December 3, I954

. SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Three

- The SDX Literary Supplement

 

‘ HURDLEJ

By Carol Myers .

I’m not going: out for tl'ackl
this spring. Halley, our truck
coach at Southwest. got
pretty sore when he lieiirtl_
I wasn't going (0, but erei
that didn’t imike liiilcli dif-
ference Since lld already
made up my mind.

Don’t get the idea that l'ni
chicken or anything Sure, i was
state high and low huidle chnm
pion last year and I could do
it again this year, hands down,
if it wasn’t for my bad kneel
But I siraincd tho ligunlenis in,
my right knee, lhc one i lcad,
with, right at the beginning or
the football season last [all ill 1,
was out ior a couple at u
with it. _. ,

Actually. though, it didii'tl
bother inc at all after those two
weeks and didn't begin to givei
me any trouble again until now,
The doctor said he couldn't un»
dcrstand \vhpt suddenly went
wrong and his Xel‘ays didn’t
show up anything. But lie said
in that. case i was the doctor}
and to use my own judgmcnt;
so that’s why I didn't go out.l
Actually, I Just don't feel much‘
like hurdling this spring.

_it’s quite a change from last
year, I’ll have to admit. i was
the sport writer's iair haired
child and they called me names'
like “the hurdle king" nnd “the
sensational sophomore." If you,
follow high school sports at all,
you've probably Seen my nam
Chuck Cblby irom Minneapolis!
Southwest. Being considered a
big deal by the writers and
coaches was ion. but i didn’t
work so hard just for the glory
of it. It was because of mother
and dad.that i wanted to be
so good, and’ was so good

Gee, it must have been pretty
near the start of>tllc season
when Ka'y. my sister, told‘ me
what probably would happen.
Kay's a great sister. who‘s al-

aysneady to stand behind a,
brother and everything. She
came to most oi the football
games this year and the track
meets last spring.

Th'c rest oi the guys out ior
.ports always cnvicd- me be»
ause they thought it was
sally great, and i did, too, ior

sistcrto come smut. to watch

. i-
néver could quite téll her what
she meant to me and now i
guess it’s too late since sh'e‘s
voing to be getting married and‘
vill move away.

This June she’ll be graduated
irom the "U"; you know, the

nivorsity oi Minnesota. I don't

now what she majored in e
| nglish or something like that, I
uucss. Anyway, it's not too im-
portant sincc shc's going to be
-ctting married right away.
ctueliy, she thinks it is pretty
nrn important bccausc she's 314
vays telling me how essential it
is to get an‘ education and all
hat crop. When she starts lace

' inc about that, 1 get

darn mad hccause it

there’s anything l can't Stand,

it‘s a nagging Woman. But out-

side oi times like that, she’s
pretty swell.

Anyway, like I was telling
you, I'm not going out tor track
because of my knee injury. And
I’m kind oi glad, too, because
-[ what happened last season.

I don't mean what happened
as tar as track is concerned be.
cause, hkc l told you—and l'in
not inst bragging because it's

'l'li. Litel ry Supplement
was compiled and edited by
Chuck Haynes, under the

of the Gl'iiinell Chapter
of Sigma Delta Chi” men‘s
rol'essitlnal journalism l'rzl»
t-el‘ility

"A Post M em

Thcl’c al'c grave robbers on the Campus
' ill six months since LI battered. baiely
nimpcr while lying on the IacLilty's piil'linilicntary tabla.
The body was the sprawling but Still incompletely developed strident government constitutlo
The “niul’dcl'cilsl” were never Ofﬁcially convicted. Some people accused the father (form ‘
President Samuel N, Stevens): some accused th mother

It
‘ last w

l

.a.

GRAVE ROBBERS

by Ed Liiiing ’1‘ ” i

recognizable body supposcdly broaihcd is

(the stlldcnt constitutional committee);

some accused the midwives (Dorm uI Women Evelyn Gardner and or others on the Student Cr-

galiizations Committee).

But the fact is that. by the time [lie anomalous inlallt was tossediwllh illl eyes watching
‘into a faculty mee’mg, the poor thing (some Called it 9. monster) had been badly li‘aiiglL‘tl.

sonic-what aghast and certainly perplexed, seemed to 1661 that it was the patents’
A motion to lay it cur-clully on the table was passed.
lay the earthly remains oi ma v long and paiuiul hours in t

-l Ad Building and Younkcr Lounge, It \
5-6‘ carved over the door,

respo. .

he rlclivcrv rooms oi his
biuicd in a roomy inmh with “Student Governmenl’

But. the grave l‘obbcrs were at work last week Yes, the politicians thing has bCL‘n exliumt ,
And an autopsy was nei armed by Hans Wynbel-g (chemistry), the new g0d»f’atht‘r to the SL1

‘dcnt Criunctl, whom bastard child the constitu‘

 

Sim

by J. ’l'nlnlinsoll

Once upon .1 time in thc i‘nr distnnt past, thcre cristcrl n small
town kiluwn ns Pscu, The ton-n, hiancn inr down in a canyon, was
completely isolntcd mun the rest oi the world. Living in this
small village were u grouumi elves, who through some niischnncc
or other, hurl conic upon the town in their travels and stayed. For,
you see. the toun llatl ii peculiar social system. Once an outsider
ciitcrcd the town, tho system at laws and other political require-
ments: iorcetl him to remain in the town for at least ten years, it

he was lucky. Bill if lie \vns unlucky and did not fulfill all of his.
' duties. {the nbilily to fly was mile of them). he Stayed on and on

until he was able to (lo so.

