PAGE fi
THE VOICE
APRIL, 1978
PERSOIVALITY OF THE MONTH
Interview With A Star
I
What^s That White Man Doing Here?
This edition’s personality
of the month was chosen early
in the month and it wasn’t
until just days ago that we
realized the significance of his
chalky complexion. But that’s
the way it should be, isn't it?
“Without regard to race,
creed, color, or sex.”
Michael Patterson is, in
many ways, untypical of
Fayetteville ^tate Univer
sity’s students. He maintains
a perfect 4.0 grade-point
average while participating
heavily in campus activities,
particularly in theatre, which
is his major. He also happens
to be a Captain of Paratroop
Artillery in the U.S. Army and
is,, if you hadn’t already
noticed, caucasian. It is the
last happenstance that led to
the title of a play he is w'orking
on and which we “borrowed”
for the title of this article
about him. He’s a skydiver,
photographer, and journalist,
who has acted in commercial
films, worked in radio, and
written and directed a 16-mm
20-minute Documentary.
As a member of the
Drama Guild, Mike recently
traveled with several other
students to Memphis, Ten
nessee for the 42nd Annual
National Association for
Dramatic and Speech Arts
Conference where, at a party
in another school’s rooms, a
voice from the crowd rang out
during a momentary break in
the music, “What’s that white
man doing here?” Mike says,
“You can take it any way you
want to. The guy may have
only been curious. He may
have been surprised, pleased,
angry, happy, or a myriad of
other things. I think that it
was appropriate. During the
early sixties in Mississippi one
of the most often vocalized
complaints about the black
man’s plight was that white
men often could not see them.
A white man would ‘look
through’ a black man as if he
didn’t exist. I am often
reminded of that complaint in
funny ways. At our first
Drama Guild meeting this
year Mr. Hockett, the guild’s
faculty advisor, asked the
‘guy in the glasses’ to respond
to a question and pointed at
me. 1 couldn’t help but
laugh...there must have been
five guys in glasses but only
one ‘white dude’. We’ve
become overly-sensitive to
any reference to skin color by
a member of another race.
That’s why the words ‘What’s
that white man doing here?’
seemed particularly ap
propriate to me.”
Born in Houston, Texas
into a military family, Mike is
the oldest of five children,
most of whom reside in
Roseburd, Oregon. Mike
stayed with them for 17 years,
moving through Texas,
California, the Dakotas,
Virginia, Montana, Germany
(twice), Oklahoma, Colorado,
Arizona, Hawaii, and
“others”. He left home to
begin his own life at the early
age of 17.
Having said goodbye to
his family in Germany, he
slowly worked his way across
the states until he landed in
Oklahoma in college at
Central State University. It
was there that he became
involved in the civil rights
movement, and spent several
months working with the
Student Non-violent Coor
dinating Committee in
Mississippi registering black
voters. He marched with King
at Selma in those years and
received a shock along with
many others his age when he
returned to Oklahoma and
was met with a notice to
report for his selective service
examination physical.
“In those days your
physical was followed within
.30 days by the draft notice
itself. I talked to a recruiter
who got me the job of my
choice. I was to become a
Morse Code Interceptor. Ever
listen to code for several hours
at a time? Well, the only way
out was Officer Candidate
School. I took it - talk about
out of the frying pan and into
the fire!! After 6 months at
Fort Sill they had done about
as much to me as they could
and pronounces me a
professional artillery man. To
make a long story short; they
sent me overseas, I came
back, got out, went back to
college, majored in Radio and
Television Production, went
back in the Army, went
overseas again, got stationed
at Fort Bragg, and was
selected for a ‘scholarship’ to
attend FSU to finalize my
degree.”
Majoring in Speech-
Theatre, Mike has directed
Hansel and Gretal, played
Mike Maffucci in No Place to
be Somebody, Preacher
Haggler in Dark of the Moon,
and played the old Demon
himself, Mephistopheles, in
Horace Hockett’s Demons.
It’s been a year of very late
nights filled with rehearsal
after rehearsal. “I’m for
tunate” says he, “to be
married to a girl who un
derstands my twisted
motivations. After nine years
of married life in the Army
though, she’s come to accept
not seeing me until 10 or 11 at
night.” His two children, ages
three and four, will probably
be as happy as his wife to see
him graduate...or just to see
him.
The future? Mike, Peggy,
and the kids are on their way
to Germany in June where he
will work in Heidelberg in a
job somewhat akin to Public
Relations where his Liberal
Arts degree will stand him in
good stead. When asked about
whether or not he feels that he
should have majored in a
more technically oriented
field, like a science, or
business, he answered,
“Definitely not. Throughout
my life I’ve tried to do
everything with a sense for
quality. A Liberal Arts
degree, when pursued with
real motivation, can give you
the tools to do everything well.
It gives you the foundation of
character, appreciation, and a
strong, supple mind. Through
my education I am familiar
enough with humanity to know
what the end result of any job
should be. Give a person with
a Liberal Arts background 6
months and they’ll do twice
the job a person with four
years of ‘technical’ education
will do.”
And that’s what Mike
Paterson is doing here.
Ebony Reflections
“Life has not changed.
Only some people have been
growing, becoming different,
that is all. After a youth spent
fighting the white man, why
should not the president
discover as he grows older
that his real desire has been to
be like the white governor
himself, to live above all
blackness in the big old slave
castle? And the men around
him, why not? What stops
them sending their loved
children to kindergartens in
Europe? And if the little men
around the big men can send
their children to new in
ternational schools, why not?
That is all anyone here ever
struggles for: to be nearer the
white man. All the shouting
against the white man was not
hate. It was love. Twisted, but
love all the same.”
