10The Daily Tar HeelTuesday, April 19, 1988
3V Batlg
96th year of editorial freedom
Jean Lutes,
KATHY Pi Tt RS, Managing V. Jit or
Karen Bfi i . .NVicr V.J it or
Matt Bivf.ns. Aoaate f.(r
KlMBERLY EOENS, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL. Sj and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
Kelly Rhodes, rts Editor
Mandy Spence, Design Editor
Search for space
There ain't room enough in the
Monogram Building for the both of
'em, says the UNC administration. But
that's not the point. Once again, the
UNC administration's modus oper
andi has left much to be desired.
Given the huge rise in applications
to UNC, it's undeniable that there's
a need to enlarge the admissions staff
and office area. The obvious answer
is expanding the admissions depart
ment into the back of the Monogram
Building, where the Circus Room is
now located.
The Circus Room is more than a
mid-afternoon and late-night snack
bar; many students use the Circus
Room as a grocery store as well. Those
students should have been consulted
before any decision affecting the store
was made.
Nonetheless, way back on February
11, Chancellor Christopher Fordham
decided to allow the expansion and
to temporarily house the additional
admissions staff in the basement of
Cobb dorm.
Unfortunately, this was not a
concerned administration quickly
responding to a recent Student Con
gress resolution calling for an increase
in the admissions staff.
The chancellor, as of last Thursday,
had not raised the issue with his own
student-faculty Building and Grounds
committee. Nor did he consult last
year's Morehead Confederation or
Olde Campus governor, Residence
Give the BCC director a chance
Margo Crawford will become the
first director of the Black Cultural
Center July 1. She is well-qualified for
the post in addition to holding
several teaching and administrative
posts, Crawford co-authored a 530
page book, "Contemporary Black
America." She includes Maya Angelou
as a reference on her resume.
Students should welcome the addi
tion of an enthusiastic BCC director
to the University community. Given
a chance, she could accomplish a great
deal.
But the BCC is carrying a lot of
baggage that must be shed quickly.
Sometimes sarcastically referred to as
the "Black Cultural Corner," the center
is a small section of the Union, closed
off by glass walls. A paper sign above
the door identifies it as the BCC, and
a newspaper column on the door
proclaims, "Black Cultural Center is
a handout."
The original proposal said the center
should house an Afro-American
reading collection; display contempor
ary African and Afro-American art;
and sponsor events highlighting black
culture.
Obviously, there is quite a difference
between what administrators prom
ised and what they delivered.
Fortunately, Crawford is moving in
the right direction. Both Crawford and
The Daily Tar Heel
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production assistants.
Printing: The Chapel Hill Newspaper.
Star 191
Editor
JON RUST. Managing Editor
KAARIN TlSUE. Neus Editor
Amy Hamilton. Ijoo Editor
KR1STEN GARDNER. University Editor
Will Lingo, aty Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, features Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
a 3-ring circus
Hall Association president or student
body president before reaching a
decision last February.
Students learned of the decision last
Friday, at what the new Morehead
Confederation governor described as
a "purely informational" meeting.
Student opinion would be solicited
only about the future location of the
Circus Room, which the vice chancel
lor and dean for Student Affairs has
pledged will remain open in some form
throughout the process.
But students are understandably
suspicious about administrative prom
ises. In the past, converting one level
of a dorm to administrative offices has
led to the conversion of the entire
dorm. That process claimed Carr,
Smith, Steele and Battle-Vance-Pettigrew
dormitories.
However unlikely the prospect of a
conquest of Cobb dorm, the past
speaks for itself. Conversions aren't
instantaneous, but like kudzu, they
proceed with gradual inevitability.
The administration's approach to
expanding the admissions staff
excluded students until late in the
decision-making process, near the
close of the semester. Such an
approach fuels student fears about the
consequences of the move.
By excluding interested student
groups from the process, Fordham has
only reinforced the legacy of distrust
between students and administrators.
Stuart Hathaway
Edith Wiggins, associate vice chancel
lor of Student Affairs, have said they
view the current BCC as nothing more
than a temporary base of operations
until a real center can be constructed.
But understandably, many students
are tired of being told to wait. Unless
Crawford can change the BCC's image
as a token gesture to appease minor
ities, students will never take her task
seriously.
In addition to relocating the center,
Crawford has other worthwhile goals.
She has emphasized that students
should run the center. She has also
expressed a commitment to private
fund raising, which is an excellent idea
the more money the center raises
on its own, the more autonomy it will
have.
Crawford's attitude and ability
indicate that she has the potential to
accomplish her goals and earn the
University community's respect.
With that respect, she could act as
an avenue to the administration for
minority concerns. The vacant posi
tion of Hayden Renwick at the Office
of Student Counseling has worried
many minority students. And while the
University should be held to its
promise to replace Renwick, minority
students deserve more than one
administrative champion. Matt
Bivens
Floating on Max Steele's daydreams
Editor's note: UNC creative writing
professor Max Steele will be signing copies
of his latest book, "The Hat of My
Mother, " on Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5
p.m. at the Bull's Head Bookshop,
As a student of Max Steele for two
creative writing classes, I picked up
his new book of short stories, "The
Hat of My Mother," with a slightly
perverse feeling of anticipation. Would he
break any of the rules laid down in his
classes? I remembered a few: "Don't start
stories with a man waking up." "Suicide
shows the victim's lack of imagination;
suicide at the end of a story shows the
author's lack of imagination." "Stories with
just two scenes are too intellectual; a third
scene makes it emotional."