On the whole, the community worked well. No one entered
the village during the entire year unless it was some unlucky tray»
eler who happened to stumble upon the town on his way to an»
other city. in such a case the elder elves considered this a great
event and the unfortunate visitor was-'iorcect to make a specch be-
lorc the entire assembly oi elves.

There was one other time during the year that the
homeostasis of the community'was disrupted. That was in the
Spring when the melting winter snow, swollen into ﬂoods, brought
a new group oi clvcs to the village. Those untortunatc clves were
just out oi preliminary elflscllool and hadn't had time to gain their

equilibrium, when the spring ﬂoods picked them up and carried~

them down the mountain side into_the small village of Pseu. ..
in the state. What 1 mean For you see, the social system

what happened to our fami_
You see, Kay had. told me,
oh, i guess in about March, that
mothcr and dad were having
diiiicuities. Even though Kay
went to the 'U”, she lived at
home like most college kids
who lived in the Twin Cities
and go to the “u" do, and so
she was home a lot oi the time
and know whatvwas going on.
This year she’s living in nor
sorority house over there. Shc
says it's because it’s her last
year and everything. But i don't
know. .
Kay and iny mother were
pretty good pals and t was a
good thing, too, sin e and had
been spending most or his
im time doing things, with
sports tor the last couple or
years. I never-could quits Illl~

is
self-contained and it took only
one outsider to turn the entire
program into chaos. Thereiorc,
the elves who had been in the
community ior several years
wcrc forced to take drastic steps
with these newcomers so’ that the
system would not be ruined. The
inner council oi clvcs met at
the beginning oi each year and
laid plans tor the newcomers.
some declared that th'c bcst

o‘grc.

\va_s tho b'est because many oi
the new clvcs would be im—
mediatcly eaten by the ogre and
therefore the problem would
solve itscli. But this plan did

oi Pscu was very Complex und‘

plan was to compcl each new-
elf tclwalk up the side of the:
mountain tO‘th’e cavé oi the‘

l

thought. that. he llzld found the main Clue to

i

1

They reasoned :hnt this plan,» ind

lhc truth—I'm the host liurdlcr‘

dc'i'stand dad becausé no hint—
ter uhat morn Wanted to do',
she’d always have to plnn it
around his plans, Actually,
what i mean is that it be de-
cided to go hing tor a
weekend and mom had gotten
tickets ior “Kiss Me Kate" or
some other musical down at
the Lyceum, she’d have to call
it oii. She really wouldn‘t have
to, but she always did, and
you really couldn’t. blame her
because I guess a wife likes
to have her hushaml with the
inmily port oi the time and to
have thom all do things to-
gether ind all that old Ameriv

can inmly ‘stuii.

Thcn last March. just when tllc‘
guys at Southwest, who were
out ior track began working out
in thc hall at the high school
‘mol‘n kind oi changed liei' wholc
altitude. She didn't seem to care
whether dad’iuantcd to spcnd
latly tinic with her or not, and
alter awhile sho didn't. even
,usk him where he was going.

Kay told me that. she thought
their marrmpc might cud m a
lscparntion or even a divorce”
lhilt actually, nrithcr sho nor 1
‘rcolly thoughcthnl thcy would
pull n crazy dcnl like that. l
told Kay nt iirst that shc was
nuts and that inom iind dad
were darn happy together; but

See HURDLE . . "Page 6

 

 

not me‘ct ivith the council's np-
proval and was forgotten, Any
other suggested that the new
oivcs be given duties to pct»
{arm for the elder elves and
thereby be ol service to the
community. But the council
ruled this 'plan out because, they
reasoned, this would consequent
ly give the newcomers a sensc'
oi belonging bciore they had
dcscrvcd it. Then a small in}
significant looking elf with oncl
log suggestcd timidly that.
nothing he done to thc now-i
clvcs, “Nothing", screamed the
chairman “Nothing", scrcnmcd
the other elves, and the wee oil.
was cicctcd nimicdiatcly. 5

Finally the cldcsi cit suggest-
cd that the now elves be given
ridiculous tasks to pcrtorm,
thcrcby they would not feel rm;
portnnt nor would thcyhavc
any delusions about being as
smart as the older and wiscr
clvcs. This plan root with whole-
llcartcd approval. “It is donor",
said the chairman. --it is doncl"
cried the other elves with an an-
or bubbly, and they all went
home to bed.

