PAGE 2 — Smoke Signals, Wednesday, October 2,1974
'Day In the Lite
Of a Freshman'
By DENNIE TRUESDALE
The morning was about as uneventful as the one which
had proceeded it. Sunlight dancing through the window;
birds singing the same song that they had sung for the
past several weeks.
I stirred for several minutes,
trying to find the strength to put
my body in motion. Realizing it
didn’t want to work yet; I fum
bled around the top of my dresser
for a cigarette. I sat on the edge
of the bed, smoking listlessly,
thinking to myself “Darn, if only
I hadn’t drunk so much last
night.”
It was getting late. Only fifteen
minutes and I would have to be in
class. I dressed quickly, brushed
my teeth and hurried on to
another day. The classes passed
faster than usual and feeling that
I could use a cup of coffee, I
headed for town when the bell
rang.
I stopped by my room on the
way to town to collect a few
things I had forgotten that
morning and then ambled slowly,
slightly weaving, towards my cup
of coffee.
The coffee tasted good and
after a third cup, I began to
formulate in my mind the things I
must do; stop at the drugstore to
buy more paper and go to the post
office to mail a letter. Ah, well,
those things could wait until I had
a couple more cups of coffee.
Completing my chores, I
headed back to the dorm.
Standing in front of my door, I
reached into my pocket for my
keys. A sick, churning feeling
overtook me. My body began to
tremble uncontrollable and my
voice quivered as I muttered a
few chosen obscenities. I had lost
my keys. Me, perhaps the oldest
and most stable student in my
dorm. Realizing that there was
no time to loose, I raced out the
door in an effort to retrace my
steps. Keeping my eyes glued to
the ground, I somehow made my
way to the coffee shop where I
had stopped earlier. I slowly
looked around, occasionally
meeting the glance of a sullen
and uncaring set of eyes. The
waitress who had served me
slinked by in her tight mini-dress,
wiggling just enough so that she
knew people were watching. I
hesitantly walked up to her, not
knowing what to say.
“Miss? Miss?, do you
remember me from this mor
ning?” She looked at me and a
slight look of discust crooked her
face. “Look Buddy, if I’ve told
you guys once. I’ve told you a
thousand times, I don’t go out
with no college students!”
“But I don’t want to go out with
you. All I want are my keys.
Keys? What Keys? Are you
alright? Maybe you better sit
down.”
I finally blurted out the story
about the keys and she assured
me that they weren’t on the
premises. Feeling dejected and
alone, I had hope left. I may have
left them in the post office. Slowly
walking that last mile to what I
felt would be impending doom, I
made my way to the post office.
Already sensing what the man
would tell me, I grasped for the
right words; “you haven’t found
a set of keys have you”?”
The man, not looking up from
his work and sounding a bit
bothered by the whole thing said,
“No, no I haven’t Sorry.”
Well, that was it. I had lost my
keys. Nothing had gone right for
me the last six weeks.
“Man, if I could loose my keys,
what would be next?” My books?
I t)et that even the job I was
promised at school would fall
thru.
As I was beginning to come to
grips with the fact that all my
professors were against me and
secretly plotting to have me
thrown out of school, my
roommate came sauntering up
and said, “Hey, Dennie, hows it
going? I was looking for you to
give back your keys.”. Thanks
for letting me borrow them this
morning.” I know it was really
stupid of me to loose mine.”
I stared for a long, silent
moment in disbelief, my mouth
gapping and my body was going
limp.
Yes, of course. I had loaned
them to A1 that very morning.
The black shroud of confusion fell
silently to the ground, melting
into the pavement. With this
burden gone, I reached into my
pocket for a cigarette. I put it to
my lips and began to smile; “yes,
maybe, just maybe I’ll make it
after all.’
Dear Mom end Dad
By Ricky Winstead
DEAR MOM AND DAD,
Sorry its taken so long for me to write you but you
know how it is. No I guess you don’t know how it is. Well
let me tell you, I’m having a “hellava” good time.
