Volume 8 — Number 8
Monday, March 7, 1977
The Pursuits Of Pleasure
Chowan President Bruce E. Whitaker shows
Sears-Roebuck Foundation spokesmen, Cronwell
Faulcon, Jr., left, and Gordon Willis, a statement of
financial supportthe college has received from
individuals and groups. The man delivered a check
for $2,000 representing an unrestricted grant to the
college from the Sears-Roebuck Foundation. Dr.
Whitaker said the gift has been applied to Chowan's
Annual Giving Fund. Willis is store manager and
Faulcon a home appliance salesman at the Roanoke
Rapids Sears store.
Chowan Receives $2000
From Sear's Grant
Grants totaling more than $47,000
have been distributed to 29 privately
supported colleges and universities in
North Carolina by the Sears-Roebuck
Foundation, a spokesman said today.
In Murfreesboro, Chowan College
received a $2,000 grant.
The North Carolina colleges and
universities are among almost 1,000
private accredited two- and four-year
institutions across the country which
IBM Representative
To Speak
On Friday, April 1, at 10 a.m. in
Marks Hall Auditorium, Ms. Vicki
Wood, Word Processing Educational
Specialist for IBM, Greenville, North
Carolina, will address business
students and interested guests on the
subject of word processing. Ms. Wood
will discuss the nature of word
processing and its application in a
variety of business and government
situations.
Her presentation will include con
trasts between automated and con
ventional, non-automated systems in
terms of efficiency, cost, and com
munication benefits. Ms. Wood will
supplement her address with demon
strations and a question-and-answer
are sharing in $1,250,000 in Sears
Foundation funds for the 1976-77
academic year. Funds may be used
unrestrictedly as the colleges and
universities deem necessary.
In addition to its unrestricted grant
program, The Sears-Roebuck Foun
dation each year conducts a variety of
special-purpose programs in
elementary, secondary, higher and
continuing education. Altogether, the
Foundation had expenditures of over
$2,500,000 in 1976 for its education ac
tivities.
Whorley Chosen
For Top Ten
By VERA LAMBERT
Donna Whorley , a freshman from
Roanoke , Virginia has been chosen by
a fashion board at Glamour Magazine
(New York) to participate in their “Top
Ten College Women” Contest.
Donna is studying Merchandising
Management and will further her
education in this field to become a
Fashion Coordinator — Buyer and
eventually a Fashion Editor.
Infirmary Hours
Weekdays (Mon.-Fri.)
7:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
When Thomas Jefferson included
“the pursuit of happiness” among the
unalienable rights of man in the
Declaration of Independence, he un
derstood the fundamental difference
between happiness and pleasure.
Unlike members of the Second Con
tinental Congress, we have confused
“the pursuit of happiness” with the
pursuit of pleasure. Enjoying the
benefits of prosperity (luxury), we
have reduced happiness to pleasure by
mindlessly pursuing pleasure and
ignoring the value of human dignity and
physical and mental health.
In our search for pleasure (a state of
gratification, enjoyment, sensual
gratification, frivolous amusement, a
source of delight or joy), we have ac
cepted with consoit or without undue
protest the doctrine that pleasure is the
chief good of life. This kind of unsound
thinking caused Susan Atkins, a
member of the “Manson Family,” to
justify her involvement in the murder
of seven people by saying, “I knew it
was right because it felt good when I
was doing it.” Few people have
resorted to murder in their chase for
(Measure. However, many are guilty of
compromising their moral and ethical
standards in the search for pleasure.
Hedonism is drilled into our value
system repeatedly by the television
industry. No one knows how and to what
degree the formative mind, one un
trained in making critical evaluations.
Chowan Professor
Exhibits Article
George Hazelton, professor of
physics at Chowan College, is the
author of an article which appeared in a
recent edition of The Physics Teacher.
