o as surpass ver

by Michael Chessler

ICP Library at Photographers-
volumcs i-li; Robert Capo, so
Werner Bischoi,
Seymour ~ “Chini”. $5 5:
w. lliue, $5.95; Dan Wcinci, sol
Roman vishniac, 37.95: (All
Papcrl N.Y.: Grossmau. A Div. oi
The Viking Press. ton,

Now that thc world is slowly
getting around to realizing that
photography is a legitimate art,
many publishers have responded
with a myraid of books teaching,
presenting and gloril'ying the
photographer and the product.
Viking has graciously stepped into
the lnass oi legitimate and bogus
publications and taken up the
publication oi a new series whose
aim is to present a number of
monographs documenting the lives
and works of the great
photographers The series is
presented in collaboration with
ICP (International Fund [or
Concerned Photography inc.)
which serves to “uncover and
preserve forgotten archives, and to
present such work to the public,"
among other services to
photgraphers,

There are currently six volumes
in the series, with more to come.
The layout and content are iairly
consistent, with each volume
containing essays on and by the
photographer, a select collection of
the most important photographs
(about sixty per volume), a
chronology and various addenda

The photographs are
remarkably well produced, as all
of them are in black and white.
(except a large section in the
Vishniac volume) The pages are
unitormly clean and the contrasts
come of! quite well. The choice of
photographs ior each volume
seems to be an amalgam oi the
photographer’s classic prints, a
generous selection oi those that
should be so considered and a
number of prints not previously
made public.

AS far as I can tell, their Choices
are thorough enough, but at times i
would have liked more pictures
and less of the accompanying text
oi reminiscences, The copious
collection of anecdotes Serves to
vivify the photographer, to make
the person on the other side at the
lens become real and emrge in our
sensibilities as a true Creative
artist,, yet I was consistently
bothered by the peripheral and
repetitious nature oi many
remembrances. All in all, in a
photography book i expected,
rather wanted, more photographs
and less chatter, The biographies

8&8

lounded lan

OSIy

could have been easily dispensed
with in a couple of pages, sup-
plemented by the helpful
chronologies at the end of the
volumes, and the anecdotes on
times and places could have been
reduced to two- or threeeline
captions,

That is not to say that I am
dissatisfied with these books. In
fact, i think they are an admirable
contribution to their field. I hope
that future additions to the series
will be less verbose and more
Visual.

While I recommend these books
to the person sincerely (or even
tangentially) interested in the art
oi photography, especially the two
volumes cited below, there is one
very obvious deterrent‘ the price.
Most of us are all too well
aqualnted with the price ot books in
general, and specialty books in
particular. l imagine that great
costs are encountered in any book
of reproductions, especially one
which purports to do them well.
Nonetheless, these paperbacks are
a bittoo expensive for my taste.
They are slightly oversized (about
3" X 6V2”), but I do not think of
dimensions so great that these
prices are justified. Ironically, my
two favorite volumes are the two
most expensive ones, with the
series range currently being irom
$5.95 . $7.95.

Now the two positive points: the
volumes on Robert Capa and
Roman Vishniac. The Capa
collection is a thorough tribute to
one of the great masters of the
camera, The reproductions are
excellent, and the choice quite
exhaustive, A special treat is
reinclusion of his first published
photo: Trotsky in Copenhagen in
1931, All of his photos are classics
and most of them are here.

The Roman Vishniac volume
diiiers greatly irom the rest in that
is is not primarily the record of a
photojournalist. A good portion oi
the book is devoted to his Iamous
photomicrography, here
reproduced in excellent color,
while the remainder are Irom his
heartrrending collection of Polish
Jews, most. taken at the outset of
WWII. The contrasts are exciting
and each individual photograph is
a masterpiece.

So you now ask (or maybe not),
“Should I buy any of these?” For
content, execution and
reproduction, 1 would have to say
yes. For chitchat and the high
price, I would say no. it you have a
Chance, look at the books; they're
good. As to taking them home,
that, in the end, is up to you.

oti‘lctal student newspaper ot Grinnell college

published weekly except during holidays and vacation
periods by Grinnell College, Committee on Publicity and

Radio, Grinnell, Ia. 50ll2,

Editor
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peeourznsiiom Arcoberg,
shelly elair, Dave Bremen, Mike
Brayndick, Bess Eronstein, Mary
Brown. Matt Cohen, Al Cubhage,
Tim DeCoster, Anne Deminolt, aob
Handler, Patty Hero, Tom
Kirriakos, t-(ette LukK, Mark Maven
lean Millidsn, Tom Famed. Janet
Pope, Fatty Rose, Doug schullx

