PAGE 5 THE GRINNELL SCARLET 5: BLACK MARCH 8, 1974

Vamp

by J. c. Woods
Friday, I really got drunk. I was
tired and bitter and on my way
back from John Wylie’s door, wh—
. job now bore my own communique
(my resignation as an see column-
ist) when a dude came striding up
, to me with his hand out-stretched
and a grin smeared on his ears.
He strode up to me, repeating,
“Damned good column you wrote
this week.” He continued march-
ing on me this way until his fin»
gers began to infringe upon the ter—
ritorial integrity of my jacket. He
finally stopped and realized that I
was not about to shake his hand.
If I had removed the tightly clr
enched fists from my pockets, I
would not have used them to shake
hands. “I just wanted to tell you
that was a great editorial.” I just
stared at him balefully, said thanks,
and walked off.
This episode, among others, far
too many others, has managed to
‘ do what I thought was impossible,
that is, lower my opinion of Grin»
nell. Some real dummies even got
around to complimenting me on how
coherent it was. What good is co-
herence when it doesn't get your
point over?
Perhaps my purpose was too gr—
eatly 'understated, or maybe my
logic was too subtle for the level
of this campus’s intellect, but I
must have in some way failed as
a writer, for only two people out
of all those on this campus reac»
ted to the column as I felt they
should have.
In one paragraph I describe the
whole institutional mess we have

t
by Mara Porper, Marc Geller and
Bill Burke

, ”The time has come to turn
Watergate over to the courts,
where the questions of guilt or
innocence belong, The time has
come for the rest of us to get
on with the urgent business of
our nation“

- Richard Nixon (August is, 1973)
The questions of. guilt orinnocence
no belong in the courts, as theindict-

ents of seven Nixon tax—aides and
ssociates last week made clear.
owever, the question of Mr. Ni»
on’s involvement in Watergate and
tther White House scandels cannot
re decided in the courts. There is
nly one way to determine if the
resident is guilty of wrongdoing,
nd that is through the constitu»
ional process of impeachment.
Every day, as —

ore of the facts thngM .
ecome known to PEWE$PEtlFUWE

e public, calls

.r impeachment —

row louder. A retlection or this

nce, held last weekend in Chicago.
he Grinnell Campaign to impeach
ixon sent three representatives to
is meeting - Mara Porper, Mir»
m Bernstein, and Marc Geller. The
tee day conference was sponsored
, the National Campaign tolmpeach
ixon, a Washington Dc. basedorg-
ization, headed by Kitty Tucker'
d Ted Click, a former Grinnell
udent.
he purpose of the meeting was
coordinate the activities of the
rious local pro-impeachmentgr»
ps. Organizations from all over
e country were represented, mak-
- up a total of about two hundred
ople. In all, twenty»five states

PIRG Emplies

rinnell’s studenB andtaculty Ma-
] used up every printed post
rd and every six cent stamp the
I'nnell Post Office had in stock
ing a write~in campaign sup-
l ing a bill to reduce litter in
a.
PIRG spokesperson Kathy Kra~
r said 430 post cards were ma-
d to State Senator Joan Orr (D-
innell) and State Representative
il Husak (D-Toledo). ISPIRG and
zy House were joint sponsors
he event.
e cards urged the two lawma»
s to support a hill to ban the

here as “self»Serving bureaucra-
cies." If I define that word as
administration I hope you will be»
gin to understand what I mean.
The bureaucracy simply doesn’t
Work for students, Black or White.
It was built by the haves for the
have-nets in a literal lrenzy olcon»
descension. Yet you will notice that
more students want to help run th~
ese Kiddie»car bureaucracies.

Four candidates for SGA presi~
dent and half the campus on EPC’s,
everything all designed to please
student egos without granting too
much authority. Yet you people di-
dn’t catch that. You didn’t underst»
and that. What I am trying to say
is that when I listed the means of
protest, both conventional and rad-
ical, that had failed Black students,
you didn’t realize that! the same
processes fail you.