I’ve done a lot of things and met a lot of people
that I would never have met back on the farm. I’ve
learned a lot of new words like reefer and toke. It’s
really different from home. Most everybody is real nice.
Just the other night a couple of fellas I didn’t even
hardly know invited me to go have some wine with them
and smoke some of that wild wood weed. Well, I don’t
know what it was, the wine or the weed but I got to
feeling so fine I went and called up Ellen, (you know that
girl I used to go see over in Spokesville). Well I called
her up and charged the call to you alls phone. I knew you
all wouldn’t mind. I talked junk to her for about an hour.
The phone company charges about seventy-five cents
for every three minutes. Soon as we get to word
problems in Math, I‘ll figure up the cost and tell you how
much you owe.
I’m sure glad you and Dad talked me into going to
college.
I’m going to need a little extra money; fifty dollars for
car registration, fifteen fora key, and twenty dollars for
the green fee. Everybody up here has a stereo but me,
please send me one. My address is on the front of the
envelope.
I think I might be able to make it on twenty-five
dollars a weed spending money. It’s worked out O.K so
far. I’ll let you know. Tell all the relatives and
everybody hello.
I miss you all. HA HA
Your son,
Scarboro Rupert
t'uefxr MfOf CHOWAN rotixj
Editor Beckie Workman
Associate Editors Teresa Pike
Mike Patterson
Literary
Musings
By PROF. ROBERT G. MULDER
Earl Vowell, Vicki Jones, Kevin O'Keefe and Elaine Heathershaw rehearse
for "Impromptu"
'Impromptu’ Poses
Important Question
By ROBERT G. MULDER
What opens in pitch darkness,
runs for thirty minutes, and
closes in a sudden halt leaving
the audience concerned about
reality, interested in what
they’ve experienced and en
tertained? On September 18 and
19 the answer to this question was
found in Daniel Hall where the
Division of Drama presented
“Impromptu,” a one-act play
written by Tad Mosel. I enjoyed
the opening performance on
Wednesday evening and rarely
have I seen a first night progress
any more smoothly.
Not very often does one have an
opportunity to experience a stage
presentation which poses so
many provocative questions for
the audience to take home with
them. Shakespeare’s statement,
“All the world’s a stage,”
became even more obvious as
these four well-cast players in
formally shared their directed
thoughts with the audience.
Why are we here? What are we
to do? What does the audience
expect to see? These questions
confront the four players who are
bound through an agreement
with the stage manager (the
silent, unseen character in the
play) to present a play to an
assembled audience.
After the players make an
attempted effort to introduce
themselves, they begin to im
provise a dramatic plot. Using
what they have in setting and
personnel, the group chooses to
do a domestic sketch where boy
meets girl, brings her home and
introduces her to mother.
Several sincere attempts are
made to move the plot along;
however, problems and-or in
securities springing from the
personalities of the characters
prevent the expansion of the
unrehearsed play. What the
drama produces is an op
portunity for each player to
examine his own “self” rather
closely in view of the other three
players and an audience.
The shattering experience of
soul-searching done by the
ADVISER —ADVISEE
MEETING
10:00— Friday
October 4,1974
New Musical
Sche(duled
In Drama
By NELSON NICHOLS
The Chowan Players are
presenting the Leslie Bricusse-
Anthony Newly Production The
Roar of the Greasepaint, The
Smell of the Crowd on November
7-8. A musical, the play includes
such songs as “A Wonderful Day
like Today” and “Who Can I
Turn To”.
At)0ut the ever present struggle
between the “haves” and the
“have-nots”, the play follows the
progress of Cocky, a proud but
poor man, as he tries to play “the
game” against Sir, a will-to-so.
Sir’s premise is that the most
important act of the haves is to
hang onto what they have, even if
the rules must be changed.
Though Cocky changes the rules,
again and again, he fails in his
efforts to win at the game of life.
Eventually Cocky and Sir make
peace, and reach a mutual un
derstanding.
Musical auditions were held
September 23, but as of press
time, the results were not an
nounced.
players enlists a degree of self-
evaluation and purpose within
the audience. Just as the tran
sferal is made and resolutions
seem to be in sight for the stage
personnel, the play ends.