Erenl Schondelrnever
Elaine Carey

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Richard cleaver

Ruth aisdcn
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spears lEPOlTERS—Rl‘ch
Arnold, Russ bamtotl, Katy bully,
Rick Nightingale, nave Schechter,
Eva Hierschbiel,

PHoToGRAPHERseMichaeI
Gelborl. craid l-(obbs, Nancy Jones,
David Nordstrom, Rob Tow, James
White, John Wylie

second class postage paid at Grinnell, Ia, 50m
subscription saso per year
wilh Poweshiek 55 so

It’s a fresh Wld

by Jeffrey Miller

Aiter reading ‘The Sharing oi Grinnell’ and other
such selirlaudatory tomes, one gets the impression
that coming to Good Old GrinCo is roughly
equivalent to discovering that the Big Bartender up
there does indeed serve beer in heaven. or course,
after being here ior a While, one comes to the
realization that the beer being served is Buckhorn
(I would say Texas Pride; however, that involves
the concept oi heaven in a logical framework based
on the premise that the Pope is a Buddhist), All too
often, people have discussed the shortcomings oi
Grinnelleat least in the terms oi the Grinnell Social
Experience and Lack Thereof. However, the
Academic Shortcomings oi Grinnell are aiten
overlooked. Let’s (ace the musicethis place is
pretty good academically, but, yes, Virginia, there
are indeed bad profs and bad classes—and even the
good profs and good courses have their on days, So
we present part one oi our Guide to Overcome
Academic Troubles (GOAT) to enable you, the
student, to make these problems a bit lighter and to
make your academic experience here more in-
teresting and enjoyable.

One major problem is that classes are irequently
boring, Prois, too. Take my chemistry profrplease.
But seriously, this problem happens in the best oi
classes and in the worst of classes, in the winter oi
our iirst semester and the spring oi oursecond. it is
more usual, though, in discussion classes than in
good lecture courses. All too irequently, students
and laculty will begin a discussion on the Chinese
Cultural Revolution and end up discussing the role
oatmeal played in the Boxer Rebellion, Unr
necessary and sleepinducing. When this state oi
ennui crops up in a discussion course, just iollow
these simple instructions: Start coughing. Louder,
now. After some thirty seconds of this, clutch your
throat and wheeze, gasping out the words: 1—
can’t—Breathe.’ Now, iall to the iioor, making sure
that your lace is purple, Kcep gasping out words.
Suggested words: ‘Mother', diphtheria, ‘vaccine
(or serum)‘, ‘God’, “logical positivism. By now, the
class should come to your aid (ii they don't, change
your mouthwash at the iirst opportunity). Ease up
now. Let your breath gradually return; meanwhile,
continually assure your classmates that you'll be all
right. Slowly get up and resume your seat By this
time, all involved will have iorgotten that the class
was discussing Moliere's toilet habits and you can
lead them on to bigger and better things.

Another cause oi overly boring classes is the dry,
bland lecture style oi some profs. But you, the
reader, can now remedy that. As that proi digs into
the cell structure oi tapeworms and as the rest oi
the class begins to nod into alpha state, you can
revive their spirits and add some zest to the course

through the use of a simple technique called the
Pardo Eiiect. Follow these steps: Wait until the end
oi an Obviously important Sentence in the lecture
(Example: ‘And so we see that although many
people still malign the poor tapeworm, it actually is
very beneﬁcial to mankind') At this point, leap out
oi your chair (knocking it over ior the tull eiiect),
ilail your arms madly, Jump up and down, and
scream “JACKPOT!!!” Bounce around ior a few
seconds more and then resume your seat. This is
guaranteed to knock the socks oii your proi and
wake up those lazy slugrarbeds in the class But
should you stop now? li you think not, enlist the aid
of a male iriend for the Olson Syndrome. instruct
your iriend that while you are performing the steps
listed (or the Pardo Eilect, he should: Wait until
you yell ‘Jackpot’ and then calmly stand up. When
you sit down. he should, in a voice approaching that
oi Genghis Khan summoning the Mongol hordes,
shout: “Jasper Willoughby oi iiamden, Cone
necticut—COME 0N DOWNE‘, You’re the next
contestant on the New tinsert name of course
here)." This is certain to provide enjoyment for you
and all your classmates and add some zip and zing
to your course. Warning: your proimay not like this
and will look at you as it you are either an
Episcopalian or a devotee of jamoca almond iudge
underwear. Make sure that you and your prof are at
least on speaking terms before you do this.

