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THE TWIG
October 25, 1957
PROFESSORS ARE PEOPLE
One of the many projects of our busy little school is to “establish
better faculty-student relationships.” The idea, everyone agrees, is all
very well and good; it is an area that needs improvement. However, we
have come to a sad pass when improving relationships must be organized.
Take, for example, these faculty-student teas. They are fine in thern-
selves, but there can be no amount of teas or any otjier function that will
make the students and faculty feel friendlier toward each other.
Too often we students think of the faculty as some Thing whose shell
must be cracked by toilsome and united effort. The professors do not,
and should not, want to be chums with the students. Socially, we live
in different worlds; academically, however, we are merely on different
planes, and surely the planes are within speaking distance.
Of course we have tremendous respect for our teachers. They have
attained what we, in some degree, are still working toward. But respect
should not include frigid smiles and discusson of only-those-things-
pertinent-to-class. Meredith is a community small enough to know many
people well. When we have the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with
those who are really cognizant, it seems foolish to miss the chance.
It is difficult to classify any particular group of persons. One cannot
generalize realistically about the Student or the Professor as a type.
Taken individually, however, professors are not faculty, but people. Also,
most of them are very nice people. N. J.
WE APPROVE
The task of feeding over five hundred girls three meals a day and
planning those meals on a limited budget in so far as possible to suit
the tastes of so varied a throng must indeed be a tremendous job.
This doesn’t concern freshmen and transfers who have no way of
knowing, but honestly upperclassmen, don’t you think the food in the
dining hall is just a little better this year than it has been in the past?
Aren’t you finding it a bit harder to complain? Does not the sight of a
cream puff dessert inspire you to praise? Perhaps occasional complaint,
being only human, is justified and expected from a college student, but
when something is good, what then. . . ? What makes us forget that the
little words “thank-you” are not out of style even for a Meredith girl.
Mrs. Hunter is the new dietitian’s name. N. M.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
There is a time and place for every clutch, but it is not at five of
eleven and on the breezeway. I’m not objecting to a goodnight kiss, but
couples in wildly passionate embraces can be very embarrassing for a
girl on her first date.
What must visitors, coming to our campus for the first time, think after
seeing such unladylike displays of affection? If dancing is a “tool of the
devil” these embraces would make up his complete workshop.
All of us complain about not being treated as adults. In order to
assume more responsibilities and obtain more freedom, we must first
prove ourselves capable of accepting our role in an adult society. Heedless
display of affection is certainly no mark of maturity. Sally Newton.
MEMBER
Associated Collegiate Press
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor Joyner
Associate Editor Nancy McGlamery
Managing Editor ;;'LV • i'
Assistant Editors Marcia Allen, Lillian Brandon, Bobbie Conley, Bob barly
Eeature Editor Ma>-y Ann Brown
Music Editor Joyw Stallman
Drama Editor . Susan Moss
Sports Editor Stuart James
Aotographer Nancy Craig
Columnists Margaret Paris, Juanita Swindler, Louise White
Reports Lela Cagle, Lelia Davenport, Cynthia Denny, Lynda Evans,
Joy Goldsmith, Sue Matzner, Janice Morgan, Sally Newton, Annabel Ray
Faculty Sponsor .-..Dr. Norma Rose
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager Barbara Hazelwood
Advertising Manager Joyce Ann Foster
Circulation Manager . Linda Jenkins
Assistant Circulation Manager FrMces Thomas
Mailing Editors Diaue Stokes
Chie) Typist Emily Gilbert
Advertising Staff Alice Allsbrook, Betsy Moore, Liz Millikin,
Eden Bowen, Shirla Griffin, Babs Howard, Rose Daniels
Typists Harriet Hill, Tennie Huskie, Mona Fay Horton, Dons
Dixon, Virgina Byrne, Linda Smith . _ .