Without question the strongest
character to come forth in
“Impromptu” was Earl Vowell
who played the part of ERNEST.
Though this play did not allow
Vowell to demonstrate the range
of his obvious capabilities, it was
his characterization which kept
the thirty minutes moving. Most
convincing in his role as friend of
the family, Vowell performed
well in this setting. He brings
valuable experience to the
Chowan stage having acted
recently in the Virginia Beach
production of “Bye, ’bye, ’bir
die.”
The part of WINIFRED was
played by Elaine Heathershaw, a
freshman drama major from
Winston-Salem. Miss Heather
shaw was perfect for the
character actress she played.
Her movements and speaking
parts added substance to the
production, and she seemed
completely at home with the
mother-role given her.
Kevin O’Keefe played the part
of TONE, the juvenile. None of
the characters acted with more
seriousness than O’Keefe. His
departure from the stage at tha
appropriate time brought a real
let-down feeling to the audience
as well as to those on stage. From
Et Cetera . . .
By BECKIE WORKMAN
Art
Anyone who would like to
submit works of art or do a comic
strip for “Smoke Signals” are
asked to do so and contact Beckie
Workman.
Sports
Homecoming football game.
Chowan College vs. Ferrum
University, home on October 5.
Chowan College vs. Lees-
McRae, away on October
12.
Miscellaneous
Homecoming Parade in
Murfreesboro on Saturday,
October 5.
RA Day on Saturday, October
5,
Founder’s Day on Friday,
October 11.
Advisor-Advisee Day, Friday,
October 11.
SGA
Movies scheduled for October 8
and 16.
CONCERT
Brownville Station to perform
on October 4. Jay Frye, manager.
Alexandria, Virginia, O’Keefe
has done technical work on
several productions and has
danced in “Brigadoon.”
The part of LORA, the ingenue,
was nicely played by Vicki Jones,
a freshman drama major from
Suffolk, Virginia. Her ap
pearance, voice, and stage
presentation revealed a diver
sified background in performing.
Her portrayal of the young girl in
love was handled with care and
empathetic concern. Miss Jones
has appeared in productions of
“Fiddler on the Roof,” “Music
Man,” and “Forty Carates.”
Particularly obvious to the
audience was the accurate
casting done by Director Nan
Robinson. The careful blocking
needed for such a play was done
to near perfection and the sound
and light effects contributed
nicely to the brief account of
living theatre.
Tad Mosel, who wrote the play,
is perhaps best known for his 1961
Pulitzer Prize winning “All the
Way Home.” His plays have been
televised in England, Germany,
and Australia. Many hour-long
television specials are also to his
credit, and such personalities as
Jessica Tandy, Tony Randall,
and Ed Bagley have performed
his works.
But, nearer to home, many at
Chowan will remember the
pleasant thirty minutes in Daniel
Hall when “Impromptu” posed
for us that important question:
How much truth and how much
illusion does a person need to live
a balanced life?
Enthusiastic admirers of Harry S.
Truman will probably leap for a copy of
the most recent publication on their
deceased idol. The book is Merle
Miller’s Plain Speaking: An Oral
Biography of Harry S. Truman
(Berkley-Putman; $8.95). “Both a
human document and political history ..
its shrewdness would please Plutarch;
its wit would delight Mark Twain.”
Miller spent hundreds of hours with
Mr. Truman in gathering material for
this publication. For some reason their
personal chats never made television as
originally intended, but now they are
“told like it happened” as only Plain-
Spoken Harry could do.
Plain Speaking is what the title im
plies. The language has been sugar-
coated to protect neither the living nor
the dead. Concerning Eisenhower, he
said: “That counterfeit...the only man
who ever spent eight years in the White
House without being president.”
And there are others whose names are
the better or worse for being mentioned
here. Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy,
Douglas MacArthur — all have choice
comments made by the Little Senator
from Missouri.
Who reads this book touches an honest
man, one somewhat elemental to be
sure, but one who did his best, who
rarely looked back nor had regrets. He
reads the words of an honest man, a
truly great American, who was sold out
to nothing save decency and integrity.
