jPI Hosstyle
HE Pat Hoss
A New Leaf
I am grateful to the con
cerned readers of the Lance
for telling me that I am, In
fact, not funny. It came as a
shock, as did all their other
comments, but after the ini
tial tears had fallen, I light
ened up..."sniff".
It is all right now, I just
needed a little while to com
pose myself. Now then...l
just wanted to thank those
people who have shown me
the light, and I'd like to show
my appreciation for their
contribution to my new self.
By Ingrid Scholz
Entertainment
On February 15th, the
Writers' Forum was
honoured to host Dr. Don
Mager. Dr. Mager is an
English professor at
Johnson C. Smith University
in Charlotte. He was born in
New Mexico, obtained his
BA at Drake University, his
MA at Syracuse University,
and his PhD at Wayne State
University in Detroit, (Michi
gan. Dr. Mager's poetry
spans a wide variety of top
ics taken from moments in
real life. During a short inter
view with his son Marlowe, I
asked him to describe his
father's poety. Marlowe was
of the opinion that it was
more emotion-oriented than
visual, but after hearing Dr.
Mager's reading, I was more
of the opinion that though his
poetry certainly represented
emotions or stemmea from
emotional experiences, the
final product was very visual.
Here, point-by-point, I willgo
over the changes I will
undertake.
From the start, I will prom
ise not to be sarcastic or
derogatory anymore. Intact,
I have already decided on a
new topic for my new and
improved column. I like to
call it, "32 ways to pick a
daffodil without killing the
plant." I have held back on
writing this one, although my
passions are with It. I just
needed to get over all the
anger that the concerned
It was through these visual
pictures which created very
distinct atmospheres that
one could sense the emotion
behind it. Dr. Mager had
prepared a series of twenty
four glosses consisting of
twenty four preludes and
twenty four etudes. These
twenty four glosses were
divided in groups of four,
each group adhering to a
certain form. There were
Haiku, Ghazals (which have
been familiarized in the
English language by poets
like Adrienne Rich), Roman
epigrams, blues, bumper
stickers, and posters. From
the audience's reaction, one
may conclude that the Ro
man epigrams, the bumper
stickers, and the posters
were most popular. In Ro
man epigrams, the poet
takes an abstract character
term and personifies it. Di
Mager used Brute, Discreet,
Ego, and, cheating a little bit
ontheform. Poet. They were
satirical and amusing, to say
readers have pointed out
that I possess. Thanks to
those few people who
signed the petition I have the
courage to write a column to
unburden people's minds,
instead of trying to make
them laugh at things around
them and at themselves.
Thanks to those few brave
people, I have found the
courage. I can't thank the
authors personally, because
none of them signed their
names, but leanthankthose
who signed this life-chang-
ing document. I thank all
twenty of them who say
"That boy needs to be cen
sored." It reminds me of a
speech by, my hero and
surely theirs, Jesse Helms
who said, "Censorship! My
God! What a concept forthe
right!"
My new self-awareness,
throw-back to the '60's col
umn, will also strive to be
helpful informative, and en
lightening. My previous col
umn seems not to have have
covered those points. I will.
the least. Dr. Mager's read
ing may have been a bit
obscure to some, not to
mention abstract and uniqe
in its own way, yet it was also
entertaining.
Unlike this past Thursaay,
there was a short open-mike
following Dr. Mager. Angelia
Lawrence ventured out on
the floor for the first time,
Laura Rose, and Bill Morris
shared some of their poetry
with us. Dan Auman and
Marlowe Mager held a
Readers' Theatre by reading
out their final Winter Term
project which was the leg
end of King Arthur as seen
from (Ex)Calibur's point of
view. We had one guest
from Charlotte, namely one
of Dr. Mager's students,
Cahterine Adams who read
out some of her poetry. The
evening was closed with a
short story written and reaa
by Matt Sutherland. I would
like to take this opportunity
and thank all of those who
read that night
from now on, try to give the
readers the bright, rosy pic
ture they, the concerned
readers of the Lance, desire.
Instead of using the scald
ing, hurtful, sarcastic, and
sometimes too truthful, style
that I, as my former angry
self, used. I will tell the
world, now, how well things
are here, and how the free-
thinking, open-minded, con
cerned readers of the Lance
allowed me to expand my
inner consciousness. Now I
can strive to be the best I can
be. I will write about Sunday
mornings, and birds chirping
outside my window, just be
fore being hit by a speeding
car traveling 70 mph down
Dogwood Mile. (Please for
give this backslide. When
one is as angry as I, old
habits are hard to break.)
Finally, I can only hope
that with my new found love
of peaceandtranquility, Iwill
quit picking on those things
that are wrong with this col
lege and glorify what is right.
The trees do grow toward
Mandela
Continued from page 1
response to the steps called
for by the Mandela Peace
Plan.
Mandela is the first to
admit that he does not have
the powerto govern. Yet, he
knows his strengths. He
knows he has the biggest
constituency in South Africa.
Not even DeKlerk can claim
a following the size of
Mandela's. He is undoubt
edly a political force to be
reckoned with. Twenty-
seven years of prison did not
demoralize him or diminish
his influence. Instead, his
status as a symbol of libera
tion grew in leaps and
bounds while in prison. Asa
trained lawyer, the days
when people flock to his
political rally just to have a
glimpse of a black lawyer are
over.
Mandela now commands
respect from his tiny match
box house in Soweto. The
international media is al
ways around How else
could !he world observe a
living history unfold before
its eyes? This man is not just
a symbol of liberation: he is
a liberated man himself.
the sun, and the ducks can
swim. I think those things
have gone unnoticed too
long. Indoingthis, mynasty,
antagonistic, "harming mo
rale" nature will disappear
also.
After the daffodil story, |
will write about "Safely pre
serving jams." I hope this
will allow the basketball and
baseball teams to play,
learn, and love longer and
better. I forsee everyone
skipping togethe r across the
causewalk singing the St.
Andrews song (those who
know the words; others may
hum along), and the Coca-
Cola will come and make a
commercial...The possibili
ties are endless.
Yes, my world has
changed thanks to those
brave souls who wouldn't
sign their names to that
paper. They have done
more for me than they will
ever know. 1 plan to make
good on every word in this
column. But one final com
ment- "I DON'T THINK
SO!"
G
A
N
Z
A
IS
COMING!!!
6 MORE
WEEKS
MAGER READS AT
WRITERS' FORUM