Smoke Signals, Friday, March 27, 1970—Page 2
Paper's duty is to print facts
“The purpose of the newspapers
of a free society is to print the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the
truth in a short concise manner."
Newswriting classes get the above
statement or one like it drummed into
their heads often, but how often does
a student get this from his school
paper?
On several occasions staff members
would be aproached and asked why a
certain incident was not reported. Or
another time someone would say, “You
didn’t have to put that in the paper,
did you?”
The incident of the master keys
is a good example. To my knowledge
little was said by the paper of the
facts concerning those students. I
doubt any student on campus at the
time could have given you the facts
of the matter. To this day some
students don't even know who got
“kicked out’’ or in truth if anyone did.
Rumors result and thrive on lack of
news. Without a true authority for
the foundation of truth there can’t be
any order in society. This is probably
why professional newspapermen look
upon their work with pride when they
say they are the “backbone of Amer
ica.”
With the news names, places and
events must be discussed. It is not
the duty of the newspaper to perse
cute anyone or anything no matter
what the popular opinion or even the
opinion of the editors. Likewise it is
not their duty to protect.
When names must be used it is the
duty of the reporter to print the
plain truth without opinions. It is the
duty of the reader to read the facts
and decide for himself. It is a fine
line.
Frank Granger
' T,he s'\ Kept Secre-I’
P
Time to get involved on campus
By JULIE HOSKINS
It’s nearing the end of another aca
demic year, so it’s time to elect new
officers to the Student Government
Association. But how can you elect
when there is no one to elect from.
Elect means “to select, pick out, or
choose,” which means you have to
have more than one prospective can
didate so you can choose. It can hard
ly be termed as an election if only
one person runs for each office. That
just means the person got the posi
tion because he was the only one to
vote for.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that
the candidate is not fully qualified or
competent, it just means that you’ve
had no one else to compare him to; no
one for him to compete with.
Students need to be involved in com
petition. Competition makes a person
work harder, to out do his competitors.
If you were the only candidate for an
office, you know you’d get it, so you
probably wouldn’t bother with a force
ful campaign. But if you had a com-
petitor whoHB oWIBipiHJiPWi?*’
I’m sure you wouldn’t sit around and
watch his campaign. You’d try to
match or out do his campaign with
your own.
This competition is everywhere
when there are students who care
enough to really want to hold an office.
Chowan needs a little competitive
motivation.
In many schools there are a few
leaders who hold offices in many
clubs. These students are responsible
workers. They apply themselves and
do what is expected of them in their
respective positions. But in many in
stances other students would not com
pete with the “big man on campus”
because everybody knows he’d win
Nobody will know your ideas until
you get up and tell them. Why not
compete for the office? You have just
as much to offer as anyone else.
If you can keep your grades up,
work for your position and carry out
its duties, you should consider running
for an office. Oh, but there is just one
niore thing-you haye^to haye enough
to care aWotrt this position
you’re filling!
'I
wi
NOW
I am fortunate to again have something
to put into print. The deadline got close and
I had nothing much to say and out of the
dark with the speed of light came my
favorite subject with this news flash. If
anyone is interested in buying a used deputy
badge at a real bargain, I can tell you where
one can be obtained, cheap-cheap-cheap.
Sorry officer, but that was too good to
turn down.
I have received a few inquisitive comments
concerning my last column and I will
take time now to answer my critics.
Many people have ask^ why I always
make a joke of the campus militia. Can
you show me anyone else who makes such
a perfect A .. (slip) target with such regular
ity? Thus far he is two for two and if the
game lasts long enough, he should get at
least one more bat.
I was also informed that ice is no longer
obtained in Thomas restaurant. I under
stand this used to be the usual procedure
until the price went up to 15 cents a cup.
