Page two
THE TWIG
May 23, 1952
ON VOTING
Register today! Your vote can change
the world!
Have you seen these words around
Raleigh recently? Have you ever
stopped to think what they really
mean? The average American citizen
thinks voting is just one more item on
his list of humdrum things to do; that it
is his duty to vote but it really won’t
mean too much in the long run. Yes,
says the registrar, your vote is one in
many, but what would happen if your
attitude existed among all American
citizens? Do you think our government
could operate successfully with such an
indifferent public? Suppose you lived
behind the Iron Curtain, where you had
no choice as to who your leaders were
going to be? Do you think those people
care who will dictate to them? Now,
they have been in servitude so long,
they act like puppets and probably
wouldn’t know what it meant if they
had the chance to vote. And what about
women before they got the right to
vote? Women said that since men had
made such a corruption of politics, they
should at least be able to try to change
conditions. But now what? Women to
day have equal voting rights with men,
but some don’t even think it is worth it
to go down to the polls for even a few
minutes. It was shown in the last na
tional election that only 65 per cent of
those eligible to vote exercised their
power. You might be right in thinking
that one vote won’t change anything to
any noticeable degree, but collectively
tho.se 35 per cent of non-voting citizens
could!
teachers are too unreasonable, the chap
el speakers are too boring, or it’s too
hot to live. Aside from the fact that it’s
too hot to have hot coffee for Sunday
dinner though, don’t you think that we
could replace some of our griping with
a little appreciation? After all, we’re
grown up enough to be assuming adult
responsibilities and learning to face
things as they are.
I heard the other day of a college
graduate who resigned her teaching po
sition after teaching only two weeks.
She quit because she had to make her
own fire every morning. Are we that
helpless? We might as well learn right
now that life isn’t always a bed of roses;
we might as well learn to make the best
of what we have. Life’s a lot happier
when we do our part to make it so, and
it can be mighty miserable when we
spend it complaining.
D. P.
Meredith students who are able to
vote have a big responsibility now and
also when they go out in their com
munities to encourage others by their
interests and actions to exercise their
voting rights. As future citizens, we
should accept this responsibility gladly,
realizing that the world can be changed
by our votes!
J. L.
ON COMPLAINING
Don't you think we do a lot of un
necessary complaining? It seems that
the soup has too many vegetables, the
Pssocioled GDlie Cidte Pi'esf
May. monthly during the months of September, De-
oember. and January
Since 19S1 the Institution has been a member
at the SouUieni Association of Colleges and Secon
dary Schools. The college holds membership In
the Assoeletioa of American Colleges and the
north Carolina College Conference. Graduates of
Keradlth CoUage are eligible for membership in
the American Aasociatloo of University Women.
Tike instMwIloa is a liberal arts member of the
Wallen el Aeeoeiation of Schools of Muaie.
remember all the formulas I so hur
riedly memorized last night. Maybe
there is something to this “study-as-you-
go” technique. But, really, my mind
just isn’t used to take in bits of in
formation. It thrives on masses of ma
terial. Masses! Boy! Will I have to cram
tonight. Twelve o’clock. Guess I’d bet
ter start. What to do first, that’s the
question. Sleepy, and this early! A coke
should pep me up, though. Gee, I didn’t
realize there was so much to learn. I’ll
never do this again. I am going to study
next year—every day. Umm . . . maybe
I’d better be honest with myself. Next
year the same motto will rule my life:
Always put off until tomorrow what
you can do today.
Is it a hopeless situation?
S. P.
ON FRIENDLINESS
ON CRAMMING
I’ll never do this again, if only I live
through the night! Next year. . . . Next
year, sure, but what about this year,
this week, these exams? Oh well. I’ll
get by. I always do. A few sleepless
nights are worth a C on a course. Don’t
you agree? And if I can do it, why not?
Enjoy yourself; it’s later than you
think. That’s my maxim, and it’s a good
one too, until exam time. Then, it’s
really later than I think. So—I try to
learn a semester’s work in one night.
Tomorrow morning I face an English
exam. Tonight I try to push and to
force into my sleep-clogged mind dull,
blunt facts, and abstract comparisons
and interpretations—just for tomor
row. During that math exam today, my
coke-drugged braitl simply refused to
Friendliness is a common word—one
used to cover many acts. It may be just
a smile at a lonesome child or it may be
the act of lending one’s best evening
dress for a big affair in another’s life.
Occasionally slurs are cast at it; some
one may be described as “over-eager’
or “just a big flirt” when actually she
is being nice in the only way she
knows. Sometimes people take advan
tage of it and begin being friendly only
when your best-looking date is present.
Those beau-snatchers are easy to spot,
though. They drool on you over him!
This summer will give Meredith An
gels a chance to prove that they really
are as friendly as their reputation. So
brush up on those Ipana smiles which
have been darkened by term papers and
dire thoughts of exams, and finish this
year up as a friendly year.
Generally speaking, I would say that,
of two general types of music fans, tlmre
are corresponding terms that, when
uttered, have marked effect on the re
spective hearer and speaker.