I Ve always harbored the vague suspicion
that Steele had secretly written the perfect
short story about a man who leaps out
of bed in the first scene, and out a window
in the second and was desperately trying
to keep us from discovering this ultimate
tale before he could publish it. Happily,
I found no such story in the book.
Instead, I finished the stories in one long
afternoon and realized that I had jotted
down only five or six notes for this review.
Puzzled by my lack of commentary, I
remembered something else Steele had said
about one student story we reviewed in
class. There was very little discussion about
it; no one seemed able to say anything.
Finally, Steele said, "This is a very good
story, which is why we're struggling to talk
about it. It's hard to say why a story works.
It simply does."
I feel the same way about his collection.
Steele's stories explore the delicate balance
between humor and sadness, and his prose
steps lightly and carefully so as not to upset
the scales. In "Ah Love! Ah Me!," a
lovestruck schoolboy's date with his
dreamgirl turns into disaster as his
Let them
eat cake
To the editor:
We are writing this letter in
response to a major adminis
trative decision that has once
again been made without con
sulting the students. First, the
administration steals two
thirds of A-lot parking (Cobb,
Joyner and Olde Campus vic
inity), leaving many dorm
residents without a parking
place. Now, the administration
has annexed the Circus Room
for use by the admissions office,
leaving those stranded students
hungry. The Circus Room
provides groceries for those
students unable to get to a
normal grocery store, and now,
this "semi" grocery store has
vanished also. What are these
poor, starving students to do?
In all seriousness, the Circus
Room provides a much-needed
service for North Campus
residents. Granted, the admis
sions office desperately needs
additional office space, but not
at the expense of student needs.
There is no question that a
new Circus Room facility must
be built. However, no break in
service should occur while this
building is under construction.
Unlike the admissions office,
which has found a temporary
office in the basement of Cobb
dormitory, the Circus Room
cannot find temporary space. A
break in Circus Room service
would not only anger North
Campus residents, but would
deprive them of basic necessi
ties as well as crush a long
established tradition.
As elected leaders and res
idents of North Campus, we
.propose the building of a new
Circus Room facility while
providing continuous service
Protesters' cause takes backseat to methods
01
March 15, Paul Alarab tried to
suspend himself from the Golden
Gate Bridge. He tied one end of
a 30-foot rope to a support cable and the
other to a 36-gallon garbage can. He had
planned to live in the pail for a week as
a protest on behalf of the nation's elderly
and infirm.
On the way down, Alarab lost his grip
and fell into San Francisco Bay. He
bobbed in the water for an hour before
the receding tide carried him out to sea.
More than six hours later, a fishing boat
spotted the protester clinging to a rock far
from the coast. Luckily, Alarab survived.
Hanging from the Golden Gate is a rare
incident, even in San Francisco, but
surviving a fall from the bridge is even
rarer. Thus, Alarab provided the San
Francisco Chronicle with a media
bonanza. He was front-page news for three
days, an honor usually reserved for
presidents and popes.
Obviously, Alarab got exactly what
every legitimate protester desires and
deserves publicity. Ideally, this attention
could be used to further the protester's
cause, as a forum for educating the public
about an often forgotten minority. But the
publicity the activist received did not
concern the elderly and the infirm. Rather,
it centered on Alarab and his "weird" fall
from the bridge. The paper probed the
"ins" and "outs" of the protester and his
unusual feat. What was it like? What was
Brian McCuskey
In the Funhouse
intestinal workings fail him. He ends up
on his back in a soda shop watching the
girl leave, feeling sorry for himself and "for
the whole pitiful world." We can continue
to laugh at the boy, but the pull is strong
to cry with him instead.
In the complementary story, "Forget the
Geraniums," a Paris artist has become
completely disillusioned with the farcical
world around him. He decides to kill
himself, until he experiences a moment of
pure farce so ridiculous that he must keep
on living. He faces the choice of total
despair or helpless laughter, and chooses
laughter. We chuckle too, but it is a chuckle
of relief.
In a recent interview, Steele expressed
his love of privacy in Chapel Hill, and
explained how his lighter courseload and
infrequent publishing has allowed him to
become a more private person. Many of
his stories deal with issues of privacy, and
people's escape into their own memories
and daydreams. In "Where She Brushed
Her Hair," the narrator dreams himself
back into the womb of his mother and
from that vantage point is finally able to
share the contemplative hour she always
spent alone before dinner. The man in
"Color the Daydream Yellow" derives the
strength to continue his rocky marriage by
daydreaming of a past burnt-out love
affair.
Steele's characters rummage through
their dreams and memories to find new
resolve and strength. Much of Steele's
fiction is contemplative and retrospective,
suggesting that the writer, by doing the
same sort of rummaging as his characters,
derives a similar affirmation of order
Readers5 Forum
.
