 

Bruce Weindrucb
Student teacher exposed to outsiders’ Grinnell image

The following letter was received
by the editor of the 5&3 earlier this
week:

Dear Tom,

I’m dreadfully sorry, but I’ve
been unable to prepare an article
for this Week‘s 5&8. You see, I'm
currently teaching 11th grade
history at Newton High School and
I’m afraid I've not been able to
compose my usual attack on some
unsuspecting memberts) of the
Grinnell College community. I
know what you said about a little
namercalling makes good reading
and everything, but spending so
much time away from campus has
made that virtually impossible.

STUDENT teaching hasn't been
the great source of material I
thought it would be, but it has
afforded me some insight into how
the youth of surrounding com-
munities view Grinnell College.
The most noticeable and probably
the most annoying response I get
when I tell a Newton High School
student that I attend Grinnell
College is, “Gee, your dad must be
richl ” Because I am attempting to
keep what 1 feel to be the proper
teacher‘student relationship, and.
partially, because it's none of their
damn business. I answer, ”No."

“Is your grandfather rich?” they
ask. “No," I again reply. “Aren’t
you from Illinois?" they press on,
obviously already having checked

out the license plate on my car.
“Yes, I’m from Illinois,” I
reluctantly submit. “You won the

 

Illinois State Lottery, didn’t you?"
Why is it, Tom, that these students
won’t concede that anyone less
than an heir to some fortune or the
recipient of some‘windfall could
afford to attend Grinnell College? I
usually end up quoting some fact I
read in a Grinnell catalog that said
that more than 40 per cent of
Grinnell students receive
scholarships or grants. This
inevitably cracks up the Newton
student, who retorts, “Yeah, but to
get one of those you gotta be
smart."

ANOTHER widely held
misconception about Grinnell
College is that it is a “music
school.” “A conservatoire?” I
usually reply (I can’t help it, it’s
the teacher in me). “No, a music
school," they repeat, To answer
this question, I usually break into a
rousing rendition of “Be My
Love,” trying my best to sound like
Mario Lanza and firmly cons
vincing anyone within earshot that
Grinnell College is not a music
school.

A lot of my students want to
know how often they make Grinnell
students go to chapel. ”Who would
make us goto chapell” I ask. “The
priests do,” they reply. “Oh,
them,” I say, “I can’t remember
them ever making me go to chapel.
They do, however, make you drink
their juice while you Wait in line to
register, if that's what you mean.”
By the way, Torn, maybe someone
should warn the members of the

Vicki Fontamim'

Top ﬂight singer stops here

Next Saturday, November 26,
British singerrsongwriterr
musician Joan Armatrading WIlI
appear in Darby gym at 9:30 p m.
She is scheduled to play for at least
seventy minutes, and will be
preceded by a warmrup band,
which will play for the first half
hour. This promises to be the
major concert of the year;,
assuredly, a most outstanding one.

Joan Armatrading was born in
St. Kitts in the West Indies on
December 9, 1950, one of six
children. She was seven when her
family migrated to Birmingham,
England. a large industrial city
north of London. Because her
family was very poor, she left
school when she was sixteen to
work as a comptometer operator.
While working, she began to teach
herself guitar. and eventually she
moved to London to concentrate on
her music.

IIER first album, Whatever's
For Us, was released in 1972 to high
critical acclaim. However, the
album didn’t sell particularly well,
due to poor distribution, In 1975
Armatrading released a second
album, Back to the Night, on her
present label, A {it M Records.
Although this album brought her
more recognition and was voted
one of the top ten albums in a
British critic’s poll, Armatrading
was dissatisfied with the finished
product.

It was her third album, Joan
Armatrading (1976), which

Eyes Examined
Phone 236-7502

JENSEN
OPTOMETRISTS
Earl J. Jensen, O.D.
Clark J. Jensen, 0.0.

Across from Post Office
Closed Thursday pm.
and Sat. p.m.

 

brought her much success and
recognition, Rolling Stone named
Joan Armatrading “Runner-Up
Album of the Year,” while in
England the album went gold. The
British music review Sounds voted
Joan Armatrading No, l for 1976
after reviewer Phil Scutliffe
declared that “we need Joan Ar-
matrading like we need Bob
Dylan and the Beatles. You'll play
this record once in a while
forever.”

ARMATRADING'S latest
album, Show Some Emotion, was
released two months ago in Britain
and two weeks ago in the States.
Already British critics have ap-
plauded it as “a spectacular"
follow-up album, “even better . . .
more of an entity” than Joan
Armatrading.

From Whatever's For Us to
Show Some Emotion, Ar-
matrading‘s music eludes
categorical description. Her first
album utilized few instruments
and a Small “band." Her sub
sequent albums have increasingly
utilized a variety of instruments
and musicians, the result being
that, as the British New Musical
Express recently put it, “Ms.
Armatradjng persists in swinging
right across the musical spec-
trum." Her music has elements of
jazz, rock, folk, soul and blues.
Thus, as one critic claims, “no two
tunes sound alike" on Show Some
Emotion. KDIC has been given 25
copies of Show Some Emotion by A

 

Grinnell clergy to have grape or
cranberry juice at future
registrations in order not to offend
a portion of Grinnell’s student
body.

NEVER FEAR. Because of these
misconceptions I‘ve decided to
take some action. I have assumed
the role of a “Goodwill Am-
bassador,” trying to present a
more accurate portrayal of
Grinnell College. First, I never
waste an opportunity to remind my
students that kosher meat can be
bought at notone, but two locations
on the Grinnell campus. You
simply can't realize just how
important it is to today’s high
school seniors that an institution of

higher learning have adequate
kosher meat facilities.