_
ItiEld® tit

EMS
ll WW

 

 

The communications Department
hassle last year proves my point.
Half the students on this campus
squeezed into ARH Auditorium for
a faculty meeting in order to dis»

were represented Politically, the
conference was heterogeneous to say
the least. The spectrum ranged fr-
om a Republican women's group to
several Yippies. All, however, were
united in their efforts to find eff»
ective ways of persuading Congress
that impeachment is a viable and
necessary political action,

National and regional activities
were mapped out. The conference
announced plans lor three mass,
pro-impeachment demonstrations ».
in Washington DC Chicago, and an
as yet undetermined city on the west
Coast. Each of the three rallies
is to take place on the same day,
April 27. During the three days
prior to the demonstrations, lob»
bying efforts will be carried out in
Washington. Organizers are hopelul
that people from many States will
assemble in the capital to speak
with Congresspersons on the im—
portance and urgency oi impeach»
merit. More information for those
interested in participating in any
ofgthese events will be iorihcoming
in the near future.

Local activities were also discus—
sed, Manygroups are using the
relationship between Nixon and the
oil industry ($5 million in illegal
campaign contributions for 1972) to
connect impeachment with the en-
ergy crisis (Impeach Nixxonl). 0t-
hers are conducting events such as
People's Impeachment Trials,

In addition to informational hall
meetings set for next week, the Gr»
innell Campaign to ImpeachNixonis
planning an Iowa Impeach-in, to be
held on the GrinnellCampus in early
April. Contacts are being estab»
lished with lowaorganizaiionsinter-
ested in impeachment.Theseinclude
the AFL-CIO, Iowa Civil Liberties
Union, the UAW, farmers' organiza»

PostL Office

use of disposable beverage contnm»
ers in Iowa.

Modeled alter a two—year old Or—
egon measure, the bill would re»
quire that all beverages sold in
Iowa after a specified date must be
packaged in returnable containers.
, Backers say the measure would
reduce pollution in the state, con-
serve natural resources, and site
minate 75 per cent of the trash
which now lines Iowa’s roads and
highways.

lSPlRG had backed similar write»
in projects in Iowa city, Waverly,
Des Moines, and Ames.

In llllIlllllll|lllllIll|||l||lllll|llllll||llllll||llllllll|llllllllllll|Illllll|lllllllllllllll|Illllll|llllllllllllllllllll|Illllll|lllllll|llllllll|llllllllllllllllllillllll

play support for the now defunct
communications department. It is
now defunct because half the stu—
dents don'l mean a damned thing
to the faculty and trustees who bus-
ily ignored them.

This campus is not going anywhere
until White students begin to realize
that they have just as much power
in campus affairs that affect them
as Black students do. That is-, they
have none at all. This campus is
going nowhere until the people on
this campus with pink skins realize
they are just as much niggers ar—
ound here as everybody else.

Now, you are not ordinary nigg»
ers. At the moment, you are nig»
gers of the worst stripe possible,
you are niggers of the mind. Al»
though you are not totally satisfied
by the way things have a tendency
to run against you and are in no
way capable of changing them, you
don’t seem to care.

"Youse is gwine to go ta hebben
when you graduate." Well, hear
this. If you liked my column, you
must like hearing someone tell you
how fucked over you are Those of
you who enjoyed that column are
not only being fucked over, but are
already fucked up.

u i s

I think Mr. Youngberg's letter to
be politically lnexpedient, sloppily
written, inane, and, considerinng.
Youngherg‘s grammar, Mr. Legg-
ett (an old English Prof) will have
no trouble laughing it away. Butthat
doesn’t mean Mr, Youngbergdoesn't
make valid points, nor does it mean
I don't agree with his goals. Think
about it.

mpeachmeni Gains Momentum

tions, and student groups. While the
Impeach»ln is still in the planning
stages, efforts are being made to
bring local as well as nationally
known figures to the campus.

At the Chicago conference, it was
Stressed that the volume of mail
reaching Congress concerning im»
peachment has been heavy and has
had a significant etfect upon the
members’ opinions. Repeated let-
ter writing to Congresspersons re-
garding this issue was strongly en-
couraged. It was also suggested that
people write to members of Con- ,
gress urging adoption of bill HR.
802, which would authorizetelevised
coverage of impeachment proceed»
ings in the House.