In this article, “A Force Amplifier:
The Capstan,” he combines two of his
favorite subjects; physics and sailing
Hazelton introduces the two-page
article this way:
“Normally one tries to reduce the
effect of the force of friction. However,
Greasy Hair, White Socics
Highlight 50's Dance
By NANCY SULLIVAN
The fifty’s were alive and kicking
when Harley Hogg and the Rockers
visited Chowan. The date was February
16, 1977 and the place was Thomas
Cafeteria. The reason, a fifty’s dance
given by the joint efforts of Belk Hall
and the SGA.
The turn out for this event wasn’t
fanastic, but those that attended were
dressed, in most cases, for the oc
casion, from rags to riches. The band,
better known as the Spontanes, came
out for the first set with “the modem
stuff.” A short break latter, Harley
Hogg and the Rockers appeared, and
the fifty’s were off and running. A visit
a few years back into the glorious age
of the rocking fifty’s. A contest was held
to pick the winners for the “Best
Dressed” Contest. The band was the
judges. The winners were chosen, but
got away before anyone got a chance to.
congratulate them. Harley Hogg and
the Rockers were great and the attitude
of the band was great. They fell in line
with the idea and everything was off to
a great start. After the fifty’s set,
Harley Hogg and the Rockers
relinguished the stage back to the
Spontanes who finished with more of
the modern stuff.
The night was full of enchantment for
all. Spirits were high and the fun
flowed. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
There Is always some under
classman girl that is dared by
friends to take the principal for a
whirl around the floor. Most are
surprised to find that his dancing
feet did not go out with the
Charleston.
there are several situations in which
the presence of friction is very helpful.
Consider, for example, the capstan, a
device used by sailors to secure boats to
a dock or to assist in the adjustment of
sails. The capstan in its simplest form
consists of a vertical cylinder about
which one can wrap a rope.”
He continues to point out the use of
the capstan for Iwth small, pleasure
craft and large boats. He expresses
this in terms of physics. Three
diagrams are included. Hazelton also
mentions an experiment used in
Chowan’s lab program “for several
years” to demonstrate the theory of
the capstan.
The Physics Tea cher is a journal of the
American Association of Physics
Teachers. Its mission is to strengthen
the teaching of introductory physics at
all levels, according to Clifford Swartz,
editor. He explained circulation is
international in scope, about equally
divided between high school and college
teachers of physics.
A Jones County native, Hazelton
earned the B.S. in physics at East
Carolina University and M.S. in physics
from Wake Forest University. He has
completed further studies at West
Virginia University, East Carolina
University, North Carolina State
University, and the University of South
Carolina.
Hazelton came to Chowan as physics
professor in 1966 and served as acting
chairman of the Department of Science
from 1969-71. He has also served in
research with the U. S. Bureau of
Mines at Morgantown, W. Va.;
laboratory instructor and researcher at
Wake Forest University, West Virginia
University, and East Carolina
University; and algebra teacher in the
Greenville city school system.
is influenced by all the implications
made during the Schlitz advertisement
which says nothing at all about beer in
the main body of its message, “You
only go around once in life; therefore,
get all the gusto you can.” Pleasure-
seeking people want gusto (taste, en
thusiastic and vigorous enjoyment,
overabundant vitality). Television
commercials should be watched with a
scientific mind to distinquish between
what is stated and what is implied with
picture, and music and sound effects.
What has television done for popular
cereals? Authorities say that most
popular cereals have a sugar content of
as much as 50 percent and have less
protein than a candy bar. We ap
preciate sweetness. We associate
sweetness with pleasure. The trained
advertising specialist wants to sell
cereals. Day in and day out the masses
of our affluent society are exposed to
untruths and accept them without
question or objection. Is this an
exaggeration of our response to
television?
Committed to the pursuit of pleasure
rather than happiness, the television
industry makes sure we are exposed, to
the point of indifference, to disaster,
violence, and overindulgence.
Television has been able to extend such
power over the behavior and minds of
people because parents, educators at
all levels, and church-people have
unknowingly become dangerously
passive and permissive in their
responsibilities for teaching and
demonstrating the necessity for sound
values. The silent majority, taking the
path of least resistance and wanting to
be broad-minded, to be liberal, has
tolerated television programs which
endorse self-destruction through the
pursuit of pleasure.