DUKAKI5
HIS
until the said establishment is
opened for student use. The
needs of the admissions office
will be met as well as the needs
of the North Campus residents.
In building this new facility,
the administration needs to
remember that the students are
here. Their needs remain loud
and clear. Do not let us return
in the fall to find that the Circus
Room has done a disappearing
act.
STEPHANIE HARDY
Sophomore
Political Science
ANITA GILLIS
Junior
Education
Potty parity
a civil right
To the editor:
On average, a newborn girl
can expect to live seven years
longer than a newborn boy. But
what does she do during those
seven years? It seems that she
spends those additional seven
years forever waiting in line to
use the women's facilities in
sports arenas and stadiums, as
well as many other public
places.
I always assumed it was
biological differences that freed
men from these long lines, so
I was somewhat surprised by
an article in "American Demo
graphics" that suggested it is
actually the facilities that make
the difference. This lack of
"potty parity" has compelled a
California state senator, Art
Torres, to push through a
"potty parity" law, recognizing
that men and women have not
been treated equally when
nature calls. Under California's
new law, a committee is now
determining the best ratio of
women's toilets to men's, and
David Long
Guest Writer
he like? Alarab became another Bay area
"freak;" he did not become the represen
tative of a noble and legitimate cause.
Alarab crossed the fine line between
effective activism and exhibitionism. His
stated goal was an admirable one. His
means, however, showed that he was either
politically naive or not very intelligent. Fall
or no, hanging from the Golden Gate
Bridge would not convince many people
to help some of the helpless members of
our society. Dead or alive, the protester
and the protest would obscure the cause.
Alarab-esque talk has filled the DTH
for some time. Dale McKinley has cap
tured a lion's share of headlines. Here is
another activist who is willing, in the spirit
of self-sacrifice, to publicize the woes of
a wronged people, and the excesses of a
sometimes abusive organization.
Yet the debate which surrounds McKin
ley does not center on South Africa or
the CIA. It does not center on the
protester's sanity, as in the Alarab case.
Rather, people wonder if his protests have
gone too far. They wonder if he makes
headlines for his martyrdom or his
marquee value. They wonder about what
through his storytelling.
The stories refer repeatedly to human
manners, and several stories explore what
happens when human order is imposed on
an absurd and often orderless world. In
the title story, a woman is trapped in the
funeral of a dead woman she has never
known, simply because the grieving family
has taken and mistaken her hat for a floral
gift, and she is too polite to ask for it back.
The schoolmarm in "The Cat and the
Coffee Drinkers" brusqely teaches her
young pupils good manners and the proper
methods of entering rooms and introduc
ing oneself. She concludes the education
of her class with a lesson in death,
conducted with the utmost propriety and
good form.
"The Death of a Chimp" is the weakest
story of the collection. It is an awkward
story about an ex-astronaut who fears that
NASA is out to stuff him literally. The
bizarre premise would work if the story
were told at a more surreal level, but
Steele's style grounds it in reality, and the
plot and characters remain flat. Steele's
strength is his eye and ear for unusual and
subtle details in daily life, and his percep
tion of extraordinary moments. The
narrow and contrived plot of "The Death
of a Chimp" is not worthy of his stylistic
skill.
But what all this commentary finally
leads to is one short sentence: These stories
work. My mostly empty pad of paper
proves that. I lost myself in Steele's
daydreams and didn't want to leave them
for even a few moments of scribbling. I
just wanted to keep reading, which is
ultimately what a story should do. Max
Steele tells good ones, and tells them well
a rare combination of talents.
Brian McCuskey is a junior English
major from Los Angeles.
SO
Evolution .
this ratio will become part of
the state's building code.
One of Torres' objectives was
to reduce the "economic impact
on women who pay the same
money to attend public events
but end up missing half the
event because they are standing
in line." And food vendors are
also sure to benefit as women
are more free to consume large
quantities of liquid without
missing most of what they've
paid to see.
GENE GALIN
Chapel Hill
Letters policy
When submitting letters
or columns, students should
include name, year in school,
major, phone number and
home town.
he is doing, not for whom he is doing it.
In any case, many people notice the activist
and his activism. Few seriously debate the
issues he proposedly stands for.
In McKinley's "It's not trendy to oppose
genocide," (April 15) he sarcastically and
obtusely addresses the idea of activism.
Having created a large audience through
a series of fasts, demonstrations and vigils,
he does not try to educate the DTH readers
about the issues concerning apartheid and
"genocide." Instead, he defends himself and
his organization. As in the Alarab case,
the protester and the protest were discussed
at length. The oppressed were not. Even
in McKinley's own writing, his cause takes
a back seat to his activities.
Consciously or not, and assuredly
through good intentions, Alarab and
McKinley have created sideshows, not
forums for serious debate. They have
become curiosities. They make good
headlines. But their efforts to educate the
public are ineffective. In San Francisco,
people are waiting for the next bridge
gymnast. In Chapel Hill, people wonder
what Dale McKinley will do next. Few
are more aware of the problems of the
elderly or the excesses of the CIA.
David Long is a graduate student in
history from Chapel Hill
1