December 4, 1970

THE SCAR LET AND BLACK

Multi-faceted Poet Presents Work

by Merry Wiesner

"Know your blaclmess", the
title of one ofCaroly-n M. Rod-
gers' poems, seems to be the
theme of most of her poetry,
which she read at a meeting
on Wednesday. Though laced
with violence and bitterly ana
ti-white, her works let humor
and love shine through.

Her poetry deals mainlywith
her relationships with other
people - her mother, friends,
relatives, and blacks in gen
eral. The audience of about
15!) responded most favorably
to her two love poems, as the
whiteness of its skin left a
rather uneasy feeling after
some of her works.

Miss Rodgers played some
interesting adaptations of her
poetry backed by music, with
a Trinidadian steel drum, an
elephant tusk flute, and an
African chant lending unusual
color to her works.

She read mainly from her two
volumes of poetry, Paper Soul
and Songs of a Blackbird:
(from “I Have Been Asked to
Write A Poem on Vietnam")

"No black man or Negro sh-
ould fight the honkies war
“Cause every time we kill a
Vietnamese
We widen the crack in our own
asses
For the honky to kick his foot
through."

(about a black cop living near
her)

"Some fairy threw tar over

him
And he has been trying ever

since
To find something to presto
black- of "

Besides her two volumes of
poetry, Miss Rodgers has
published Two Love Raps, a
foldover, and has several
works in progress, one ofwh-
ich is a book on black literary

Haas Counsels Diverse Areas:
Draft, Crisis Center, Marriage

by Marilyn McK enno

How does Dennis Haas, col-
lege chaplain at Grinnell, View
his role here7 In no way con-
fining himself to the role of
religious counselor alone. he
acts to meet student needs in
many diversified counseling
areas, as well as in the cap-
acities of chaplain and teach-
er.

As a counselor, Haasiswill-
ing to discuss problems peo-
ple are facing, whether rela-
ted to religion or not. He ex
pressed concern over the pos-
sibility that some people might
feel that they must be ortho'
doxly religious in order to
talk to him and stressed that
this, of course, was not the
case. As well as general cou-
nseling, Haas is involved in
many specific counseling
areas.

As a member of the Iowa
Clergy Consultation Service,
Haas is qualified to counsel
persons concerning problems
of pregnancy, adoption, and
abortion. The aim of the ser-
vice is to provide the person
involved with all the accurate
information necessary to fa ci-
litate the wisest possible chr
oice in light of the situation
and the problem. While the

counselor gives conscientious
guidance, he will not make
the decisions for the coun-
selee. He will try to assist
the person in applying his or
her own ethical- religious con-
victions and beliefs with hu-
mane responsibility.

Having been involved in draft
counseling foriseveral years,
Haas now works in conjunction
with the newlycformed Grin-
nell Draft Information Cen-
ter. concentrating on quest-
ions concerning conscientious
objection. Marriage counsel-
ing and vocational counseling
for those considering a reli-
giously- orientated occupation
are two other counseling are
eas in which Haas is active.‘

Considering group counsel-
ing to be an effective means
of help in specific situations,
Haas acts as a resource per-
son to a variety of groups:
the inter-personal relation-
ship groups, the Revolving
Door staff, groups on worship
and others.

It would seem that the chap-
lain, like many others in the
counseling program at Grin-
nell, is an individual capable
of dealing with a variety of
student needs with the empha-
sis on each person asa unique
individual.

Dennis Haas performs a protean role as a counselor
with various campus agencies.

(Photo by Marty Sachs)

criticism. She has been pub-
lishEd in ”Black World" (for-
merly "Negro Digest"),

“Journal of Black Poetry",
"Milwaukee Courier", ”Na-
tion", jump Bad Anthology,
We Speak as Liberators, Bl-
ack Qitloud, New Negro Voi-
ces, and others. She current-
ly reviews books for “Black
World" and "Nation".

She was winner of the first
Conrad Kent Rivers writing
Award in 1968, and this year
won the Poet Laureate Aw-
ard of the Society of Midland
Authors and received a nat-
ional endowment of the Hum-
anities and Arts Award.

She is a founding member of
the Organization ofBlack Am-
erican Culture and the Gwen-
dolyn Brooks Writers Work-
shop. She has mught Black Li-
terature at Columbia College
and the University of Wash
ington and has conducted var-
ious seminars on her essays
concerning the criticism of
Black Literature at campuses
including Knox, Oberlin and
Grinnell.

w , .
Ro gers

~ Carolyn .

it

generates a feeling of both love

and hatred through her poetry and personal interpre-

tations.

(Photo by Marty Sachs)

Jag Culprits Reveal Names

Dear Sir,

In regard to your jag contest
. . . we wish to reporta fait
accompli jag. Ask anyone at
Conference House or anything
else near there about the mys-
terious laughter Mondaymor-
ning, Nov. 23 (starting at 2
AM).

