Friday, November 16, 1973
COLUMNS
Page 3
"Laws of Academic Humor
By Larry Bliss, N. C. State Univ.
I was alternately yawning
and checking my watch in class
last week when I realized why
some professors drive droves, of
their students into comatose
states. For the rest of the week
I engaged in , painstaking
research of this problem,
although several times I nearly
fell asleep.
I arrived at this conclusion:
when a professor tries to be
funny, he becomes ludicrous
and boring. From this observa
tion I derive Bliss’ First Law of
Acadmic Humor. If a teacher
attempts a joke about the
subject he or she specializes in,
it is never funny.
The evidence is available to
anyone. When was the last time
you heard a funny story about
vector calculus? How many
yocks do you get out of an
analysis of the Punic Wars?
Does your professor ever get a
boffo laugh at an alpha particle?
Of course not, no more than
Billy Graham would chuckle at
a Jesus joke.
The farther out in left field a
prof jokes in, the funnier he will
be. There are several techni
ques for hilarity in the
classroom.
1. Humor of the Unexpected.
This works best in the
traditional lecture system of
education. Midway through his
discourse, just as each student
seems to be reading his
fingernails, the teacher inserts
with a deadpan expression a
statement so obviously outrag
eous as to be funny.
Example:' “Now during the
reign of Louis XIII, the Thirty
Years War broke out; as we all
know, this war was started by a
horde of Albanian peasants who
demanded an end to diced
pomegranates..” This handy
device also causes the slug
gards of the class to sit up and
pay attention.
Cheerleaders
Selected
for 1973-74
Season
The Louisburg College
cheerleaders for 1973-74 are
Beaver Brodie, Liz Fortune,
Marla Roberts, Gwen Cop-
pedge, Susie McQueen, Cathy
Johnson, Janice Thomas, Karen
Allen, Irma Braswell, Cynthia
Rodman, and alternates Linda
Hicks and Ada Siffle.
The twelve girls were picked
by a panel of judges including
Mrs. Johnson, Lee Pearce,
Susan Grier, Debbie Maloney
and’Dean Settle. The girls who
tried out cheered at two
scrimmage games. They were
judged on skill, enthusiasm,
and the ability of each girl to
react to certain situations in the
game. They will have uniforms
in time for Homecoming on
November 17. Their advisor is
Coach Enid Drake.
2. Punning. A good pun will
make the professor’s day and
help students forget the minor
cares of university life, such as
final exams. Puns are not
especially hard to dream up. In
addition, so many, people make
puns that you can steal all you
want and get away with it.
Examples: “So the square
root came into use, which was,
for its time, quite a radical
concept.” Or, “as they say in
history, we can’t have archaic
and eat it too.”
Warning: Too many puns,
and your students won’t believe
you when you say you were
once on the Dean’s List.
3. Gimmicks. When all else
fails, make your class laugh at
you rather than with you. All
sorts of gimmicks and gadgets
can be employed.
Examples: Before class,
break several pieces of chalk
and glue them back together.
When you come to the central
theme of your lecture, strike
the board with your chal^. It
breaks, of course; this is
amusing once but side-splitting
when four successive pieces
shatter.
Other time-honored stunts
are wearing one’s glasses
upside down, singing dirty
limericks or producing an
ocarina from a pocket, or any
combination of them.
A final word: Properly used,
these techniques will make
you the Woody Allen of your
department; improperly used,
you’d better pass out the
No-Doz.
(N. C. State Technician)
4
National Dance Ensemble of Pakistan
Pakistan Dance Ensemble
Makes U. S. Debut at Louisburg
On Monday night, iNovemoer
12, at 8:00 p. m., the Louisburg
College Concert Series pre
sented the National Dance
Ensemble of Pakistan.
This is a vibrant and
explosive company of fifty,
dancers and musicians who
presented genuine Pakistan
folklore and music for the first
time in North America. They
arrived in Montreal, Canada,
where they preformed, then
the Ensemble premiered in the
U. S', at Louisburg.
They presented their full
repertory, which was based on
Pakistan’s rich heritage from
the exciting folk and sumptous-
ly costumed semi-classical
dances of the country. The
Development in Film
Expressed by‘Genesis V’
“Genesis V”, a two hour
program of award-winning
short films will be shown on
November 28 at 8:00 in the
Louisburg College Auditorium.
This collection of new films
made by students and inde
pendent film makers from
across the country will be
presented by Louisburg Col
lege as an exclusive film feature
in this area. In addition to some
wildly experimental techniques
used in making several of the
films, social documentaries,
dramatic screenplays, and
cpmedic styles of expression
are represented. The program
as a whole is a representative
cross-section of what is
happening in motion picture
production and in avant-garde
film making by college and
university students.
With over 80,000 students
enrolled in film courses on
campuses across the country,
new developments and tech
niques are being made in
movies faster than the
traditional movie industry can
keep up. The Genesis program
presents these exciting new
developments to the public long
before they find their way into
commercial productions.
Admission will be by student
ID cards.
dances from Khyber Pass, to
Kafiristan are performed to the
accompaniment on the tabla,
mirdang, siter, and sarangi
played by the greatest musical
masters in Pakistan today.
The Ensemble has taken part
and received wide acclaim in
the International Festival at
Shiraz, the Pakistan Festival in
Geneva, and the Common
wealth Institute in London.
They have visited the U. S. S.
R., Turkey, Japan, the
Phillipines, Thailand, Holland,
Austria, and West Germany.
In addition to the perfor
mance of the Dance Ensemble,
the Embassy of Pakistan sent
its ambassador as a guest on
the night of the performance.
,He is the Honorable Minister S.
I. Riza of the Embassy of
Pakistan in Washington. He
was the guest of Louisburg
College on November 12 and
held a convocation November
13.
*
Classical Pianist Gill
To Perform Nov. 25
1973-74 Cheerleaders
On November 25, at 8:00 p.
m. in the Auditorium, the
Louisburg College recital series
will present Fili Gill, a noted
classical pianist. Her program
will include three sonatas by
Scarlatti, a Beethoven sonata, a
Ravel sonatina, three pieces by
Brahms, and two by Chopin.
The program will last approxi
mately one hour.
Mrs. Gill was selected as
pianist for the Young Artist’s
Series for three consecutive
seasons, and toured the
Midwest while representing
the top talent during her years
at the Cincinnati Conservatory
of Music. A student of Robert
Goldsand, she received the
Bachelor and Master of Music
from the Conservatory m
Cincinnati. She also studied at
Peabody Conservatory in
Baltimore, and the Ecoles
d’Arts Americaines in Fontain
ebleau, France with the late
Robert Casadesus. Mrs. Gill has
presented numerous recitals in
the Southeast.
The wife of the late.Thomas
Cline Gill of Franklin County,
Mrs. Gill makes her home in
Knoxville, Tennessee, where
she teaches privately and as a
faculty member in the piano
department at Maryville Col
lege, Maryville, Tennessee.
The recital is open and free to
the public. Humanities credit
will be given.
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