All in all, recent events regarding
impeachment have been encour—
aging, With plans developingrapidiy
on both the local and national sc-
enes, one can only hopethatRichard
Nixon will, in the not too distant
luture be tried by the senate, sit—
ting 85 the “Presidential Court.”
This is the place where Watergate'
has belonged all along » much like
Nixon himseLf told us last summer.

 

by Bruce Green

Music Editor
Recently, some friends of mine
and l were gathered around the
piano in Cowles lounge fooling ar»

people present asked the piano pl-
ayer if he ever just tried to hit
every key on the piano atonce and
to improvise along that line hitting
anything that came to mind.

Another person said people do
often, and they call it avant garde
jazz, As one who is involved in the
avant garde jazz held, I resented
the comment until I thought about
it, and realized that there was
more than a grain of truth in it
Avant garde jazz has a tendency
to sound like that when some play-
ers play it.

The greatest of them, Herbie Han-
cock, Weather Reportand John Col-
trane do not, and the reason that
they do not is that they temper the
wild rush of notes With some mu—
sical sense and judgement. But un-
fortunately, there are too many
people who just go along hiding
any note that comes to mind, and
calling it improvisation. And the
biggest problem with this is that
people are all too ready to believe
it.

All of which brings me to the Sub-
ject of this review, Joe Henderson,
a sail player of the John Coltrane
school. Henderson’s latest album,
“Multiple,” (Milestone M-soso), is
an avant garde release in the tra»
dition of BlackByrd,the recentDon»
ald Byrdbestseller. There is singing
by Henderson, overdubbed sax play—
ing, and a lot of notes, There is,
however, as far as I can tell, not
a sufficient quantity of muscial sen—
se along with the multiples of no»
tes to warrant the hue and cry of
his followers, like Leonard Feather,
who said ”(He is) one of the most
imaginative tenor saxophonists.
and a composer of exceptional abi
ity. " reather is usually a potentob-
server of the field, butin this instan»
ce I think he is a little off in his
appraisal.

Henderson is the author of three
of the five tracks on the album,
(Tress»Cun»Deo-La, Song for Sin-
ners, and Me, Among Others), none
of which is either particularly in»
teresting. The structures are all
free form, and though some free-
form pieces by some people are
very good, this one is very stale,
and not particularly invigorating.

Compositio‘nally, the best track
on the album was written by the ex»
cellent drummer on the date, Jack
de Johnette, and was more inter-
esting in‘terms of solo material
than any other track. Theother
personal, Larry Willis on piano,
ring modulator, and echoplex,David

Holland on electric and acoustic

 

AvaniGarde Jazz:
What Is It?

ound and singing, and one of the.

—l

bass, and Arthur Jenkins on conga,
and percussion, along with guitar»
ists James Ulmar andJohnThomas,
contributed little to the albums
solos, and generally stayed out ot
Henderson's way, which may have
been a mistake.

Although Henderson is a good sax
man, he is not the greatest in the
world by any stretch of the word,
and just doesn’t come up to what
might be expected on a record
by a child of ‘Trane. It just does-
n't make it at all. The only other
composition on the album, “Turned
Around” by David Holland, is good,
but,again isn’t quite good enough.
Basically, the whole album is just
pleasing jazz in the modern vane
of structureless structure, but a
masterpiece of tenor sax it isn't.
All of this is not meant to detract
from the value of the album, which
is pleasing relaxation and sensory
feeling, without logic. One of the
major problems of the record is
that Henderson, by removing the
structures of the piece, has a very
great tendency to lose structure in
his solos, and to improvise along
in a piece without coming to any
real conclusion. This is not true of
all avant-garders, but is very hard
to avoid in any structure-less pie-
ce. Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis,
and Herbie Hancock, are perhaps
the best at reducing structure with»
out reducing content. Joe Hender-
son comes close, but justcan’tmake
it. i
The nice thing about the album is
its pleasing relaxationandits swing.
For, although Henderson may notbe
as logical in his solo construction
as he might be, he certainiyswings,
and is easy to dance to, without
losing yourself. Allin all, no clas—
sic, but a nice album.

