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Who Would Want
a Spanish Spiral
Notebook?
Dear Editor,
Recently, I accidently left
some books in one of the
cubicles in Founders over
night. The next morning, after
breakfast, I went to get them,
only to find one of them, my
Spanish book, gone. Before
panicking, I went to check my
room, thinking I had perhaps
only picked up the one book
which is incidently a labeled
loose-leaf notebook. I had
placed it on top of the other
books purposely; I have had
books stolen before and know
from experience that people
generally take regular bound
texts over a fairly valueless
notebook. In this case I was
wrong - the other books were
there, including my Spanish
spiral notebook and half of a
Spanish-English dictionary.
(The other half was also
taken).
Needless to say, this
incident greatly upset me not
only because I need the book
and cannot afford a new one
but also because I can't
conceive of anyone being so
"hard up" that they have to
steal the necessary books for
their classes. I chose to come
to Guilford primarily because
of the reputed high calibre and
character of the students and
whereas I am not so naive as
to believe that here all
students are "good little
angels," I did expect to find a
little more honest decency and
respect for fellow students
than this incident has shown.
I realize that most of the
blame falls on my own
shoulders. Having gone
through this last semester
when I had two History books
taken, I should have known
better than to leave them in a
place where they could be
easily taken. Yet, as far as I
know, those cubicles were put
there specifically so students
could leave their books and
various paraphenalia while
they ate their meals. Perhaps
what Guilford needs are
lockers which students could
rent for a small fee.
In closing, I should note that
I am not the only one by far to
lose books in this manner nor
does it only happen in that
specific place. Books and
other possessions are taken
where they're found, on the
Letters to the editor
grounds, in the dorms, etc.
Books are expensive and for
many students it does produce
a strain on their checkbooks
and budgets. Yet for those
who do Find the real need to
"borrow indefinitely" they
should realize that the
students whose books they
take are probably in similar
financial straits. It is my
opinion that most people
would probably share their
books if only they were nicely
asked. Surely in this way a lot
of the tears, anger, and
frustration would be alleviated
and would provide better
inter-student relations for all
involved.
Jeannette Sachs
P.S. My books did eventually
turn up- they were found in
the men's bathroom in
Founders and turned into the
information center by one of
the visiting circus people. Yet
the fact that they were
"returned" does not alleviate
the crime - they were taken. I
was fortunate, yet there are
many others who haven't been
so luckv.
Sober
A. Staunch
Comments
Dear Editor,
My young friend approach
ed me yesterday and asked my
opinion of alcoholic beve
rages. I was delighted that he
had seen the worth of
consulting Weighty and Pro
per Friends in such matters.
"The discipline directs that
Friends should not engage in
the use or trafficing of
alcoholic beverages," I told
him confidently.
He paused. "Then why do
so many Quakers on campus
drink?"
I was shocked. That such
persons would call themselves
Friends was beyond me and I
said so.
The Guilfordian
Box 17717, Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. 27410, phone
855-9158
"All the News that Fits"
Editor Pat Townsend
Consulting Editor David Green
News Editor Forrest Hughes
Business Manager Gib Furgurson
Staff. Christopherßenfey, AnnetteZitver Green,
Richard Phillips
"Would temperance be
enough, rather than absti
nance?" he asked. "The
ancient Writings as you call
"Th^GuHfordiai^^^^
them speak much of tempe
rance but not often of
abstinance."
"Friends have found over
the years that the only sure,
way to temperance is through
abstinance and so the Elders
have directed," I said fearing
the conversation was becom
ing unprofitable.
"Would you say George Fox
was a good Quaker?" he
asked.
"Yes", I said startled by
this change of direction.
"Did you know Fox drank?
In fact, in his Journal he
chews out two of his jailors for
stealing his beer."
My young friend was
actually accusing one of the
ancient worthies of drinking!
Will this younger generation
never learn respect? "You
obviously had an improperly
published edition of the
Journal! Furthermore, the
distinctiveness of Quakerism
also lies in the examples of
William Penn and John
Woolman; and Friends have
learned a few things in 300
years that Fox didn't know!" I
said as calmly as was possible,
and terminated the conversa
tion.
Such encounters could drive
a Quaker to drink.
Soberly yours,
A. Staunch Quaker
Response
the Respo
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to
Arne Rosa's response to my
response and Kathy Free
man's response to his article
"The Land of etc." Kathy and
I wrote individual letters, in
different styles, addressing
ourselves to different points.
Arne responded as if our two
letters were one and managed
to ignore the points we made.
Arne totally misrepresented
us by making the statement
that we believe that hunger,
inequality, logic, and intellec
tual endeavor explain snipers
being paid lucrative salaries to
slaughter children in the
Yoo ua>wasß THIS ONES empiY!'
streets. I consider that
slanderous since neither of us
said any such thing. My letter
only pointed out that the
causes of war are many and
include factors such as hunger
and inequality. Kathy's letter
didn't even talk directly about
Lebanon or war. She did say
that logic and intellectual
endeavor influence behavior
(she also included beliefs,
feelings, and personal control
in that list). Mr. Rosa took
Kathy's statement out of
context and paraphrased her
in a way that made it look as if
she had made an incredibly
callous statement.
In my response to Arne's
article I quoted the full
context of the point to which I
was addressing myself. I did
this because I did not believe
anyone would refer back to the
original article. For that
reason I think one should be
especially careful when quot
ing or paraphrasing someone
else.
Finally in response to the
question "Does anyone have a
cultural theory to explain war
being synonomous with the
male gender?", I don't
believe that war and male are
synonomous. It's no great
surprise that so few American
women died fighting in Viet
Nam and Korea when you
consider that our society does
not draft or even allow women
to join the military in a
fighting capacity. In virtually
every nation the responsibility
for raising children is placed
on women. Until social
attitudeschanges it will usual
ly be the women who stay
home and raise the kids. Even
so many women fought for the
Viet Cong. In Hanoi women
"manned" anti-aircraft guns.
February 17, 1976
Without females workers war
related industries could not
have been maintained in
North Viet Nam or in the
U.S.A. during W.W. 11. Sorry
but women are not made of
sugar and spice, they're
human too. War is not a male,
problem, it's a human
problem.
David B. Freeman
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to
Dan Hurley's response to my
response to Arne Rosa's
article "The Land of Milk and
Honey Gone Berserk." The
whole point of my letter was
that human behavior is a very
complex subject. Arne Rosa's
testosterone theory is an
extremely simplistic overused
myth. The same old argument
that men are aggressive and
women are docile has been
used for centuries in the
suppression of women.
If 1 am "simply deluded"
for thinking that human
behavior is a complex matter
at least I'm not alone.
Psychology and sociology
would be very poor subjects
indeed if we couid be
understood simply in terms of
hormone levels. Of course
neither Arne nor Dan believe
the situation is that simplistic
(although this was not evident
in Arne's original article). Dan
says "The function of an
active sex life and other forms
of personal contact with
women in making men less
irascible and infinitely more
civilized can be most easily
seen byway of contrast; in
boys' schools, prisons and
other such institutions in
which said contact is usually
prohibited."
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