the
Rag & Bone Shop
university of north Carolina - asheville
may 1982
YOU ARE TOO EASY TO UPSET; you are too
easy to please; you don’t know what’s going
on; and you are too scared to do anything.
Few of you believe what you say.
To those of you sincere Christians whose
religious sensibilities were shook to their
foundations by the cover of last month’s
issue, we are heartily sorry. You are right in
thinking it is sacrilegious. But there is
another way of looking at it. To those of you
who perceived this and yet felt it was in poor
taste, we agree. Unfortunately, tasteful
things have an all-too-often way of passing
unnoticed. To all of you, thanks for the
The juxtaposition of two powerful symbols
which call attention to an apparent relation
ship but an obvious conflict is a literary
device called irony. If a serious subject is
treated in a literal way without the use of
literary device the commentary made by the
drawing of a crucified rabbit might be stated
as: commercialism of religious holidays is a
sin. Most everyone would have read it,
agreed, and bit off the head of a chocolate
bunny without further consideration.
The next issue of The Rag & Bone Shop
will be your last chance to participate in your
publication. It will be the annual edition and
prayers.
To the rest who were
stampeded into confiscating
magazines and circulating
petitions, we don’t know how
to thank you enough. You put
the name Rag & Bone Shop on
the lips of students who never
knew it existed. Students!
Hey, television coverage was
something we had only
dreamed of. Thousands of
people out there have The Rag
& Bone Shop connected to a
silly rabbit filed away under
gift shops. But that’s okay; a
few of them have it straight.
You done good. It’s a shame
now that The Rag & Bone Shop is so well
known that no one applied for the job of
editor next year.
Although making an item scarce enhances
its desirability there is something shady
about those tactics. Confiscating magazines
is like censorship. And since we have adver
tisers, it’s a lot like restriction of trade. We
haven’t checked it out thoroughly but we think
there’s a lot going on here with the first
amendment. Anyway, the attorney at Student
Press Law Center in D.C. said something
about criminal offense. But that’s only legal
stuff. What’s really disconcerting is what a
WWII veteran told us about having to go to
war partly because Hitler was into collecting
books and magazines too. Thanks for return
ing ours unmarred.
• • • •
we urge you to submit your
comments, observations, art,
poetry, fiction and
photographs on anything that
touched you at UNC-A in the
past year. In order to insure
that all seniors receive a copy
on May 14, submissions must
be in no later than May 1.
Seniors who want a sure
guarantee should leave a
name and address with us.
We’ve been known to miss
deadlines.
Next year, in spite of the
fact that there is no editor.
yet, we thought that whoever takes over
might want something to begin with.
Something practical like a catalog listing
students’ evaluations of teachers. UNC-A has
established a Distinguished Teacher Award,
which is great, but students need to know
who’s good, bad and not so distinguished. For
instance, Rackham is a good teacher, if
you’re a lit major. If you are not, don’t
burden yourself.
Rate your teachers’ performances A, B, C,
D, or F and send it to The Rag & Bone Shop,
UNC-A, Asheville, NC 28814-8467 along with
your reasons.
P.S. Copies of last month’s issue are
available in The Rag & Bone Shop office, on
the second floor of Lipinsky.