12
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Tom Powell talks Randy Specs
Louisa Spaventa
Staff Writer
Tom Powell's last interview was
with the Times, but last semester I
was interviewing Mudhoney so we
decided a mutual slum-fest was
alright. Somehow, Powell has ar
ranged the space in his Archdale
office to accommodate both indoor
and outdoor settings; lawn chairs
and carpet chairs told me this.
Question: Why are you back at
Guilford?
Powell: It's a nice place to teach.
It's a very simple reason. I like
working in small groups with stu
dents who are animated and from
whom you can entice an opinion.
I like the freedom to design your
own courses. We have a tremen
dous amount of creativity which
we can exercise here.
Q: In your opinion, after hav
ing left and come back, do you
think the atmosphere has changed
at all, do you feel a psychic
change?
Powell: It might be too early to
say in way. I do notice there seems
to be more forms to fill out. It
seems that things are a little more
organized- which may be good or
bad. There seems to more focus,
perhaps, among the students.
Q: What is the antonym of a Phi
losophy Professor?
Powell: If you've seen the t-shirt
that's flaunted in places like K-
Mart fairly often, the one that says
"Because I'm the Mother- That's
Why"- the person wearing that is
the antonym of a Philosophy Pro
fessor.
Q: I wanted to ask you about the
process by which you came up
with your recent b00k...
Powell: It was an unintentional
book that happened. I was in New
foundland and was preparing
things for teaching this year. One
of the things I decided to do was
to write down- maybe twenty
pages double-spaced- text just list
ing things that really drive me
crazy when I see them in a student
paper, because one thing I'm cer
tain of is that all professors, in ad
dition to the explicit standards they
have for what counts as a good
paper and a bad one, have all these
little buttons that can be pushed.
When the button's pushed, the
grade goes down. I think that its
much more fair for the students to
know where those things are.
You're walking on a mine field
when you write a paper for a pro
fessor. For example, in a philoso
phy paper, if a student ever ends a
paper with "But after all, who
knows?"- instant F- forget it.
I kept coming up with more
positive tips to help a student write.
By the time I was done, the darn
thing was about fifty-thousand
words.
Q: Do you wish your classes
were smaller than they are?
Powell: Absolutely. That's my
greatest worry, I guess, in terms of
Jfeatare*
change at Guilfocd. Sam Schuman
told me once that the magic num
ber for a Humanities class is sev
enteen. He's not far off. Ido know
that something happens between
eighteen and twenty-five that
makes it harder forme to know the
class.
Q: I heard you hunted somewhat
while you were away. Would you
ever stick antlers on your wall?
Powell: No, I wouldn't. Be
cause that to me is emblematic of
a kind of hunting that I think is
immoral, ugly, maybe even sacri
legious. It's viewing a hunted ani
mal as a trophy, as somehow a little
Brownie point that you get for hav
ing killed. I don't think you can
hunt with that kind of attitude and
come away from it unscathed.
Q: Can you recommend a good
B-rate comic-horror movie?
Powell: "Heathers" is pretty
hard to beat The other movie is
the sequel to the 'Texas Chainsaw
Massacre" which is absolutely,
hysterically funny if you have a
really twisted sense of humor.
We also talked about music:
punk (yes, he listened to the Pis
tols and The Clash), Deadheads
and crowd behavior. Let this be
your "Get to Know Guilford Pro
fessor Month," you might try
Powell through E-mail or just sniff
him out because, as you can prob
ably tell, he's a very busy man.
Editor's note: Powell spent the
last two years in Ireland and
Newfoundland.
Jonathan White
Staff Writer
Collard Green College put out a
literary magazine twice a year
called The Cropper. Randy hap
pened to pick one up. Now Randy
could smell shelled swamp rot
through most magazines, so-called
literary magazines peeled apart by
editorial skunks with roadkill
stink. To Randy's surprise the
magazine was filled with poems by
most of the editors and only two
poems that were written by stu
dents not involved with the publi
cation. Randy was furious with
hate and started kicking up a fuss
out loud to himself.
"Now just wait one damn
minute! These so called literary
trashzines are fer the people by the
people who pay fer the editorial
trust which should allow the voices
of the campus to shriek and shrill.
This here is a sack o' corn cobbed
ears cut All these poems are by,
cept 2 or 3, the editors.
"Is The Crapper fer the elitist
burning bush seekers? Did that
bush say in a loud thunder tone,
Thou shalt not publish the voice
of campus rats. They write and
they write rubbish'? Did the tab
let read and tell yer minds to con
ceive a polite attempt to stick all
of yer filthy ink-stained palms to
pass out poems only you wrote on
index cards so ya could send yer
&eptembtr 24,1993
names to Grad schools and com
munities of green ink spoil?
"Poets must publish, editors
publish poets, and does this mean
that poets must place bets on their
work against the emperors/editors
and their train of pink poem po
sies?
"Point being, that if a hunter
know that thar's birds out in the
woods, but he don't see none, he
searches further into the thicket to
flush 'em out If the writers are
not forthcoming, SEARCH FUR
THER."
Randy was rightly concerned
and decided to talk with the fac
ulty advisor of The Crapper, who
was about to head out west to an
other college. Randy paraphrased
his spilt innerds to Marv Gails and
he said, "Well, yeah, the editors
pulled the shades over on me. I
did not get to see all that was sub
mitted to The Crapper." Thus, he
washed his hands clean like Pilot,
unlike the editorial board.
Randy with his hands shoved in
his pockets, grumbled out to
whomever was listening, "What
can these self-centered porridge
poet eater say fer themselves? Can
they say they looked into each cor
ner for the darkest root to be
picked, or did they finger them
selves for the issue?"
UNION
EVENTS
Friday, Sep. 24
Colonel Bruce
Hampton & the Aquarium
Rescue Unit
-student need to bring
their LD.'s
-off-campus $lO
9:00 PM
Dana Auditorium
Sunday, Sep. 26
movie in the Under
ground
"Resevoir Dogs"
8:00 PM
Monday, Sep. 27 -
Union Forum
-all students welcome
9:00 PM
Boren Lounge
Thursday, Sep. 30 -
Roilerskating
-free for Guilford
Students
10:30 PM-12:30 AM
Skateland USA
Friday, Oct. 1 -
Student Coffeehouse
8:00 PM-10:00 PM
Sternberg er