Faculty Sponsor Miss Lois Frazier
Entered as second-class matter October 11, 1923, at post office at Raleigh,
N C under Act of March 8, 1879. Published semi-monthly during the months
of' October, April, and May; monthly during the months of November, December, January,
is the college newspaper of Meredith College, Raleigh. North Caro-
lina and as such is one of the three major publications of the institution the
other two being The Acorn, the literary magazine, and The Oak. Leaves, the
^*^lJtoedith College is an accredited senior liberal arts college for women located
in the capital city of North Carolina. It confers the Bachelor of Arts and the
Bachelor of Music degrees. The college offers majors in twenty-one fields
including music, art, business and home economics ^ x
Since 1921 the institution has been a member of the Southern Association of
Colleces and Secondary Schools. The college holds membership in the Associa
tion of American Colleges and the North Carolina College Conference. Gradu
ates of Meredith College are eligible for menibership in the American
Association of University Women. The institution is a liberal arts member of
the National Assciation of Schools of Music.
Subscription Rates: $2.95 per year
The Twig is served by National Advertising Service, Inc., 420 Madison Ave.,
New York 17, New York.
Lou’s Remarks
By LOUISE WHITE
It is eleven-fifteen on a Meredith
dormitory hall. The mail has been
taken down, the hall lights have
been turned off, and the hall proc
tor has complacently retired to her
room. According to the Handbook,
everyone else has done likewise, and
studious silence prevails the campus.
That is according to the Handbook.
In common practice, eleven-fifteen
is the moment when noisy activity
really begins. People begin to sneak
up and down the halls. If they could
sneak quietly, it would not be too
bad; but unfortunately, they slam
their doors and race madly down the
corridor. Scarcely has the rever
beration of the first slam and the
thud of big bare feet ceased when
a second door slams and youthful
voices rise in unrestrained laughtcL
Gaiety is fine, but must it be saved
for midnight? Apparently Meredith
wit reaches its peak at the witching
hour. Of course, everybody does not
roam around yelling and slamming
doors, because there is another way
to add to the confusion. People can
bathe. Cleanliness is a virtue, but
running water in and out of tubs can
shatter Handbook peace and hall-
proctor complacency to bits. The
proctor cannot often trap the roam
ing ones who are loud but sly. How
ever, the sound of rushing water and
gurgling pipes can be traced to its
source, so the conscientious proctor
adds to the racket by thudding down
the hall to give call-downs. Strange
as it may seem, the people under,
over, or beside the laughter, water,
and thuds may be sleeping or study
ing. But then, such people must be
social misfits who are not college
material at all.
FROM THE
CONTEMPORARY SCENE
Before the October issues of Es
quire Magazine are thrown into the
wastebasket or filed away in an ob
scure place, for this magazine cannot
be considered to contain the best in
writing or reading, I would like to
call attention to a post-mortem piece
of writing, published for the first
time by Esquire (October). Wel
come to Our City is a ten-scene play
by the late Thomas Wolfe. This play
was the first complete work that
Wolfe tried to sell. After a four-
months period of waiting, Wolfe re
ceived word that the New York
Theatre Guild would accept his play
for production if he would make
certain revisions. Wolfe agreed to
make these revisions but later came
to realize that a change in the play
would be a change in its spirit and
message. In his own words: “I have
written this play with thirty-odd
named characters because it required
it, not because I didn’t know how
to save paint. Some day I’m going
to write a play with fifty, eighty, a
hundred people—a whole town, a
whole race, a whole epoch. . . .’’The
play was put away, and Wolfe turned
his attention to other things, namely
the writing of five books before his
death and enough manuscript pages
to yield posthumously four more.
Welcome to Our City does con
tain many difficulties as far as stage
production is concerned; however
these difficulties do not detract from
the literary merit of the play or the
genius of its writer. The very in
teresting side light of this play is its
prophetic theme: the tensions caused
by Southern segregation. Writing this
in 1922, Wolfe was able to foresee
the inevitable “Battle of Status Quo”
between the Southern whites and
Negroes. A Thomas Wolfe devotee
or even casual reader will be at home
in this play. The setting is Altamont
(Asheville) during the ’20’s, when
“Boost For Greater Altamont” and
“100,000 by 1930” were the mottos
for progressive growth. Mr. Henry
Sorrell, Governor Preston Carr, and
Joseph Bailey, the same characters
who made brief appearances in Look
Homeward, Angel, are not only
magnificently created as representa
tives of this era but also just as mag-
1 nificently are dissected, each to be
come briefly aware of the futility of
his mottoed life. Mr. Rutledge and
the Negro Johnson, two more of the
main characters, begin the battle
with gentlemanly agreements about
who shall have the homestead once
owned by Rutledge’s family and now
owned by Negro Johnson. More
characters, more shallow, unrealized
lives and more mounting tension lead
to the outbreak of a civil war within
the town. It is the unconscious
struggle for assertion—supremacy
for the white versus equality for the
Negro—that forms the plot of the
play. The characters are men with
shallow convictions but with fanati
cal dedication to their shallow con
victions. A frightening reality is
presented: in 195-7 these roles are
too easily filled by members of our
society.