To the suave, sophisticated gentle
man who constantly is dressed in a tux
and white shirt, and going to a sympho
ny concert, nothing could produce a
more vivid shade of red upon his ele
vated countenance than the casual men
tion of jazz! He will swear by Bach,
Beethoven, and Brahms that a more
outrageous defilement of the realm of
music he has never encountered! On the
other hand, he may refuse to recognize
the horrid concoction of inharmonious
confusion so much as even a fifth cou-
twice removed to true music. In
sin
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor Doris Perry
Assistant Editor Joan Langley
Managing Editors Bobbie Addy, Marjorie
Blankenship, Nancy Brown
Photo Editor Elinor Averre
Art Editor Ann Bruton
Music Editor Betty Miller
Sports Editor Lorrette Oglesby
Columnists Bobbye Rice, Alyce Epley,
Charlotte Taylor
Reporters Allen Hart, Celia Wells,
Becky Calloway, Ann Ipock, Louise
Edge, Joyce Stephens, Leah Scarborough,
Evelyn Boone, Georganne Joyner, Ruth
Jeanne Allen, Beth Morgan, Nancy Hall,
Barbara White, Betty Smith
Typists Joyce Phillips, Janne Dawson,
Mary Ann Casey, Joyce Brown
Faculty Sponsor Dr. Norma Rose
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager Venetia Stallings
Advertising Manager Shirley West
Advertising Staff Marjorie Stewart,
Shirley McLean, Sara Mangum, Jane
Campbell, Pat Allen, Joan Haithwaite,
Peggy Bennett
Circulation Manager Janis Witherington
By LOUISE EDGE
These last-days of May, with the sum
mer vacation to look forward to, are
happy days for Meredith angels. But
there is something a little sad about
May and the closing of school, as this
poem from The Appalachian indicates:
Arcadian drifts of bygone Mays
Return in ever-thronging ways.
Calling back in retrospect
Dream-enshrouded yesterdays.
Along the rose-aisled paths of green.
Moss-flanked brooks of shade serene;
Testing deep, Pierian,
Childhood’s brief, enchanted dream
The May Day festival held sway.
The Prom, the Senior Play;
A diary would be cherished
Long after graduation day. . . .
Initials carved upon a bark.
An arrow through, that pierced the
heart;
Would time efface the letters there.
And lead us far apart?
The hour at dusk passed all too soon.
And with it all our life’s regret;
Perennial May passed on to June,
.But memories linger yet. . . .
The closing of a college year should
also be a time for evaluating what has
been accomplished during the year. In
order to do this, one should have an
understanding of what education is. The
following paragraph, taken from an edi
torial in The Appalachian, gives a good
description:
“Education isn’t just exposing people
to facts they do not know, but it is the
changing of the whole individual. An
educated person talks, acts, and thinks
differently. Therefore, we might con
clude that we cannot be educated in a
hurry, and no one is educated until there
is evidence of intellectual stamina. Let’s
look up the word intelligence. It comes
from two Latin words, which taken
together, mean ‘to choose or discrimi
nate between two or more things.’ The
word college means ‘a carefully se
lected group of persons, selected pre-
(Continued on page six)
either case, Mr. Penguin Sophisticate
is moved only by the crashing cymbals,
tender violin, and majestic music of the
concert hall. He is impressed by the el
derly gentleman with long, white hair
streaming over his ears that occasional
ly flys helter-skelter in congruity with
his windmill-like arms. And even
to spell out softly the letters B-o-o-g-i-e,
will cause this music lover to turn os
trich, find the nearest record shop cub
by hole, and recover his shaken com
posure gradually to the soothing strains
of “Ritual Fire Dance.” But there is an
other side to the story—ah, yes indeed!
There is the newly-developed species of
homo sapiens known as the cat. Not to
be mistaken for the four-legged feline
creature also named, this unusual
sprout from the tree of mankind has
actually the same physical characteris
tics as his opposite, previously des
cribed. The differentiation lies chiefly
within, although I must not fail to
mention marks of distinction. Pegged
trousers, duck-tailed hair cuts, loud-
colored jackets frequently accompanied
by T-shirts, dangling key chains, and a
“got-the-world-by-its-tail” attitude will
identify this specific creature. A slight
mention of Strauss waltzes and Debus
sy compositions will bring forth from
this person an outthrust hand, palm
downward, a sneering countenance, and
usually a brief comment which might be
“Square” or “Corn” or “Longhair.”
But speak of King Size Poppa, Sax
(Continued on page four)
Knterad aa MCond-cUiM matter October 11, 1933,
at poxtoffloa at Raleigh, N. C., under Act of March
B, 1879, Pnbllabed aemi-monthly during the monthi
of October. November, Februa^, March, April, and
Th* Twig is the college newspaper of Mere
dith College, Raleigh. North Carolina, and as such
Is one of the three major publications of the insti
tution—the other two being The Acorn, the literary
magazine, and The Oak Leaves, the college annual.
Meredith College is an accredited senior liberal
arts college for women located in the capital city
of North Carolina. It confers the Bachelor of Arts
aad the Bachelor of Music degrees. The college
offers majors in twenty-one flelds including music,
art, business and home economics.
Dear Students,
Did you hear about the raid some
Carolina boys made on one of the girls’
dormitories? Did you know that Caro
lina may have Saturday classes next
year? Did you know that in recent stu
dent polls it was found that Campbell
students are, by a large majority, sup
porting Olive for governor and that
Cornell students want Pogo for presi
dent? Did you know that The Twig re
ceives papers from about twenty col
leges and universities telling all this
and other news?
Because we think you would enjoy
reading these papers, The Twig staff
is inviting you to come by the publica
tions room on first Jones and read them
anytime you like. You will find the pa
pers on the long table just inside the
publications room. Come in and find out
what’s happening among other students.
The Staff.