While attempting to be broad
minded, to see situations from every
perspective, we have lost sight of the
ideals and values which have given us
character. We, in trying to view issues
with mixed emotions (a convenient way
to excuse ourselves from making a
commitment), have not only forgotten
what we consider wrong, but we no
longer know what is right for us as
individuals or as society. In the pursuit
of pleasure, we have wantonly
disregarded the Ten Commandments,
the fundamentals on which the moral
and ethical values of the western world
have been structured. The thief who is
caught shoplifting is not sorry that he
stole; he is concerned because he was
caught. In recent years, we have read
articles which condemned the Ten
Commandments for being too negative.
Some have gone so far as to say that the
religions which originated in the Middle
E^st (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)
are too negative, that they place too
much emphasis on the “Thou shalt
not’s.” Stating “Thou shalt not kill”
positively is not easy. Try it.
Those of us who live in an academic
community represent some of
America’s finest people. We are in
volved in the continuing process of
learning from the liberal arts. We have
been or will have been introduced to the
great civilizations. We study the lives of
great people who have shaped the
destiny of the world. Yet, we fail to
study and view history as a lesson of
experience. (Such an approach would
probably require less memorizing but
more thinking, understanding and
learning.) Nevertheless, we know of
civilizations, nations, dynasties, and
individuals who have destroyed
themselves because they never per
ceived pleasure as being Afferent from
happiness (a state of well-being and
contentment, joy, and pleasurable
satisfaction, aptness).
Those who promote the art of
discretion are often accused of ad
vocating hypocrisy. No, there is a
difference between being discreet and
being hypocritical. As a starter, I would
recommend that we attempt to live a
discreet life that may not be completely
habitual with the hope that discretion,
the ability to make responsible
decisions within legal bounds, will
become a fundamental part of our
diaracter. Such an approach is far
superior to our continued pursuit of
pleasure through fun-loving com
promises in our value system.
Shakespeare, with his profound
analysis of human character, knew the
value of a virtuous life that is not fully
habitual, for Hamlet told his errant
mother, “Assume the virture, if you
have it not — For use almost can
diange the stamp of nature.” Hap
piness is the real thing while pleasure is
a counterfeit with no lasting
satisfaction.
The concepts expressed above have
been a part of my thinking for years.
However, I was motivated to write this
article only after reading “Counterfeit
and Genuine” by John R. Silber,
President of Boston University. The
aforementioned article appeared in the
February 1977 Encounter.
Clayton Lewis
Dean Lewis invites citizens of the
conununity to react to this article by
writing letters to the editor which can
be published in the next issue of Smoke
Signals. Such letters should be given to
Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Gatewood or a
member of the Smoke Signals staff by
AprU 1, 1977.
English Professors
Attend Convention
Recently Professors Barnhill, Bat
chelor, and Mulder attended the 12th
annual convention of the Southeastern
Conference on English in the Two-Year
College in Williamsburg, Virginia. The
three-day meeting was conducted at the
Hospitality House.
The SCETC Conference is affiliated
with the Conference on College Com
position and Communication and the
National Council of Teachers of English
and featured outstanding speakers
from several southern states including
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North and South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia.
The theme for the conference was
“From GODSPEED to GODSPELL:
What We Brought and What We Have
Become.” During the sessions teachers
were given an option to attend meetings
on developmental studies, occupational
writing, freshman composition,
creative writing, humanities, and
linguistics.
Displays from major textbook
publishers were available, and par
ticipants in the conference were
aUowed to view an operational Media
Instruction Laboratory featuring
commercially and independently
produced materials.
Two of the featured speakers were
Virginia Carr, author of The Lonely
Hunter, and Alf Mapp, author of The
Virginia Experiment.
r
Brylcreme Vitaliis hawglard, some girls just could not decide which grease to run their little fingers through.