-With the publication of this play
an important, yet unpublished, side
of Thomas Wolfe comes into full
view: his strident protest against the
prejudices of his native South. This
protest comes, “carrying with it all
'the vibrance of Wolfe in his youth,
the artistic mistakes he would admit
but ignore, the frightening urgency
of a compulsive writer who realized
even then that he would never really
find the time and space to write all
the words that had to be said.”
Welcome to Our City: a neces
sary, effective protest, but more—
a study of personality against per
sonality by the subtle ridicule of
Thomas Wolfe. M. Paris.
CURTAIN CALL
By SUSAN MOSS
How much claim does a mother
have on her grown sons’ lives? This
is the question dealt with in the
Playhouse Fall Production, The
Silver Cord by Sidney Howard,
being presented November 8 and 9.
Mrs. Phelps, a disarming, middle-
aged, over-possessive mother, tries
desperately to keep her two sons,
Robert and David, bound to her by
the ties of filial love. The younger
son, Robert, is engaged to lovely
young Hester, and David has just
come home with his new bride
Christina. Determined to hold on
to her sons, Mrs. Phelps battles with
Hester and Christina for the inde
pendence and lives of Robert and
David.
Rehearsals are well under way
for the cast and committee heads
have been appointed by the presi
dent of the Playhouse, Katie Joyce
Eddins. Remember, any work you
do on this production onstage or
behind the scenes entitles you to
full membership in the Playhouse
and begins your accumulation of
Musical Notes
By JOYCE SKILLMAN
The Civic Music program on
October 15 was attended by many
of our students. The performing
artist was soprano Metropolitan
star, Milanov. One of the interesting
things about her program was the
performance of several songs com
posed by her accompanist.
The S. A. I.’s have been making
plans which sound as if they will
be kept quite busy this year. The
programs for this month include the
pledging of new members, and a
joint program and musicale with
music fraternities from East Caro
lina College. Other plans for the
near future call for some hard work
on the part of the members, for they
plan to re-decorate the S. A. I. room
very soon.
The Triple Trio seems to be hav
ing trouble keeping its members
healthy long enough! to have a re
hearsal. This group, composed of
Clara Hudson, Angeline Norris, Jo
Anne Penny, Nancy Perkins, Peggy
Bone, Joyce Skillman, Margaret
Slate, Jacqueline Harrison, and
Becky Murray, will give their first
performance of the year for the
Four-H Convention in Raleigh on
October 27. This group will also ap
pear at Meredith on the program for
Stunt Night.
It has been observed by some
students that three of the senior
music majors seem to have regressed
back to grammar school music. Lest
someone fear a recital of songs about
squirrels, kittens, witches and
spooks, let me clarify the matter.
When you hear Nancy Perkins,
Becky Murray and me singing about
the above subjects and blowing on
tonettes and pitch pipes, we are
merely practicing for our student
teaching lessons, not our senior re
citals.
points needed for Alpha Psi Omega,
the National Dramatic Fraternity.
Television is here to stay, the
Theater Owners of North and !»uth
Carolina have finally admitted. “TV
is inevitable—it’s here—we’ve got
to get along with it,” one movie ex
hibitor conceded. This gentleman’s
ancestors no doubt sat on the Cave
man Council and declared, “Women
are inevitable—they’re here—we’ve
got to get along with them.” Then,
fearful lest he wake his mate, he
tiptoed cautiously and meekly in
the cave door that next morning
after a night out with the boys chas
ing dinosaurs.
I agree with Mr. Theater Owner
and Mr. Cave Man that TV and
women both have firmly fixed places
in our society. But I do not intend to
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