April 2, 1971

Don Bouwens (Photo by Barry Zigns)

THE SCARLET AND BLACK

Page 3

RA Don Bouwens Talks On Grinnell

by Debbie McKnight

Don and Kay Bouwens, RAs
in Langan and Smith, found the
job of being RAs at Grinnell
attractive because of its flexr
ability. “The only contracted
requirement," saidDon, ”was
to be available at all times to
counsel students."

The Bouwens earned BAs at
Kalamazoo College, Michigan
- he in philosophy and she in
German. Both studied in Ger
many, an experience Don call—
ed significant: "It broke down
parochial views for me." Kay
has nearly completedworkto-
Ward a master's in library
science. Her thesis dealswith
the position of women in that
field. Don has studied for two
years at Yale Divinity School
and will return there next
year.

"One of the things I‘ve learns
ed since coming to Grinnell is
how increasingly offrbase the

Don Jose’s Foreign Affairs Center

We began our serious invesr

by Don Miguel de la Manchu tigation by touring the capital

in order to determine the
relevance in a liberal arts
education of foreign travel,
three college students, one
from Grinnell, formed a re-
search team to investigate the
cultural ties maintained by
Mexico and the United States.
It was decided the best way to
approach the problem was to
conduct a personal investiga-
tion of the general populace
and discover through parti-
cipitory activity the emotions,
attitudes, and responses ofthe
proletariat to the inﬂuences
exerted by the United States.
Our research began on a hot
Saturday morning in the center
of‘Mexico City itself. We had
spent the previous night in a
small village outside the city
with one of my companion's
former AFS family. The resi-
dents of the rural area enjoy
having guests from foreign
lands; as a matter of fact,one
soon feels as if he’s been
adopted by the entire village.
Despite the fact that little
verbal communication oc-
curred, messages of friends
ship and warmth flowed easily
between the darkrskinned vil-
lagers and ourselves.

city in a taxi owned and oper*
ated by a man named Juan.
(In Mexico it seems everyone
is named Juan.) Juan was a
perfect example of how the
average urban Mexican felt
towards Americans (gringOs).
As long as Juan received his
pesos, Juan was happy. The
moment the pay ended, so did
Juan’s friendship. Inany case,
as we were sightseeing the
city, we were engaged in a
heavy conversation with Juan
about cultural links between
our two s0cieties. We QUESL’
ioned Juan further and asked
if he could possibly direct our
search towardachieving

depth ‘studyv of culturafinterv
actions in Mexico. Well, Juan
got the idea and proceeded to
take us to the best place to
get into cultural relationships.
Juan left us at the hacienda
about three miles outside of
Mexico City. We walked [0*
ward the great entranceway,
rang the door bell, and were
greeted by a single eye at a
peep hole in the door. “What
do you want?" our unseen
host asked in Spanish. We ex
plained our need for informa-
tion concerning the interaction

 

 

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of our cultures and the door
opened before us. We stepped
inside cautiously, admiring
the plush velvet carpet bee
neath our feet. On the walls
encompassing us were picr
tures of elderly statesmen of
Mexico (apparently some of
Don Jose's bestfriends). Each
was draped with a purple Curr
min, suggestive of a funeral
portrait. The windows were
draped in a similar manner
and an aura of silence filled
the room. We were met bya
fifty~five year old gentleman
with white hair, a dark com~
plexion, and a soft voice.

"Good afternoon gentlemen,"
he said in a Mexican accent,
“Welcome to Don Jose's. Con-
sider yourselve‘s at home and
feel at ease."

Don Jose led us to the next
room, which proved to be a
bar. Luckily, one of my com-
panions spoke some Spanish,
and was capable ofunder~
standing what was happening.
We soon discovered thatprior
to any cultural exchange, it
was necessary for the investi—
gator to “loosen the lips" of
the subject to be researched.
Don Jose informed us that
"loosening the lips" would
cost us a dollar a shot (of
tequilla) and one necessarily
had to buy two rounds, for
oneself and for his cultural
interest. (It is worth noting
at this point thattequilla costs
one dollar a quart bottle in
Mexico City.) Our research
team was now ready to begin.
A young maiden (7) with fair
blonde hair and dusky skin
approached us; we could see
that she wanted to express

(continued to page 6)

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institutional church is So
many RAs here are seminar-
ians, and there is a real stigma
attached to it. This year has
again made me seriously qu-
estion the validity of working
within the institutional church.