From The Beautiful Ones Are
!Vot Yet Born by Ayi Kwei
Armah.
(Continued from Page 2)
career. “Do you have regrets
about that?” I asked.
“Sometimes I regret
about the baseball. But at that
time I was very cocky. I ac
tually thought I was the best
thing since sliced bread. So,
the incident forced me to grow
up instead of hanging my head
between my legs. Anyway, if
it wasn’t for the baseball
incident I wouldn’t be here.”
Jim contributes a lot of
time in helping to work with
the rehabilitating of
delinquent youth. “Was there
any particular reason,
something that happened
when you were a youth to
motivate your involvement?”
I wanted to know.
“No, nothing in my
childhood. I came from a
normal family: Mom and Dad
and four of us children.
However, years later my wife
would sing in prisons and I
started accompanying her
and I became aware of the
hopelessness there. So, I
became involved.” He worked
now with a volunteer group of
about 250 persons who are
Christians and are called the
God Squad. Jim pointed out
that his group offers coun
seling and also works with the
individual in and out of prison,
in areas such as housing, food,
etc. He emphasizes that this is
no free hand-out program. He
thinks of it in terms as
teaching a man how to fish in
order to feed himself rather
than giving him the fish.
“First you show the individual
how to find a respectable part
of himself, and then he’ll be
able to become a respectable
part of society,” he states.
When people look at him
and ask, “You’re an actor and
you go to church?”, he
bounces back with, “You go to
church to worship, but you
perform your service in the
street helping mankind.”
Our interview is about to
wind up. “Are there any other
points you’d like to make
about the film?”
“I think the film is good.
That it has something to say,
and to all of you, I appreciate
your patronage.”
I thanked Mr. Iglehart for
a great interview and headed
for home, armed, of course,
with about ten autographed
photos. Strange, but a quote of
Will Rogers came to mind:
“It’s great to be great, but it’s
greater to be human,” I don’t
know if Mr. Iglehart has ever
heard the quote or not but I’m
certain that somewhere down
the line he has learned it.
Thank you, Mr. Iglehart.
Much success to Death Force.
James Iglehart Fan Club,
27531 Mandarin Avenue,
Hayward, California 94544.
DEATH FORCE
“Death Force,” is an R-
rated tale of retaliation by a
Samurai sword-wielding ex-
GI. James Iglehart stars in
the Cosa Nueva Production as
a man bent on revenge when
his drug-dealing buddies leave
him for dead in the South
Pacific, take over a crime
syndicate in Los Angeles, and
threaten his “widow” and son.
Co-starring in the film are
Carmen Argenziano and Leon
Isaac. Jayne Kennedy stars as
Iglehart’s wife and Roberto
Gonzales, an Asian Olympic
Karate Champion, guest stars
in one of the most brutal
Karate and sword fights ever
filmed. Watch local listing for
DEATH FORCE’S return.
FSU Student Attends Minority Law
Conference (Continued from Page 3)
individual schools and general
law school criteria.
Later on Saturday a panel
discussion was conducted by
people from state govern
ment, corporations and
private law practices. Also,
Fred Williams, a UNC law
school graduate, presently
working as a public defender
in Cumberland County par
ticipated in the panel
discussion. The Moderator
was Ronald Penny, a third
year UNC law student. Ms.
Yvonne Mims, a Duke law
school graduate now working
in the Charlotte based Julius
Chambers firm, joined Mr.
Williams and others on the
panel.
Now we are back to lunch
again and I am going to seek
out the young man I ate with
the previous day. I found him.
We ate and talked then
returned to attend informal
Deadline Dates
Fall Applications:
Student Date Form - May 1,
Family Financial
1978;
Statement (ACT)
1978; and BEOG
Eligibility Report -
1978.
May 1,
Student
May 1,
Live And Learn
(Continued from Page 3)
have the opportunity to get
involved. We never know
enough!
On March 21, 1978, in
Bryant Hall, Miss Hoke and
Mr. Stokes presented an in
teresting topic, “The Black
Family.” The participants all
seemed interested. Comments
were being made to the fact
that this production has
helped clear up some things in
the minds of the receivers of
the message. Everything
from birth, togetherness,
shacking and religion were
covered.
it’s to your advantage to
make use of such functions.
Don’t miss out on the chance
to hear and be heard, to
acquire knowledge and to
dismiss it. Find out when the
next one is and be there!
discussion groups with in
dividual professors from UNC
and Campbell. Again the
emphasis on writing and
reading with great skill was
reiterated. These group
discussions ended at 6:00 p.m.
After dinner, we returned
to participate in the big social
event, a disco party. The
party was scheduled to last
until the sun rose. I couldn’t
stay that long. At 2:00 p.m.
after jumping and shaking
and talking I surmised that
law students couldn’t party.
They all seemed preoccupied.
I went back to the motel in
which I resided and had no
trouble finding sleep.
Sunday was anti-climatic
and very few people showed
up for the informal breakfast
meeting. We ate almost in
silence. An optional church
service concluded the con
ference.
Members of MLSA from
the Fayetteville community
are Mrs. Mittie Smith, wife of
FSU’s Dr. Ronald Smith, Pat
Timmons and Rhonda
Crawford.
Any student interested in
law school may contact the
admission office of known law
school, take the LSAT, LSDAS
or both in the fall of the year
preceding your potential
entrance to law school. This is
important because most law
schools have March 15
deadlines for all requirements
for consideration for ad
mittance. Also contact your
school placement officer. He
would be able to give you all
kinds of information about
prospective law schools. Start
early preparing yourself and
remember Reading and
Writing skills must be
superior.