This observer thinks Plain Speaking
should be required reading for every
American, particularly those interested
in great Americans. My own kindled
interest led to the purchase of the
Truman biography written by his
daughter.
In January of this year, Pocket Books
published this national best seller in
paperback (Harry S. Truman.
Margaret Truman Daniel. New York,
1974, 660 pages, $1.95). Right now I am
enjoying the delightfully human, as well
as historical, document.
The first presidential campaign I ever
watched with any interest was the 1948
Truman-Dewey race. Chapter one of
Mrs. Daniel’s biography gives a
revealing, behind-the-scenes account of
this Truman victory. Following this
important triumph, she takes the reader
through a chronological history of her
famous father’s political life.
To read this biography so soon after
Plain Speaking is to receive a double
shot of Harry Truman, and this might
not be a bad idea, particularly for some
people in high places. I view the reading
experience as inspiration at its near-
highest peak. Sad shall I be when the
biography ends, for I’m really begin
ning to realize how much this great man
meant to our nation and how much we
need him today.
One of the first nice things I did for my
mother-in-law was to take her to a
movie. The experience I shall never
forget, for it was she who kept me from
being obviously the most amused person
in the audience. (Now I meant no of
fense in that remark, mind you.)
She, my new wife and I saw “Harold
and Maude,” soon after the Ruth
Gordon serious-comedy appeared on the
screen. It was hilarious and we have
mentioned it many times since to the
wonderment of a very few of our friends
who have seen the film.
“Harold and Maude” is about a teen
ager who feigns suicide to the dismay
and disgust of his wealthy mother and
an old woman who attends funerals as a
hobby. Though more than fifty years
separate their ages, the two establish a
deep love and respect for each other.
Having lived richly and rewardingly
so many years, Maude deems it
necessary to share much of her
knowledge with her young companion.
This down-to-earth advice about many
things furnishes the foundation upon
which Harold’s emulation and in
spiration are built. At one point she tells
him: “Reach out. Take a chance. Get
hurt. Otherwise you’ve got nothing to
talk about in the locker room.”
The film itself is enjoying record-
making history in several areas, par
ticularly around Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Last week the film started its %th
consecutive week there, breaking the
record set by Sound of Music. So far an
estimated 165,000 tickets have been sold
at the Westgate Theatre alone.
End of the line for “Harold and
Maude” is not in sight. The film
promises a revival on the east coast,
and a play adapted from the film is now
running in Paris.
Photography Club
Holds First Meeting
Dorms promoting campus spirit for the Chowan Braves !!
By MIKE PATTERSON
Approximately thirty-five
students attended this semester’s
first meeting of the Steichen
Photographic Society.
Objectives of the society in
clude the following;
1. To increase knowledge of
photography through outside
speakers and exchange of in
formation among membership.
2. To create opportunities for
the exhibition of members work
which makes learning from the
efforts of fellow members
possible.
3. The betterment of com
munity relations through active
participation by community
members.
4. To augument and strengthen
the overall Photography
program here at Chowan College.
5. To sponsor and support such
contests and exhibitions which
would create an interest in
photography and afford an outlet
for the creative efforts of anyone
interested in photography as a
hobby or (s-ofession.
6. To make available to the
membership financial savings on
photographic supplies and
equipment.
Members of the college com
munity or area residents in
terested in joining should attend
the meetings which, for the time
being anyway, meet every
Monday night at 8:oo P.M. in
Marks Hall. Membership dues
are $3.00 a semester.
Activities planned by the club
this semester include a possible
statewide photo contest,
exhibitions by students and
professional photographers, as
well as guest lecturers who will
present material of interest to
both the amateur and
professional photographer.
ft
get PH
Wowl When it's demonstration FOR
the school/ you can do just about
anything. But when it comes to
making several changes, a few
people just standing around is called
a riot! !
S. Smith
DON’T FORGET!
The Deodline for
This Months
Photo Contest
Is Oct. 9
TOPIC: ARCHrTECTURE