I was told that the price is not the only
reason. It seems to be very difficult and
troublesome to get that little amount of
coke syrup out of the ice and we all know
STUOfNT NfWSPAfft Of CMOW4N CCXlfCf
Editor
Assriciate Editor
Bu.sincss Mananer
Pauline Robinson
Julie Hoskins
l-arry N. Matthews
Advi.sors
Herman (ialewiHKl Malcolm Jones
that coke syrup is bad for your parts,
it will rust your pipes or something like
that.
As a result of my last column, the North
Carolina Highway Department has inform
ed me that they do not plan to erect “Men
Working” or “Children At Play” signs along
the road by the baseball field. Instead, they
plan to put up a sign which reads “Slow-
Children at Play”. I can see their point,
after all. this is a Junior College.
Since my last deadline many interesting
things have happened in historic Murfrees
boro. Walter’s Grill has celebrated its twent
ieth anniversary of service to the people
of Murfreesboro. I feel that Walter should
be congratulated for this unbelievable ac
complishment. Can you imagine twenty
years without a waitress? With such out
standing accomplishments as this, it is
understandable why Murfreesboro is the
“cultural center of eastern North Carolina”.
Speaking of historic Murfreesboro, I noti
ced in the last edition of “Smoke Signals”
that Mr. James H. Gatling construct^ and
flew an airplane twenty years before the
Wright Brothers. This must mean that
he beat the Russians by at least five years.
I asked why this was such an unknown fact
and one old timer told me that the Chowan
Indians shot him down with antiaircraft
fire on his first flight. Got to give these
people credit, they really know how to keep
a secret. 1 understand Mr. Gatling is going
to get a patent on his invention and build a
big plantation at Chowan Beach.
The other day while wasting time in the
student union, I noticed a never-before
tried item on sale in Roy’s greasy spoon. It
was listed as Tomato extra and only sells
for a nickel. Take my word and don’t waste
your money; I tried it and you guessed
H, they put too much ice on it.
The Beach in the
Morning
By DIANNE TRUMP
Get up in the morning.
Look at the clouds
Over the earth like a blanket
Of whipped cream.
Cool sand lies upon a silent beach—
Clean-swept,
And sleepy waves
Are nudg^ by the smiling sun.
The beach creatures
Scuttle over dunes—
Among sea-oats
And Nature's debris.
To walk the beach
In its untouched solitude
Is a kind of loving
Eternally new
rHF
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IIJVDO
l)i r»iii 3A»>J
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By PROF. GARRETT W. FOX
Psychologists have always been
prone to poke their sometimes myopic
eyes into all aspects of human be
havior. Recently, a surprising number
of beady eyes have been peering back
from the shadows.
Psychology has become so much a
part of our culture that everyone is
playing neat little word games that
formerly were reserved for but a
few. Almost every social movement—
and counter movement—today des
cribes itself and its opponents within
a psychological framework.
For the most part Chowan has been
spared any major social protest, but
occasionally word does leak through
about what’s occurring in the world
outside of Murfreesboro.
For example, the featured article
in a recent “Newsweek” (March 23)
on the growing militancy of the femin
ist movement offered enough dime
store psychology to warm the cold
heart of a Hollywood script writer.
The feminist movement appeared
as “Lysistrata,” Aristophane’s play
in which the women of Athens refused
to share the conjugal bed until their
husbands ended their war with Sparta.
Feminism again raised its comely
head in the early 1900’s, but with the
winning of suffrage women seemed
content to return to their traditional
role (at least in North Carolina) of
staying barefoot and pregnant.
A loosely organized lot, the New
Feminists share a common sense of
anger, frustration and militancy that
make H. Rap Brown look a little like
Uncle Tom.
In fact, as Helen Dudar, author of
the “Newsweek” article points out,
many of the leaders of the women’s
liberation movement began their act
ivism in the Civil Rights movement
but found that their “...contributions
were seldom allowed to go beyond
sweeping floors, making coffee and
bedding down.” Many dropped out to
fight for their own civil rights.
