Page Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Editorial .

Last week’s editorial pointed to the need for a "con-
text of understanding” on the part of the alumni and par-
ents toward the Grinnell educational experience.

One means of providing such a context is wholly
lacking: that is a high quality periodical alumni publica-
tion which acts as more than a class newsletter.

The present Alumni Scarlet and Black needs to
be scrapped in favor of a publication, preferably a
“slick" lei-monthly, which would offer not only alumni
news but would tell in words and pictures something
about the ongoing changes in Grinnell life.

Articles by faculty about their own research and
work as well as articles about all phases of student life
would be appropriate for inclusion.

Must colleges of Grinuell’s stature have such a pull-
lication, though hopefully Grinnell could improve on the
quality of the vast majority of these.

The need for such a publication seems apparent to
the administration, but shortages of money and time
have so far held up concrete steps toward its realization.
From this viewpoint it looks as though we’ve stalled long
enough. As each issue of the AS&B loses itself in innocu<
ous announcements, another opportunity is lost for im-
proving the “context of understanding” and consequently
the college‘s support in the outside world.

 

Letters

' Sugurless”

'l‘o the Editor:

Come now Does anyone real
ly think that Homecoming is .
tended to provide parents with
a taste of “real" Grinnell lite?
1: parents must rely upon such
visits to comprehend how their
charges conduct themselves,
then they are a singularly iso-
lated, nnperceptive lot,

Does the housewife invite her
triends over tor Wednesday at-
ternoon ironing and soap opera
on TV? Perhaps she should so
her triends can see how she
lives.

My mother missed open
rooms, poker games, locker
room banter, rehearsals, house
meetings, and bull sessions
this weekend. Maybe the sym-

osium on Russian drama could

ave clued her in about the
"sugarless” aspects of college.
Dick Lovcu

Train
To the Editor:

Homecoming visitors and stu-

dents were treated to an unex-
pected thrill last Saturday when
their attention was grasped by
a train passing north to south
just east or Ward Field.
_ Spectators enjoyed views of
natcars, oil cars and several
boxears hearing such rnottns as
“Railway Express," “Go Great
Northern” and other similar
inspirational messages.

The train was reported to
have contained more than one
hundred twenty cars approach—
ing an all-time record for a
crinnell homecoming. The six
engined diesel also came near
I new record.

All in all the train was great-
ly appreciated end we are plan»
ning to ask for one next year
if we can get enough student
I’EEPOnser

—Metlloerenul

Hovering Skephcrsm
To the Editor:

Skepticism seems to hover in
the air of this campus, especial-
ly concerning unrestricted wo<
men’s hours. Snickers about
"discussions" at a quarter to
twelve tend to have a sarcastic,
1 - know . what - you - really »
mean flavor to them. But allow
me to relate an event which no-
tually took place this last Sun-
day night:

’1\vo close friends of mine
were talking on the phone at
11:45 pm. So far, so good. But
tragedy creeps into the drama.
tic situation: one iriend lives
on North Campus, the other on
South. AS the conversation pro-
ceeds, past midnight, past the
hewitching hour when all Cin-
derellas are turned into King
Kongs — to be locked up, she
learns that he is deeply upset
and wants to talk to her about
it. Well, they’re on the phone,
right? And everybody and his
cousin George can walk by and
talk to them, ask them to keep
their voices down 7 it’s quiet
hours, you know — or to get off
the phone, they’re expecting a
call. So what do you do’! He
could meet her at one or the
court yards and pretend he was
the pizza man until the night
watchman came along — per-
haps luteen minutes. but not
long enough to handle a prob-
em.

So what do you do at a time
like this? The opportunity to
help someone has arisen, Not a
Des Moiues project, not a Bel—
mond project. This is someone
you kuowl Someone in whom
you have a vested interest. You
could help him, talk to him, lis-
ten, understand, empathize . . .
if only you could be with him,
Is this such a crime? Problems
don’t run on a schedule coinci-
dent with the Cinderella hours.
You can’t turn them or; at

Scarlet and Black

GRINNILI. COLLEGI
Srinnell. low

A weekly newspaper published each Friday or the
college year by me Grinnell committee on student Pub-

lications. lepmsennd tor national tdvenssi
[tonal Advemshrt service. no.

