Page 2 The Carolina Journal October 23, 1968
Apathy is Alive
and Well at UNC-C
A Guest Editorial
By Richard Dedmon
(Editor's note : Richard Dedmon is the chairman of the
Coffee house sub-committee of the Union Arts
Committee He is primarily responsiblee for the fine
decoration and efficient organization of last weeks
rendition of The Green Garter Coffee House, which
finished up a very unsuccessful ^''^Sagement (if success is to
be measured in numbers of customers) at UNC-C. Rtfhard
is a clean-cut. hard working young man who made the
mistake of getting involved.)
Having just recently taken on the responsibility for a
Union activity, 1 have for this first time felt the effect of
something everyone on campus seems to be aware of, but
no one has done much about. We’ve all heard about it,
we’ve read about it, and a few have been receptive enough
to realize that it really exists. But has anyone done
anything about it? From the record of attendance at the
Green Garter Coffee House last week, my observation is an
emphatic “no.”
The Green Garter featured an exceptionally good duo
who travel under the name of Donnery and Rudd, as well
as some very good campus talent. It opened well
Wednesday, October 16 and ran through Saturday,
October 19. Wednesday evening’s attendance was so small
that 1 was actually embarrased to charge an admission. By
small 1 mean three or four paying couples. Thurday
evening would have been no better had there not been an
art exhibit upstairs and had these people not stopped by
the Green Garter afterwards. Friday saw an improvement
in attendance; Saturday was by far our best night, but
when you consider the size of our student body, you
wonder what happened to all of them. Do they turn into
pumpkins Friday after class?
riicre are always good reasons why people can’t come
out, and to those who did, 1 extend my thanks, and I’m
sure they found it well worth the trip; but, let’s face it,
some people Just don’t care. To those people who Just did
not feel like it, all I have to say is that they missed a very
good show. I’m not all sorry for them That’s Just plain
tough.
I am far from blaming the students for all of the
difliciilties we may have had in this production. However,
I do find it frustrating to work like the ArtsCommitte and
my assistants have worked and have no one take enough
interest to come out and see what its all about. We have
had problems with publicity and this did hurt us. One of
our biggest problems occured when THE CAROLINA
JOURNAL did not publish a paper last week.
The campus newspaper is the one way to communicate
with all tlie students, not Just those who come into the
Union, I realize that this was not the fault of the editor or
his staff. As a few of the interested students know, the
reciuested budgets for student activities has been
significantly cut, and Mr. Smith simply couldn’t afford to
publish a newspaper. Hopefully the difficulty encountered
by the Green Garter may wake up a few complacent
people in student government and cause them to correct
the mistake. 1 realize that our budget has to be handled
carefully and with restraint, but believe it or not, people,
you have to have money to operate a newspaper, a Green
Garter, dance, or anything else on this campus. If our
campus is lacking anything, it is communication among all
the students. Our newspaper serves the purpose and serves
it well, so if the budget has to be cut for God’s sake don’t
cut publication. When our newspaper suffers, we all suffer.
flic preceeding paragraph may seem to diviate from my
discussion of Apatliy in connection with the Green Garter.
My point is, however, that we are expected to do so much
with so little and in the end no one seems to care.
For some reason I had the feeling at the first of this
semester thattliis year was going to be different. We were
going to have people coming to dances. We were going to
have students contributing to the newspaper, tlu
BARN,STORMER, and helping on the yearbook staff; we
were going to have all the lielp we could use in running an
effective and productive Union. We were also going to have
the best Green Garter yet.
We have some sharp people in this school. We ve got
some good leaders, but they can t do it by themselves.
Although today is filled with weariness, frustration, and a
headache from four long weeks ol painstaking preparation
for a Green Garter that few took the time to know about
or come to. 1 see a hope some where out there-there in the
mass of students on the campus of UNC G. Maybe, Just
maybe, someday we will have some Indians to tollow our
chiefs, and the student body will rise off it s can and take
an interest in the things this school has to olter.
REACT!
By Tim Brittan
The time is now, the place
is here, the person is you. At
no time in the history of our
civilization have we, the
students in the Universities
and Colleges, had such an
opportunity to take an active
part in reforming social
attitudes. Students are the
focal point of attention in
nearly every country of the
world, not because they are
apathetic, but because they
are vocal, and adamant in the
expression of their opinions.
Too many of us leave it to
someone else to express
acceptance or rejection of
institutional action of social
ideology. It is time we
expanded our communica-
tional sphere beyond the
realm of our group of friends.
Tremendous influence can be
brought to bear upon our
legislative bodies by a
coordinated expression of
views. It is time for reaction,
*irne for student opinion to
be consolidated, to be placed
before the world in an
organized form.
The injustices done to
humanity by our predecessors
cannot be dismissed by the
statement: that’s life. This
life is what we, collectively,
make it. It is up to us now to
demand change - change
from an extremely unpopular
state of war, an unjust draft,
continued discrimination by
race, color and creed, and an
unfair system of taxation.
If we want change, we
must react, in the manner
most likely to achieve our
goal. Time is of the utmost
importance. We are in a
changing society, directed by
influence groups. The time
for action is now. We must
become an influence group,
with activity as a byword.
