two people
bccunsc ils euSier tor a magazine
that IS “published sporadically dui»
mg the school vcai'hv Random House
and “besides 1 don't think anybody
could get along with us " They view
the magazine as .i means of enter»
taming themselves and other people
ut the shine tinir

REFUND

Refunds for [lie ’l‘ai Mahal
wishbone Ash concert in Des
Monies on October 27 may he
obtained by sending your valid
ticket stubs midnstumpcd, sellr
addressed envelope to :

Homecoming Cmiccrt
Old l\‘l(\lll linll

niuke Unlvet'sllv

Des Moines, loiin 50311

tull’ttly‘

utiimin tin-tun
\ Htl'ltii

wicin

, \Iil\y\(itl1

i h \Aan

.yrmm imnn,» Marlyltur

(alumina much can

my lihmirlt you noxlotl. Scott him

Johnt‘ults

not. mum
no ,y mom
in.“ wyiu

Jim tummy."
font autumn.
rn smut.

ltli uptown lion

Nitmuri n.“ mm lullrlilihn hut-ryflvlehor,

pm pm. mu mm Ilt« comm mic

kit you. nyumib lulu twin buxtrSievrnXun

timid rum...

mil»unwimttuutuuut,

inm- inky Kttrhtllt- cm, nut

tht'sylrr. pun rim. tttii hum rt nomn.

your. l/m my mum nmxtnn. him!

by in, you. nun-n with you

rhythm iuui um”, bill): rhythm.

putt whim. mummy my null

.nmumtw.

 