College “Siting;

, nonresentrnve. lo Bis! sort. Street. New York. 22. RX.
nsecond clus postage paid at Grlnnell, iowa. subscription

tutu

Iusmzss MANAGER
NEWS non-on
rumor: EDIT
copy EDITOR

SENIOR amok: ,
ASSISTANT TO THE

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTOGRAYHERS .

CIRCULATION sun: ,
smrr _

$5.00 W school year. not put:- sum

, ewe mu mots-nan, Charles Smith,
Richard sulmeirov

notions.
Isl-ole M-
ans-n wtu
_.___ Mlﬂhl my
__ Nell rlsmr

sum whet

Aim mired, Ann mrsehner
mine rarrer

llm sturgll
Alan ntrnhardt. Susan Master
Mike mime, chuck Demchuck

uryr Neumau,
Kathy shea. In H:

Plnl Jones, nrucs binnrord, ntchnrd Knm
Andy issues, Therese Johnston, Henry wnnei .
Phylll: Murray, Sarah Thorsen. Don winney

A Review

Faculty Comment

Friday, October 28, W66

louder and Funnier

By JAMES KISSANE, English

Three Ugly Years, by L. K.
Hanson.

Like most Grimellians who
never checked it with Protes-
sor Erickson, l have always re—
garded St. Olaf as the braided
and buxom Nordic Frau among
our sister colleges, high—minded
enough tor anything but like as
not a touch on the stodgy side.
So I was surprised and envious
to discover that Notthiield’s
other campus has spawned a
really iirstrate piece of college
humor.

I can understand that on this
particular subject no one is in a
hurry tn take a college protes-
sor’s word for it. and I felt the
same way when as dean of men
(of all people) touted me on to
this collection of campus car-
toons. But Thompson was right;
Three Ugly Years, by 1.. K.
Hanson, for three years the
stair cartoonist on the St. Olaf
student newspaper, captures in
its “Wiggly lines and squiggly
letters" a very funny and gen-
uinely distinctive glimpse oi the
college scene.

During his ugly years at Olaf,
Hanson must have made that
taculty forget all about tally-
ing up the misspellings, gram-
matical atromties, and offenses
against logic and human decerb
cy that appeared in the college
paper. The “Uglies.” as the
comic strips collected in the
book are called, run the full
gamut of campus situations -—
from the frustrations of peace

marchers to the ignominy of
clean sneakers and Lhe living
death of the Studentrlaculty cof-
tee hour — without striking a
Single false note. Even the refs
erellces to purely local preoc-
cupations only heighten the
authenticity and bite of Han-
son’s comic portrayal. It is the
drawing, however, that makes
the cleverness and the ac-
curacy oi the “Uglies” jell into
a grand piece of campus satire.
Hanson’s pictures are about as
primitive as Virgil Partch’s or
Jules Feiffer’s, and his att' ~
tic unskill is even more at a Vir-
tue than theirs. These sublimely
awiul drawings are the perfect
vehicle for expressing the
grubby and extravagant disen-
chautment that makes the
"Uglies" so enchxnu'rlg.
Hanson's cartoons don’t give,
it hardly need be said, a public
relations man‘s view or college
llfe: but somebody at St. Olaf
knew what he was doing to see
to it that so iresh and zany a
manifestation of irreverence and
wit was called to people‘s at:
tention. Some years ago a stu-
dent Showed me what purported
to be a reproduction of Alan
Jones' blackboard illustrations
through an entire hisoory
course, accompanied by appro-
priately bewildering captions.
I thought they were terribly fun-
ny, and if someone had printed
them up as a hook, Grinnell
might have stolen a march on
St. Olal’s Three llgly Years.
And this takes me to Lha

question why current efforts at
humor on our campus should
be so consistently feeble or
gauche and why student criti-
cism should be so lacking in the
comic spirit. Maybe I just don’t
see the good stun people turn
out, but examples or the oppo-
Slte kind are not far to seek.
One would get the impression
from last week’s 5&3, tor in-
stance, that our idea oi kicks
here is to zap classics protes-
sols and to ilail away at tradi-
tional and largely moribund at-
titudes tow a rd Homecoming
with a sarcasm so inert and
heavy handed as to make the
proverbial lead balloon seem
like Halley’s Comet by Com-
parison. I believe it Was John
Dryden who said that a sloven-
ly butchering is a poor excuse
for satire. What one admires
especially about Hanson‘s “Ugo
lies” is that they do the job‘
with a ﬂair. Paradoxically,
think “urbanity” would have to
be the word for the quality that
comes through the spectacular
crudeness or the "Uglies"; and
that is exactly what one misses
in the irritable, joyless carping
that seems our style.