If I haven’t gotten the studenm
thoroughly convinced of the merits
of Grinnell College, I sometimes
stoop to a rather cheap. but perr
missible, method of enticement. I
begin rattling off the names of
famous Grinnell alumni. “Herbie
Hancock went to Grinnell for a
year. I’ll bet you didn’t know Gary
Cooper went to Grinnell. What do
you mean, ‘Who are they?’ " If

'these names don't work, 1 lie

“General Eisenhower, Helen
Keller, Jane Addams, Horace
Greely, Bob Dylan, and Ann
Margaret went to Grinnell too!"
This rarely catches their interest,

Doug Schultz
Iran gets Grinnell perspectiVe

The Shah of Iran landed in
America earlier this week and two
Worlds seemed to collide.

On the one side were the Shah's
supporters. On the other, muse
denouncing the “us. Puppet" and
the activities of his secret police—
SAVAK. In the middle was not just
the police, but the American
government, hich on the one
hand pours mi ons of dollars in
arms into Iran while pumping out

at M Records, and will be giving
away five each day next week.
IN AN interview last fall in the
British women’s liberation
magazine Spare Rib, Armatrading
said that she felt members of her
concert audience in America

“think I'm a bit odd. For one thing
I’m not American and for another
I’m black. Over there (U.S.) if
you’re black, you sing soul or
reggae~even more so than here.
They see me with a guitar, only
they don’t think I’m really going to
play it. And of course they don’t
expect me to talk like this (with a
West Indian-Birmingham accent),
or my songs to be like mat. So quite
often, if they don’t know me, it’s
more of a struggle than here, it’s
just too alien. If I was white in that
instance, it would be easier
because white and English is
alright, it’s normal, but black and
En lishithat‘s a bit weird."

oan Armatrading’s concert at
Grinnell will be the first time She
has performed at a small and
isolated American college. Her
appearance at Grinnell will follow
two weeks of performances in the
States, which began with a sold-out
concert at NYC's Avery Fisher
Hall November 9. Thanks to the
ingenuity and skill of Grinnell’s
Program and Activities Counselor,
Georgia Dentel, Joan Armatradlng
will luckily be Stopping for a
concert‘in Grinnell, Iowa.

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DANISH MAID BAKERY“; 3

millions of barrels of oil. and on the
other supposedly supports
“human rights." But Walter
Cronkite or Time Could do this
much better than I can. At the risk
of contributing to any confusion. I
merely offer some Grinnell his
sights into an international affair.

LAST year, while studying in
Germany, I became acquainted
with an Iranian in medical school
there. He came home one day
aghast because students in one of
his classes had rather vehemently
objected to the results of a test in
which are vast majority failed to
pass.

The students, mostly German,
had raised quite a turor, harshly
criticized the professor and forced
him to give another tat. The
Iranian was astounded. "In my
country, the police would have shot
them all down. boom, boom, boom,
or taken them away."

I NEVER gave the incident
much thought, thinking he was
merely exaggerating, until I began
learning more about Iranian
politics and customs. It became
clear to me that he was half serious
and the disparity between our
cultures became evident.

The questioning oi authority is
apparently not an accepted custom
in Iran, at least not by the Shah and
his CIA-trained secret service
police organization, SAVAK.
Reports of torture of most of an
estimated 25,000 to 100,000 political
prisoners by SAVAK are well
documented by international

organizations such as Amnesty
lntemational and the International

Commission of Jurists.

HARASSMENT of dissidents is
also common, mainly of writers,
artists and intellectuals. many of
whom'have fled to the U.S. The
Shah has further admitted that
SAVAK keeps Surveillance on
Iranian students in the U.S.
through a network of many
thousand informers.

Someone was apparently
keeping tabs on an American-born
ex-Grinnellran of Iranian descent
when he visited Iran several years
ago.

UPON leaving Iran, authorities
there asked him where he had
been. He told them absent-

 

but many students ask me if I know
Helen Keller.

Iusually wrap up my pitch for
Grinnell College by describing all
of the great jazz music we haven't
heard this year, an analysis of the
practicality of co-ed bathrooms,
and a detailed description of the
massive tunnel system which links
North and South Campus.

Well, Tom, my halfrhour lunch
hour is coming to a close and my
charges anxiously await my
arrival. Again, sorry about the
lack of an article, but considering
the unusual circumstances I'm
Sure you’ll understand. My best to
the staff. Bruce

mindedly, leaving out one city. The
officials promptly informed him he
had been there too. When he got
back to the states, officials here
inquired about a certain situation
in which he had been involved, but
about which only a few friends
knew, supposedly.

Apparently, in Iran one never
really knows who one’s friends are.
In fact, he said he does not even
trust the administration of the
school, as far as disseminating
information. The student preferred
to remain anonymous for fear of
reprisals against members of his
family still in Iran.

CAMERON AIzal, ’78, who lived
in Iran and grew up there until
coming to America with his family
in 1969. has a different attitude. He
said it is hard for westemers to
understand changes going on
there. The Shah is greatly loved by
the peoplethere, he maintains. The
standard of living has risen
greatly, even between 1m and 76,
thanks to oil money, he said. This is
noticeable in rural areas now.

In 20 years, the country has
jumped 170 years, from oars and
hoes to motorboats and tractors.
One just does not denounce one’s
government. with those sorts of
changes, he implied, “You don’t
put your hand in the tire and not
expect to get burned,“ he said with
an air of eastern wisdom, “I know
better."

“I DON'T think the government
is any worse there than western
governments," he continued. “The

' ustices go down in Iran as
in American. . .The Shah is not as
good at hiding it.” In fact, he said,
being “out front,” honest, is
considered noble.

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