Otis evening Bob and Dave
were talking about jags, and
the Goodnow Tower speakers
Elma up as a prime target.
But how to get to them . . . and
what to do once we found them.
After contemplating broad-
mating Hendrix, Firesigu
Theatre, and The Mothers,we
decided that nothing couldbe
funnier than laughter. Andwho
has a more obnoxious laugh
than Tiny Tim? Unfortunately
Tim's laugh (the recorded
version) lasts only 20 seconds.
The only solution was to play
it over and over 150 times or
so on tape.

Sooooo . . . . .having decided
upon the ultimately absurd
jag, we had to tackle the prob-
lem of how to pull it off.

A short talk with an unsus-
pecting psychology professor
revealed that the controls for
the speakers were in the cha—
pel. The problem wasnow how
to get to the controls in the
dead of night. After slyly tam»
pering with the lock on one of
the seldom used (and seldom
unlocked) doors to the chapel,

we managed to get in at i am.

Having recruited Paul, an
electronics freak, to figure
out the technical Fringe, the
engineering became but a tri-
fle. We exposed the master
controls and avoided tamper-
ing with the lock (so not to
damage equipment as we have
implicit respect for all col-
lege property). Paul connected
the tape-recorder output to
the phonograph input of the
controls while Bob worked on
a lock making access to the
control room impossible by
any but the three idiots invol‘
ved. This was done by putting
a metal strap on the door and
securing it with our ownhard-
ened steel look. In the mean-
time, Dave, through a series
of barricades made the out»
side entrance to the room
impassible, thus totally seal-
ing the room. After numerous
teats and failures we got the
rapes going through the speak‘
ers (a five minute delay was
on the tape to give us time to
get away).

The volume was up so high
that our own testsounds (some
rather soft recorded feedback)
sounded like a train whistle
coming at us (nooooo shitllll).
Unfortunately, only minutes
after the laughing, which folv
lowed a Procol Harum song
to wake up by and a goodmor-
ning wish from Dave and Bob.

a fuse blew. We laid low for a
few minutes only to return to
trace the problem. After an
expedition to get new fuses,
we started again, this time
only at half volume so not to
destroy our new, lower amp-
erage fuses.

First to arrive on the scene,
cursing vociferously, was
Steve Mannheimer. He shin-
nied up the fire escape, in
search of the source of the
hilarious laughter coming
from the speakers, only to
find all the doors to the tower
locked, as the operation was
controlled from afar. After
several other onlookers gath-
ered, and a member of the
local constabulary arrived on
the scene, a EStG man, aim-
lessly walking about campus,
let the excited mob into Good-
now, and then to the tower
above. Bob and Dave stayed
on the scene under the guise
of innocent bystanders, egg~
ing on the group to lynching
the perpetrators of this foul
deed. (Paul had returned to
his room to study his Phy-
sics).

To the collective dismay of
the group that had entered
Goodnow, nothing was to be
found in the tower but cob-
webs, squeaky doors and ob-
noxious laughter. In a flash

(continued to page 12)

Freaks Moot To Plan Experimental College;
Hope To Expand Indopondont Proiett Program

by Bill Knecht

Henry Scheff, Toni Brand-
mill, and a couple of dozen
other hippie wierdo freaks
met Monday night promptly at
a few minutes after 9:00 to
formulate another assault on
our cherished Grinnell way of
life.

In spite of the Free Univer-
sity fiasco v Grinnell’sans-
war to the Tet offensive ~- the
freak contingent agin dis-
played its remarkable cap'
acity to bounce back. Having
learned a bitter lesson about
educational motivation, the
stalwarts sought refuge in the
teachings of the Chairman,
who once remarkedsomething
about flies and honey as op-
posed to files and vinegar.
Clad anew in the armor of
righteousness, they forged the
bright and shining concept of
the Experimental College.

Monday's meeting was the
first in a hopeful series de-
signed to draw support for
and to crystallize the concept
of what an Experimental Col<
lege is and what it is sup-
posed to accomplish.

Despite the chaff of speci-
ficity people seemed obsces-
sed with, a grain or two of
generality stood out thatnight.
It seems that ExCol repres-
ents an extension and refine-
ment of Grinnell's already—
existent independent-project
programs. These programs,
as they exist today, are lar-
gely one-student operations
which suffer from the lack of
progressive community spirit
and the limitations of single-
student capabilities for re‘
search. Apparently, this new
program is going to be an at
tempt to get the lead out ofthe
Grinnell Experience by re-

structuring the idea of the in-
dependent-project into some‘
thing alive and refreshing.
Although the talk is still in
the neonatal stage, ideas of
eight and twelve-credit pro-
jects were being kicked ar-
ound. This is a pretty heavy
concept and nothing like what
most of us are used to. Whe-
ther or not Grinnell kickers
can adapt to the kind of total-
involvement experience these
people are talking about is
what is running around now In
peoples“ minds. Considering
this year's atmosphere ofdis»
illusionrnent with educational
systems in general, the idea .
ought to get a lot of thought
by those of us who feel a little
turned off by the small-Mid-
western-liberaltarts-college
thing.

(continued to page 12)

 