'ntree Ugly Years convinces
me that St. Olaf must have
more going for it than its own
herd of mllch cows and some
mighty fine hymn singers. As
for Grinnell, I have not lost
hope that its student culture
will some day serve up some-
thing a bit more piquant than
unadulterated animus and uhr
leavened angst.

 

twelve and on again at logsin
opening the following morning.
You can’t pretend that people
stop thinking, feeling, crying,
laughing alter twelve, as if they
were mar-ionettes set aside. Yes,
Women can Visit between their
own halls, as can men. But what
happens when the person(s)
closest to you live on the other
side of the tracks?

A college should give its stu-
dents the opportunity to experi-
ment, to make mistakes in a spe~
cial environment, less harsh
and severe, but equally as real
as that of the unsheltered
world. Now, while you are
somewhat isolated from the city
police, the church, your par.
ents, you can develop your-
self, see what you are really
like inside. Try things —— try to
console a heartbroken friend a
TRY, you may fail, but what do
you gain it you don’t make the
chart? But you’d better watch
out — you might learn some-
thing. Live and learn; learn and
live. Watch your step, please.

—ancy Lou

Faculty
Briefs

Knopf Edits

Kenyon A. Knopf, economics,
is editor oi as new series of
eight introduction to economics
textbooks being published by
John Wiley Ah Sons, Inc., at
New York City.

Seven of the texts have been
published, with the eighth one
now being prepared tot release.
One at the texts, “The Market

System,” was written by Rob-
ert H. Haveman, economics,
and Knopf.

other titles in the series are
“National Income and Employ-
ment Analysis," “Economic De-
velopment and Growth," “In-
ternational Economic Pro b-
lems,” ”The Economics of
Poverty," "Welfare and Plan-
ning," “Town-rd Economic Sta—
bility," and “Case Studies in
American Industry.”

The series is to be enlarged
as appropriate manuscripts are
found or mmmissioned.

PSSC Teachers Meet

The {all meeting at area high
school teachers using the phys-
ics program developed by the
Physical Science Study Commit-
tee will be held hen: on Setub
day.

Approximately 90 teachers
are expected to attend the meet-
ing, which will begin at 9:30
am. in the physics lecture
room in the Hnu of Science. it
will continue until 3:30 pm.
with 31 noon break for lunCh. at
which time President Glenn
Leggett will welcome the beach
ers.

Walter French, professor of
physics at Nebraska Wesleyan
University, Llncoln, will be the
featured speaker, Also on the
program will be Herman Kirk-
patrick, physics instructor at
Roosevelt High School in Des
Moines; Wayne B. Denny. phys-

ics; and Grant 0. Gale. phys<
ics.

The Physical Science Study
Committee, which operates on
a nationwide level, was formed
in 1955 to develop an improved
physics course for secondary
schools.

Swenson Studies
Spectrometry

Jack 5. Swanson, chemisF
try, rec-ﬂy attended a four-
day course on “Spectromeirio
Identiﬁcation of Organic Com-
pounds” at the University at
Chicago’s Center fin: Continu-
ing Education.

Sponsored by the Amarican
Chemical Society, the course
was a rehesher designed to
bring chemists up no date with
the latest in spectrometric iden-
tiﬁcation techniques.

Dr. Swanson use: these tech-
niquer in his Inching of on-
garlic chemistry as well an in
his arm reseancit.

Fund Chairman
Named

5. S. m, vim presldat in
marge of share operations for
Walgreen Drug snares. will
serve a: diam of me Park
elm" Fund secn‘on (II the 196‘-
67 Annual Fund, President!
Glens Legged has announced.
A feature at the 1966-67 An-
nual Fund is a pledge by the
college's Board oi Trustees to
match all alumni and parent

commons up to 325,000.

 