But, if the reader of this article, like
the writer, wishes not to dwell on any
thing too serious, we can forego the
feminists’ legitimate complaints and
instead look at some of the psychologi
cal name calling that the feminists
have encountered.
One of the most popular categories
into which males place the feminist is
that of the castrating female. Skipping
Freudian's subtleties, a castrating fe-
Thoughts Of The Times
As part of a general switchover in jargon
under a new administration, personnel at
the Office of Economic Opportunity in
Washington have been instructed to stop
referring to “the poor.” Instead, says a
staff memo, the term should be “low in
come individuals.”
Also to be dropped is “anti-poverty” in
favor of “poverty programs," because, says
Director Donald Rumsfeld, OEO hasn’t
enough money to wage an all-out war against
such conditions.
Guess that cinches what the Good Book
says: You have the low income individuals
always with you. — Roanoke (Va.) Times
'Free'?
A recent official survey of the Medicare
program indicated that in the next 25 years,
the cost of Medicare will be 131 billion
dollars — yes, billion — more than would be
collected under the present level of taxa-
.sdtBd oj 3tl5 sniJaiae.-
That has brought a request for a tax
increase. While estimates now are running
131 billion dollars above income at the pre
sent level, while inflation probably will
push costs higher, it might be recalled
that some people favored adoption of the
program because they thought they were
getting “free” medical care. —Chattanooga
(Tenn.) News-Free Press
Literary
M usings
By PROF. ROBERT G. MULDER
male is a woman who feels jealous of
imagined (?) male superiority and
uses whatever power she has to emas
culate (figuratively castrate) all the
males she can.
Any male who’s had much contact
with a variety of secretaries and lib
rarians, particularly in the academic
world, is easily convinced that the
term is in part valid. But whatever
its validity, it’s ludicrous to suggest
that all feminists are neurotic.
The final hilarity, however, comes
from the feminists themselves—the
author of an article in a women’s
liberation publication suggested that
all women should study karate and
announced, “WATCH OUT. MAYBE
YOU’LL FINALLY MEET A REAL
CASTRATING FEMALE.”
Lesbian-baiting has become another
favorite male tactic. While Freud
spins in his grave, a number of men
assume that there must be something
queer about any woman who believes
in the equality of the sexes.
And again the feminists outstrip
their opponents by stating that heter
osexuality is a form of slavery and —
some— discussing seriously whether
lesbianism is a realistic alternative
to heterosexuality.
At the end of all this pseudo-psycho
logy we have the “Big Bang” theory
of womens' liberation. Helen Dudar
borrowed the term from astronomy to
categorize the common male belief
“. . . that all any of these women need
is really swell copulation.”
But as she goes on to point out:
“Few men pause to ask whether caus
ing the earth to shake for a woman
each night will obliterate her boredom,
frustration arid sense of injustice each
day."
All this cross-analysis occasionally
may make one wish to return to the
days before psychology started peep
ing into every little corner, to the
days of the horse and buggy—to the
days before castrating females, lesb
ians and women who simply need a
Big Bang were entrapped by the
slavery of heterosexuality.
If you want to know how to rear
children, just ask the Old Maids (or
in other words. Unclaimed Blessings)
in the community. They can tell you
the latest formulas and newest tactics
in rearing your bundles of joy since
they have had little if any experience.
Then, of course, we should not belittle
the value of reading and critical obser
vation.
Bachelors are quick to give true and
never-failing advice on “how to han
dle a woman.” Even I have served
as Cupid in a few cases, and the whole
Chowan world knows I obviously don’t
know anything about how to win an
ideal mate.
Still it seems that those who don’t
really know about a thing are those
who sound off the loudest and write
most prolifically on things about
which they know very httle. I’ve said
all this to preface a few choice words
on the “hippie generation.”
There appeared recently in the
“Jacksonville Daily News” an editor
ial entitled “Take a Long Look in the
Mirror.” The writer comments on a
book by John Holt (“How Children
Fail,” an educational reform book)
which evidently instructs the older
generation on how to see things in
light of today’s generation.