Campus Music News»»At 4:15 to»
day in Herrick Chapel, bass vo»
calist Richard Cleaver (who some
may remember as the Lord Chan»
celior in lolanthe last semester)
will give a recital. Should be very
good. Tomorrow two events worth
noting, The Grinnell Collegeorches»
tra will perform in the ARH audi-
torium, and, in Quad, there will
be a party featuring a Gay Nine—
ties-Blue Grass Sing—along. Sun-
day night. there is a concert by
the Manhattan String Quartet, sim-
ply called “Black Angels.”

Also, coming up tonight is the
KDIC auction to help raise money
for various worthy KDIC causes,
like a new library, or to help Dale
Scherler's starving roommates; so
let’s go out and bid on those white
elephants - who knows - maybe,
with the energy shortage, you’ll
be able to get one to ride.

KEEP SWINGING
FATMAN

 

 

Urban Studies: A

by Mitch Milner

Last semester I said goodbye to
my typewriter, my coffee urn, and
most especially, Hurling Library
and set out for Chicago to parti-
cipate in the ACM Urban Studies
Program. The opportunity of liv-
ing, working and studying within
Chicago is probably one of the most
neglected education options open
to Grinnell students.

For the first time in my educa-
tional career, I had the opportun—
ity to Study first-hand the great
Outside world that I usually see
at Grinnell from the inside of a
book Two Viscious leaders’of the
Black P. Stone Nation (Lt Chicago
street gang) were lransiormed into
ordinary people who were simply
trying to make it in society. Sup»
port of the lettuce baycott turned
into a pleasant evening spent with
striking farmworkers‘who kept us
laughing with stories about the st»
rlke

Chicago offers opportunities that
aren’t available in crinneii Myfree
time in the city was spent at the
Art Institute, attendence at base»
ball games, iootball games, mov-
ies, theatre or at the neighbor»
hood bar. where blue musicians ga»
thered every Friday night.

Each day in Chicago was anadven»

ture. My daily experience taughtme
how to cope with pan-handlers, use
the Chicago subway system, and wh-
ere to go to have a good time. Ch-
icago's many faceless institutions
became real for me after visiting
them and talking with officials. Our
field trips took us to Welfare off-
ices, Cook County Jail, criminal
court, the Board ofTrade,architec»
turai firms, city planning offices
and the First National Bank build-
ing,

Studies in the program included a
look at the left»outs of Chicago;
the nameless people who abound on
the city streets. A destitute who
became, one afternoon, an insight»

ISPIRG Plans C

Grinnell's chapter of the Iowa Stli»
dent Public InterestResearchGroup
(ISPIRG) is recruiting students to
serve as a “correspondence comm»
ittee" to write letters to state law»
makers about key issues.

Each volunteer will receive pre-
addressed, stamped envelopes for
each legislator they are asked to
write, in addition to background
information on the issue, Kramer
said,

Way Out

ful philosopher who observed, “It
isn't the last drink that gets you
drunk, it's the first.”

If you dare to leave the comfort
and tranquility of Grinnell for the
exciting, dynamic life of the city,
then the Urban studies Program
is worth considering. Representa-
tives from the ACM program will
be on campus Tuesday, March IZ to
talk with students interested in the
program for the Fall of 1974. They
will meet with students in the call»
cus room of Carnegie Hall at 4pm.
on that day, Any students wishing
to have hppomtments with these re-
presentatives should call Prof. A.
Jones, ext 338.

ommiHee

ISPIRG members also plan to in»
Vite members of the, Poweshiek
Association for Conservation and
Ecology (PACE), the Grinnell Lea-
gue of Women Voters, and theGrin-
nell Chapter of the Iowa Women's
Political Caucus (IWPC) to take
par_t in the project.

Students interested in taking part
in the project should fill out the
form to be found in Tuesday’s ed»
ition of Campus Memo.

 

