Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Nov. 6, 1978, edition 1 / Page 5
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Page 5 Grassroots Music Tour to present “down home^^ music The SOUTHERN GRASSROOTS MUSIC TOUR, a combination of the best Black Gospel, Mississippi blues and West Virginia bluegrass music, will be in concert in Union Great Hall, November 9. No admission will be charged for the 8 p.m. concert. The Southern Grassroots Music Tour, formerly the Southern Folk Festival, features a wide spectrum of downhome music from all across the South. A mixture of moaning church songs, blues of black men and women in chains, lonely ballads and fiddle tunes of the Southern mountains that is familiar to almost everyone is performed informally, with all the tour performers sitting on stage together. The Tour, now in its 13th year of travelling to colleges and com munities in the South, each year features different musicians whose music and life experiences represent the deep roots of our region. Among the artists featured this year are The Lady Corder Soul and Gospel Singers from Nashville, Tenn., a group of four black singers who are widely known in the middle Tennessee area for their rocking delivery of traditional black music. Nimrod Workman, a retired coal miner from West Virginia, sings a wide variety of traditional unac companied ballads such as “Lord Bateman” and a number of songs alx)ut the coal mines and their dreaded black lung. Not to be missed is his original “Watergate Boogie,” an example of his warmth, humor and compelling way with words. PhyUis Boyens, a young mountain singer featured in the Academy Award-winning film, “Harlan County, USA,” will perform ballads, blues, coal mining and original songs with a stringed band. Also featured on the tour is Son Thomas, of Leland, Mississippi, whose style reflects the oppression and the joys of the Black experience. Emcee for the performance is country singer and recorder on Rounder Records, Anne Romaine, from North Carolina. to Son Thomas of Leland, Mississippi, will be featured with the Southern Grassroots Music Tour. Grad student says ‘there’s no togetherness here’ By JOYCE BASS ^. Relationship Staff ‘ “Graduate students are a great resource, but there’s a time factor that ' plays an important part in the contact they , have,” said one undergraduate when " asked about the relationship between I* black undergraduate and graduate students here. I This undergraduate is not alone in his f > insight, ioc there are a number of graduate 5 students who see the contact problem y stemming from the same reason. , “It’s hard for a relationship to develop especially if the graduate students are off • campus. Graduate students really don’t leave the doors open to undergraduates. Undergraduates say we don’t participate and I suppose there’s a feeling by most graduate students that there’s no need to * participate. Free time to us is just that, , free time and we try to make use of it,” said Gary Griggs, a first year Law Student, from Reidsville, NC. Griggs says that his contact with un- ^ dergraduate students has been mainly due to his fraternal membership with Alpha Phi Alpha. “I keep in touch with my fraternity brothers here and I have no problem feeling welcome. Participation in cultural events such as the drama productirai last year, “Down Hcwne,” generated a great deal of enthusiasm. My position on the dormitory staff as a residence assistant has let me get to know people, too. Organizations such as the BSM, and the religious organizations have some graduate participation as well,” said Griggs. He said ere topic that often conies up in the course of a conversation with an un dergraduate who is doing his un dergraduate studies is the fact that most graduate students who come to such a setting are graduates of predominantly black colleges. “Tliose students from schools like UNC will tell me that I, having come back to school, did not have to work as hard as he had to. That statement just isn’t true And how can he say that if he didn’t attend a black college?,” asked Griggs. He said the sad part about the relatiwiship between graduates and un dergraduate students have made reputations within their departments, but that they aren’t utilized as resource persons by the undergrads. The relationship between graduate and undergraduate students varies from school to school and because of this, some contact is better than other. “Tlie undergraduates in this school have established a better air here,” said Don Person, a second year medical student, from Greensboro. He said the Pre-Medical Club meets twice a month allowing the graduate students a chance to meet and talk with the undergraduates. “At these meetings we talk about in terviews, how to take the MCAT, anf* courses that will help them the most in medicine. We don’t see undergraduates from other schools. The only people we see are pre-med and nursing students,” said Person. He said although he has been at UNC for two years, he hasn’t met many students from other areas except by chance. “It’s very seldran other students come over here I would like to meet other un dergraduates and talk to them about things in general and see what their in terests are.” Pearson said that to walk past other black students and not say “hello” or just hold a casual conversation does not warm the situation at the campus at all. “There’s no togetherness here. People very seldom speak. It’s as if they are avoiding contact. It’s true that here, you may find yourself as the only black student in a class and because of this, you become oblivious to everything else around you.” Person has a suggestion for increasing the contact between students. “We can start by speaking. Being 1,000 students out of 20,000 is a definite dif ference If you know that there are people around you who are friendly will do a lot. If you speak to a person, the next time you see each other, there might be a longer conversation.” Rosemary Jackson is a first year student in the School of Public Health, from Savannah, Georgia. Although Rosemary has only been at UNC for a short period of time she has some ideas on the sort ^ contribution she wants to make as a graduate student. “One day I was standing at the bus stop and this guy, an undergraduate, started a conversation with me by asking me about my major. He said he was interested in Public Health once, but didn’t know a great deal about it, so I filled him in on the types of classes I was taking. When I went into the School of Public Health I did it sort of blindly. I feel a lot more students would benefit from asking graduate students about the various schools they are in,” said Rosemary. Has she met a great number of un dergraduates since she has been here? Rosemary says no and puts part of the situation at her own fault. “I have most of my classes in the Health Sciences Building. This is in no way close to the main campus where most of the undergraduates are. Therefore, I don’t get to see anybody. By the time I finish my classes. I’m ready to go back to my room and relax. It just seems as if graduate students are so busy I really haven’t had time to meet many people in Craige either. Part of that is my fault.” Burton Price, a senior Chemistry major from Littleton, and an undergraduate here said it would be great if the contact bet ween graduates and undergraduates was stronger. “TTie situation would be great, but I think the graduate students have got to do mwe from their side. And as far as speaking is concerned, we jsut have to keep trying. Those of us who are speaking to people will have to continue. It’s going to take time, but a change will come,” said Price He said once the door is opened by the graduate students, there will have to be some nudging done to the undergraduates in order to get the feedback going. “But I feel like if it gets started, then we will all gain something. What I tell a lot of freshmen when they ask me how cope with college is, you have to be mature enough to handle the situations you face.” The RA’s key to success By LINDA BROWN Staff Writer l“If you enjoy helping people and you’re assertive enough to take the position, I feel you should get in to it, but it’s not for everyone,” said Linda Vaughn, a first year residence assistant (RA) in Aycock dormitory. Linda became an RA last year after applying for the job and attending several interviews, discussion groups and training seminars. A few duties of RAs include delivering campus mail, doing a programming activity each semester, checking in residents and being available. Reginald “Reggie” Sumner, a first year RA in Lewis dormitory said, “I (Cootinued on page 6)
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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