Our views must be heard and
recognized, from the campus
to the world. It is not
sufficient to merely criticize
unjust conditions to your
neighbor. Express your views
publicly, to all with whom
you mice contact.
The elected officials of our
government are acutely aware
of the importance of student
support for major legislation,
expecially that of a social
nature. It is time we made
this awareness a matter of
pressing urgency. Our elected
legislators must be made to
feel an obhgation to represent
the interests of the students
of the United States of
America.
Our voice can be heard, it
must be heard. Share your
views with your friends,
speak out in criticism or
praise, write your elected law
and policy makers. It is only
through these efforts that
meaningful change can be
brought about in the world to
come. The world we will live
in tomorrow is being made
today. Take part in its
creation, REACT NOW.
FALL IS.
I Fall is...
- much more than pretty girls
I in short dresses on football
I Saturdays
- more than festivals and fairs
I and such
-even more than a time to ride
up the Blue Ridge Parkway to see
the leaves.
Fall is...
-a time for nature to display
her finest achievements, whether
'.hey consist of colors or forms
-a light chilling breeze that
musses hair and ripples banners
-a walk in the park as all the
lovers are heading for cozy
firesides and worried mothers
begin to call for stray children
-a bright red sunset, with
golden lined clouds Just above the
horizon
-a full, orange harvest moon,
lunetics’ delight
-hot Dutch chocolate in a cold
corner of the public library as
dusk begins to settle over the
town
-a friendly feeling that/Cjises
one to speak to strangers aiiu
greet old enemies
-a silly little black stick you
found in the country and kept
-a long walk along a quiet lake
beach with a friend
-a nice time to begin Jogging
-our season to be kind to
costumed neighbors’ children
-the first of a long, pleasant
series of logs in the fireplace
-a time for new relevations,
libations, indoctrinations
-the period of peace in the
world of nature, days of rest and
pleasantry for the native
Portrait of a Father: “A medical student, an oarsman, a
tenor, an amateur actor, a shouting politician, a small
landlord, a small investor, a drinker, a good fellow, a
storyteller, somebody’s secretary, something in a distillery,
a taxgatherer, a bankrupt, and at present a praiser of his
own past.”
— James Joyce
Editor’s Comments
We would like to thank Richard
Dedmon for his guest editorial
that appears in this week’s
JOURNAL. Richard, you have
arrived at the point of
involvement at which one begin to
realize that the vast majority of
the students don’t really care if
entertainment on campus is not
top notch. If no one tells them,
they may never discover what the
quality of entertainment is. These
students are not apathetic; they
just do not care. Nice try,,
Richard, but nice trys, hard work,
and genuine \ concern seem to be
out of place here, at least for the
time being. Hope lies in the
future, though not, we think, in
the near future. Judging from the
amount of participation in this
year’s freshmen elections.
Next week Journal will feature
a view of national elections by
John Lafferty, a pre-law student
who serves the University as Chief
Justice of the Student Court.
Keep those cards and letters
coming, folks.
THE CAROLINA JOURNAL
EDITOR R. T. Smith
Feature Editor F.N.Stewart
Copy Editor Sherry Drake
Photography Editor Churck Howard
BUSINESS MANAGER Wayne Eason
Staff: Mike Combs, Walt Sherill, John Lafferty, Bill Billups,
Rod Wliite, Kay Watson, Donna Raley, Mike Purser, Jenny
Wood, Linda Craven, Louise Napolitano, B. J. Smith, Larry
McAfee, Phil Wilson, and W,1.T,(?)
g ADVISOR
. Dr. H. Leon Gatlin
• 9 • •
peasantry
-apples of green and apples of
red, cider and pie, and canning for
the preserving winter soon to
follow
-foil to the whims of warring
nations (or is it the other way
round?)
-a blanket of birds that blots
out the sun in the late afternoon
-hurrying footprints along the
sidewalk
-a greeting time , a meeting
time, almost invariably a heating
time
-a time when men can shed
their differences, their
retributions- their hate
—cold rain showering on
the heads of solemn figures in
mock-black
-the two or three months when
one wonders how he would look
with a hat
—a rural lane, otherwise
unoccupied, save one figure
content in its conspicuous
solitude.
—anniversaries, universities,
intimacies
-legal actions, retractions,
illegal actions
-warm days - sudden surprise
of cold days
-broken hearts, guitar string,
and analogies
-the pleasant chill that begins
at the neck and seeks the end of
the spinal chord as one first hears
those words of youth and finality
- “1 love you”
-cold mornings and colder
floors
-calluses from the old ax that
stands in the corner
-that time when plans are made
and laid at the kitchen table over
strong coffee and smiling talk
--preparation for the
culmination of the temporal unit
that makes us all slaves to its
arbitrary agent - the calander
-just another part of that
everlasting cycle of which we are
all satiated victims at one time or
another, even those who must
resist all forms of teleology and
order.
Fall is...
-less than perfect, but not
much less.
It is really what you make it-
joy or sorrow, warmth or chill,
life or death, fast or slow, victory
or defeat, love or hate. Fall is one
fourth of that framework around
which a man can build his life.
Fall is opportunity.