Perhaps it would be wise tol
mention hcro that elleland is
similar to our own only in thc
hspect ol sex, There are male
and icmaic clvcs just as there
are male and tcmalc humans

See PSEU . .Png‘c G

l
l
l
l

 

 

on w

And Mr. Wynb , autopsy lound the child docrl'.

Dead as a doorndil. Which surprised no one, least oi all M:
Wynbcrg. But the purpose oi an autopsy is to dclcrnunc the can-c
oi death, There ucie tar too many distigurcincnls on the pot
Consitdt'on to analyze the causcs coinolctcly but Mr

.c mislci

Death was caused by u hcavy, blunt instrument called Reality,
Contributing factor: birth trauma on cd bv an cm~iromncni llcs»
tilc to sudden mutation and Charactc .ud by homeostasis.

To, the young chcnustry prolcssor thc unswcr uas as clear
a «loss oi 1-120: Anothcr plnn ior student control of—and respo
sibili ~ tor—s idem siiairs ‘ not neccssnrily d m d if we cc
discover in wh areas the in wivcs and the pr ~c willii
((1): accept mutation and what specitic variations they are thinking
o.

The Reality Pri‘iCiple is applied this ”way: start with incul
leaders, the details, the Acting President, and the Council oi hiou
Presidentsand League Boar-ii: in other up s, reverse the prcv
procedure oi starting with an idea and trying to reconcile all ti
powers that be. .g .

Kitten Arycson. Student Council President. has organized a
committee. lts nucleus consists oi James Stauss (economics aid
business), Joseph Wall (history), one more iaculty member as ..

run-named, and student c'ouncllefaculty representative Wynbor

These iuculty members are to work with Arveson, c of r.
Presidcnt Dnvc Ferguson, League Bonrd President Dottie Fulto‘i.
Ed Laing (the only remaining original member oi the constitutit-li
committee hcsidcs Kitten), and Student Council member‘s Daxc
Brownand Jim Lindau. '

Next, the deans, tho Acting President oi the oollegc,,the

c oi i-ll> and the League Biiard will be risked to, submit lctter<
~10 the committee; stnting éiplicitly whnt arcns oi poivér th .
think student government might conceivably lake ovér.

The committee would iirst try to correlate areas oi agreement
and then assign its proiessor—mcmbers to work out the phrasing
oi a new plan. Thus most oi the actual work would be done, n
in endless meetings, but individually, nnd'thcn would be suom:
ted to the committec ior approval.

Finally a revised governmental blueprint would be sent
through the channels (administration. Student Organizations cor-r
inittcc and iaculty), and tho iinishcd plan would be voted on ty
the student body. -

There are hiichcs. First, the policy oi the new president or too
college will have to be stated and studied and obeyed.

Also, there should be a point at which student opinion in,
:enetﬂ is sounded out. For, obvious as it is that the pro L
cumbersome, conﬂicting and esgntinll' iragmcntary stiidEhh
goyemmem sciup is in need oi repair is possilile that we iii
ion to remain childrenrgnd will refuse iospons. ilily and séﬂ-
government. We may prefcr not to a cent an opportunity w M"-
tui-c, in iavor oi ill-iniorniéd cynicismor—cvcrt worse, 1 think—'4
apatli \Thg-pscudo-sophisticatea shrug and wiseciaok are come

n on the Grinnell campus. ,
Also, it is quite possible that the whole plan may fail. it may
be'lhat the agreed areas at change are so icw or insigniﬁcant cu
string—heavy that no constitution can be written, or. ii written;
would-be rejected by the students.

. At least this new approach might prevent the drawn out lab
pains, ii-ell»icd illusions and the iinai obscure dcath that we
iatod tor last year’s constitutional plan.

And it has n better chance or succeeding than a visiona:y
brainchild oi one man,

What tools we must havé been in the past: We reckoncnl
without the gauntlet—the shiftin’._ discgrcéiug lineup oi [lbw
that be. But we are wiser now. cs, it could happen again, but
It's not nearly :IS likely when the lineup hus issued Micrcoiiilihlu
posses. .

The grave robbers may have found n “my to i'csurrt‘ctii‘io‘, a
way to keep alivcitlic lntcnt life in a newly discovered part or
Grhmcll's pioneering tradition.

 

So the night is a huge b'luc oowl oi uncertainty.
Still several small certainties

Such
ilnvc crept through

as your shoulder
Have come close enough to hold me
in a small silvcr box oi light.

So the biting black branches oi lrcos
Arc prying lingers oi hate.
Still a low bits or warm gold
Such us your hnnds

Arc strong enough to hold it y
Thc pointed bit ot cuttinp hole.

by Marty Kelly

 