Now it seems that every way you
turn someone is Writing about the
today generation. The only trouble
is that it is rarely today’s generation
commenting on itself. I have become
weary of reading what fifty-sixty year
olds have to say about why hippies
let their hair grow, etc. Why not let
the hippies speak for themselves?
Frankly every account I read about
hippies is misrepresented, and this
the reason. Educators and slick-philo-
sophers have said enough, it seems to
me, to degrade the generation who
attempts to practice a little of the free-
■^^m of personality iand p^^^ifdBp--
pearance for which our fathers died,
to use an old phrase.
I don’t know very many hippies,
but the few I do know are nice people.
They have long hair, yes, but it’s
clean. Their clothes may be different
but what are fashions for anyway?
The aforementioned editorial states:
“One need not delve deeply into rea
sons. The sight of a scuffy and dirty
hippie, whatever he may or may not
symbolize to the viewer, is simply
offensive to the eye and oppressive to
the spirit, like an overflowing trash
can on the sidewalk. The hippie, at
his worst, is as much an insult to
himself as to everyone who comes in
contact with him.”
Here again it is the older generation
speaking out at the younger. All too
often, in the words of Wordsworth, the
“tables should be turned.”
I have come to place very little stock
in what I read about hippies, since
it’s always thwarted. I’ve yet to see
an accurate account written first
hand by one of the ridiculed souls.
Until I do. I'll just accept those who
are different with the same grace that
they seem to have for me.
Five Great Books of Poetry
If I had to be stranded on a desed^
island and could have only five bookie
(in addition to the Holy Bible) there
is no question in my mind as to which
five books I’d take along. There are
no novels, with the exception of “Look
Homeward, Angel,” that I would like
to spend a long period of solitude with;
however, there are five volumes of
poetry which could amuse and inspire
me for an indefinite length of time.
First, I should like to have that
immortal book by Kahlil Gibran titled
“The Prophet.” Now many people
would not consider this book as poetry,
but the prosaic accounts of the pro
phet’s revelations make very beauti
ful poetry. The various essays are
powerful and lovely.
Second, I should choose the 1951
classic of Edgar Lee Masters, “Spoon
River Anthology.” Since the Chowan
Players did such a beautiful job of
this last fall, I need not comment
except to say that the tombstone
epitaphs from this volume have never
ceased to hold my attention and to
make me pleased that I am a native
of eastern North Carolina rather
than one of the depressing figures
from Spoon River.
A third volume I should like to have
with me is indeed a masterpiece. It
is that great book of Negro sermons
by James Weldon Johnson title
“God’s Trombones.’’This book was
first published by the Viking Press
in 1927, and since that time has re
mained high on the list of poetic best
sellers. No where is there a more
beautiful sermon on death, in my
opinion, than Johnson’s “Go Down,
Death” from this volume. I find “The
isCreation,''’^'™rhe Crucifixt0iSI3Bhd
“The Prodigal Son” three of the most
profound chapters in any volume.
The fourth book of poetry is “Man
With a Bull-Tongue Plow.” Jesse
Stuart has captured in this collection
of short poems a memorable picture
of American life lived close to the soil
and expressed in poetry of vital beauty
and universal appeal.
Having stood the test of time and
critics, I should like to have as a
fifth volume Walt Whitman’s “Leaves
of Grass.” Well over a hundred years
old, this giant collection contains the
Good Gray Poet’s noteworthy philoso
phy of life in the free verse poetic
style which he loved.
Of course, the above are my favor
ite volumes of poetry. I have been
modest not to include my own small
volume. In years to come, who knows
but what some dedicated soul may
speak favorably about “The Christmas
of Timothy Frye” from a little
volume entitled “The Shepherd Who
Stayed Behind,” soon to be reprinted.
Did somebody say "smile??'
Joan Cox gives the photographer one of her best smiles. No Joan, we don't
think we can use you on the cover of the Chowanian this month.