“I have become very enthu-
siastic about the possibilities
of personal counseling. 1 want
to pursue itatYale next year."
Kay has been involved in an
ad hoc way with several cam-
pus activities this year. Her
main job has been to serve as
a “stabilizing and relaxing
force in the dorm." Don re
cently started an informal
program which tries to serve
whatever needs participants
bring to it. Fourteen students
attend meeting which "may
look like a T group one week
and like a seminar on some
author another we k."

Kay was ill at the time ofthe
interview; the following are
further excerpts from Don's
comments:

"I've enjoyed this year, but
I think there are real gaps
between what the RA system
is and what it could be. There's
freedom to the point of auto
nomy, which is good until it
leaves out coordination be
tween student needs and the
resources to fill those needs.

”I think that few people here
- whether RAs, faculty, or
administration are really in
touch with student needs. Th-
ere is hope for improvement

next year if somebody can co-
ordinate RA services.

”Communication is poor be—
tween RAs and faculty and be-
tween RAsandadministration.
This lack work aginst any no-
tion of community which could
exist at this school.

There also seems tobe some
disapproval of RAs among the
faculty, which is reasonable
since they don't really know
what RAs are doing in the
dorms. "One of the most im»
portant things gained from
college is learning from liv-
ing with people. Something is
lost when students see dorms
only as some kind of apart-
ment house. Clearly people
cannot be pushcdintoanactive
dorm life, but the possibility
for one should exist. An RA
can help here.

“I guess the value of social
activities comes from thefact
that strangers find it harder
to focus on each other than on
some outside objectl Maybe
social activities A- or even
doing some kind of work to-
gether can serve as 3 begins
ning.

”Of course, academically
this is a high pressure sch-
ooll People have to put a lot of
time into their studies. This
limits time for social inter-
action, and may cause some'
people to be unsure about its
value; value which to me
seems very great."

Study Doubts Quality Of Acid

The following is a STASH
(Student Association for the
Study of Hallucinogens) re-
print, provided by the Revolr
ving Door. Any questions ab~
out Brand X acid Or other
drugs are welcome at the
Door, ext. 601 or 602.

An increasing number of re-
cent reports are providing
good reasons to seriously
doubt the quality of mosthall-
ucinogenic drugs being sold
on the street. investigators
at the Addiction Research Fo-
undation in Toronto found that
a vast number of samples
alleged to be LSD contained
”a large proportion ofimpur-
ities or did not contain LSD
at all." None of the 23 sampr
les that the research team
illicitly purchased under the
label of ”mescaline"actual*
ly contained mescaline. In
another study, Frances Cheek
and Stephens Newell collected
and analyzed 44 samples of
illicitly marketed hallucinogr
ens, samples which they be-
lieved to be representative of
what has been available in
east-coast urban and subur-
ban markets over the past 3
years. Cheek and Newell ba-
sically confirmed the findings
of the Toronto team, especials
ly with respect totheir obser-
vation that none ofthe samples
alleged to be mescaline or
psilocybin actually contained
either drug. A number of the
illicit “mesmline” samples
actually turned out to be STP
(chemically known as DOM or,

2, s A dimethoxy , 4- methyl-
amphetamine). Further, there
was a considerable variation
in doses among the actual
samples of LSD ranging from
as low as 50 meg. to as high
as 280 mcg.

It has long been noted that
many “street” samples of
hallucinogenic drugs Contairr
ed large amounts of amphete
amines (which are pharmacm
logically known to enhance
some of the effects of LSD
and other psychedelics). Au-
alyses of illicit LSD tablets
at the Haight-Ashbury Free
Clinic by Dri David Smith and
some spot checks at the Mil—
waukee Free Clinic by Dr.
Alan Reed have confirmed th-
ese observations.

However, a phenomenon wh-
ich has nOt been too widely
reported, but one which is
deserving of serious consid-
eration, is the increasing in
cidence of “atropine poison-
ing" among users of psyche-
delics. The use of preparat-
ions containing belladonna al-
kaloids for hallucinogenic ef-
fects was first reported by a
physician in San Francisco in
1963. Similar reports of lar»
ger numbers of casesappear-
ed in the medical literature
from Philadelphia and Fort
Worth in 1967. These reports
received some degree of at
tcntion, and the hallucinoge»
nic effects of Asthmador R
received some endorsement

(continued to page 6)

/—-—_—\

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