Finally, we all have prois that we just don't like,
ior whatever reason—arrogance, dullness,
stupidity, poor taste in clothes, etc. To put such a
proi in his place, follow these easy steps: Bring a
box oi Post GraperNuts to class and occasionally
munch on them during class. Your proi will become
annoyed and will condescendingly ask you to wait
until class is over to eat~a request you obey. When
class is dismissed, fill your mouth with Grape-Nuts
and sidle up to your prof. While still chewing your
Nuts, turn to him or her and say: “Really crunchy.
Euell." Aside irom the damaging psychological
eiiect you have delivered to your proi by comparing
him or her to Euell Gibbons, you have also managed
to cover his or her clothes with a coat of icky, mushy
cereal thatwill take at least three turns through the
local Robe-Wash to remove. (it will also create the
interesting illusion that your mouth is the source oi
the Leonid meteor shower ) After you do this, leave
the classroom and immediately transfer to Belnit.

This concludes the iirst installment oi the Guide
to Overcome Academic Troubles (GOAT). In the
next and final installment, we shall discuss Lec-
tures and Courses You Should Avoid, Lines Not to
Use when Your Prof Discovers You Haven’t Done
the Assigned Work, and Neat Things to Do to 0b
noxious Classmates.

 

ctr?“ a.

931’
byl.C.Woods

Who says man Cannot live in a vacuum? What
sane man would not agree that a man denied any
acknowledgement of his existence from his peers,
subordinates and superiors ceases to exist, that a
man whose being is ignored by the universe is dead.
We, in our individual hermetically sealed bodies,
cauterized, as it were, irom the rest of the world,
must force the universe to notice us. We exist by
universal consensus. When Descartes promulgated
Cogito ergo sum he could not have honestly meant
it. None of us exist from the inside out, but rather
irom the outside in.

I doubt that there are many on this campus who
have not walked out of a class reeling. Almost
totally leveled by the degree some hot dog went an
out to prove the superiority of his intellect. Logic,
aggressiveness, semantic perversity and all
analytical power that is conceded Donald Duck
combine to make this paragon. He is intellectualism
with a hard on, (This article he uses as a sabre, to
disarm and maim.) 0n diverse occasions this
character is correct in his assumptions, but on most
occasions he merely resorts to superior bluster.
This character is an archetype. That is, he exists in
all Grinnell students (myself to an especial degree),
This in itself is excellent. Academia, without
agressive students, would be twice as unbearably
boring as it is, but for an unbelievable number of
students the line between afterclass behavior and
in-class combat becomes iuzzy and in some cases
non—existent. in these cases the combative nature
becomes exhausted. in the classroom they play the
game to an auditor, the professor. Outside, there is
not a particular auditor, but an unbelieving world
that must be taught the gospel. This is complicated
by what h pp ’ ople with

T l l

mutually exclusive needs lock-horns in combat. The
devil's to pay and usually he is, in blood or balls. but
always in a sort oi specie that is disproportionately
high. Simple tact: When one competes, one must not
get to know the enemy too well, {or such is to tempt
guilt. Further when one competes, the enemy must
not know you too well for each grain of Knowledge
you release is potentially a missile which will ﬁnd
its way back home. To facilitate this, you keep
careiul guard on your every work and act, you are
careful to keep your guard up at all times, you avoid
close friendship like plague (and lovers are friends
s), and you use conversation to your own ends,
changing it from healuiy intercourse to a game of
semantic backgammon where wit, cunning, luck,
ruthlessness and aptitude for cheating number as '
Virtues.

In recent years I have become rather notorious _
for columns on a subject which it seems there is
greater diiiidence than i ever expected. That is Se ,
Sex is an interesting avenue. It entertains the writer '
by allowing his imagination free reign in search for
puns, blue jokes, games and pranks, iurther, th -
reader is entertained by the said devices. But the
subject oi sex never, it seems, is equated with the
simple fact that sex is more than a physiological
reaction to a given stimulus, but that it is, first and
foremost, an act of assertion, It is (if taken in the
manner I perceive correct) the act of attempting
to end your singleness. reach out and join another
mind, spirit and body ior a time.

Can man live in a vacuum. No! For the Conic
munity oi his fellows is air 0 him, As things are,
most oi us spend half our ti 6 befouling the air we
must breathe to survive. This air pollution is more
important than any other, especially in the rarified

t osph re oi Grinnell Sapieutes lntellant.

 

