February 17, 1969
N.C. ESSAY
Page 4
fl -PL^fl TO
STUD^nTS
Last Thursday evening at din
ner, Pat Byers asked for silence,
got it, and spoke words that deeply
affected everyone. Pat spoke with a
warmth, courage, and sincerity that
were unique. The gist of his speech
was an appeal to the student body to
renew the spirit of cooperation and
honesty that prevailed in the begin
nings of the school. He voiced his
deep regret in seeing the lack of
school spirit, the loss of innocence
in the efforts of the young artist
that has crept into the fabric of
our school milieu. No one agrees
with you more than I, Pat. And what
I now have to say reflects my desire
to help assuage your disappointments
and the disappointments of those who
were deeply affected by the reali
ties of which you spoke. Not only
assuage, but offer what I feel can
be a constructive attitude at this
point in the development of our
school.
Four years ago this school had
no identity. The administration
could offer only ideals, not reali
ties. The students who came here
had no older students to imitate.
Many of the pioneer students had
never lived in an artistic environ
ment. When they settled here, as
Pat expressed, they were overwhelmed
by the fulfillment of the artistic
life, and by the responsibility that
a man, Vittorio Giannini, asked them
to bear: the responsibility to make
this school the most competent and
most humane school of the Arts that
the world could offer. That duty
commanded everyone’s energies. It
was impossicle to remain indifferent
to these goals. And goals will
unite individuals into an army of
^£husiasts who will permit them-
(FBOBLEM A aon't from p. 2)
past beyond the past and left the
channels of time. But, time doesn't
end!! It only extends into this
"nymph". This is the new demension
I entered filled with nothing.
Here, there is no night, no day
and no want, no existence, no noth
ing. It is an old Aristotleon adage
which states: "There must be". But
here, this does not hold because I
(myself), have no form.
But since I had my presence of
self, I witnessed the end which is
actually the beginning. Its every
thing combined into one, it kept a
constant buzz in me which made me
unsure of my own existence.
But, while there I came across
one thing, it was an elliptically
shaped peeble, it was black, it
opened as a book opens, I entered
into it and found - the universe!!
The universe as we know it today.
So, now draw your own conclu
sions !!
The Dream ^ ,
by Celra Sparger
The Dream — we've all heard it
referred to. Each of us who knows
the dream and feels it within him
self is astounded when someone asks
what the Dream is. It isn'e some
thing that can be specified with
words. It is a spirit; the spirit
on which NCSA was founded; the spir
it which has kept NCSA alive. The
death of the spirit of the Dream is
the death of the school. All of us
who believe in the school will and
must fight to preserve it.
Yes, we are here to develop as
artists, but we must also grow as
human beings, and we must let the
school grow, for it, too, is young.
Those of us who remain here must
give of ourselves to the school, for
we are part of a living experience
which will die unless we let, and
make, it live.
selves to abandon part of their i-
dentity. Furthermore, no one could
be lazy about their sentiments of
cooperation: there was no pre-exist-
ing strength in the environment that
anyone could lean on.
Today this school has gained a
strength. For some of us, attend
ance at this school has acquired
even a snobbery. Today this school
offers a newcomer not only work to
do, but the promise that it is com
petent and that the creative history
of its past, however short, will
achieve for him the professional
status that he desires. The school
no longer means a home where one
achieves an identity while at the
same time molding an identity for
the school, but like the multitude
of schools all over the world, acts
as a super-market where one buys
what he wants only to return to his,
dining room where the guest-list is!
exclusive. j
Alas!! We have gained a PROFES-'
SIGNAL STATUS. Out in the world
that professional status is marked,!
in artistic circles as well as^
others, by the survival of the fit-|
test, dog eat dog, philosophies.!
Well, that way of life has finally
seeped through the walls of our iso-(
lation here in North Carolina.)
Those of you who understood Pat's[
words are feeling the dlsappoint-f
ments that one's id»ials suffer whenj
thrown into the pit of competition. *
I am not a cynic. I feel I amj
being a realist by making the above;
statement. Personally I am not
about to abandon the ideals which
Pat expressed. Many of the compli
cations that stifle us cannot be
solved by the student body as in the
past. The structure of the school
is too solid and too complex at pre
sent to require such overwhelming
concern on the part of the student
body. However we can all help to
(aon't on page S)
February 18
(Tuesday)
February 19
(Wednesday)
February 20
(Thursday)
February 21
(Friday)
February 22
(Saturday)
February 23
(Sunday)
CALfNDAR
7:30 P.M. —Piedmont
Chamber Orchestra-
Composer's Symposium
Concerts (quartets,
quintets) in the Main
Auditorium.
- 11:00 A.M. — Student
Government Meeting
(Officers and alter
nates) in Room 321,
Main Building.
11:30 A.M. — Student
Activities Committee
Meeting—third floor.
Main Building.
2:00 P.M. — Convoca
tion—President Rob
ert Ward, speaker.
8:00 P.M. — Swimming
at YWCA.
8:00 P.M. — Italian
film, "Mandragola,"
at Hanes Community
Center Theatre.
8:00 P.M.-Lecture by
Mr. Christ-Janer on
Architecture at the
Salem College Fine
Arts Center.
8:15 P.M.—Lecture by
Lord Harlech at Wait
Chapel.
7:30 P.M. — Composer
Symposium Concert for
Chamber Orchestra in
the Main Auditorium.
8:00 P.M. — Italian
film, "Mandragola,"
at Hanes Community
Center Theatre.
9:00 A.M.—Dance Au
ditions for Ballet
and Modern students
(high school and col
lege) .
8:15 P.M. —NCSA Stu
dent Orchestra Con
ceit in thfi Main Au
ditorium.
- 1:00 P.M.—Horseback
Riding.
8:15 P.M.—Ron Davis
Dancers in the Main
Hall.
1:00 P.M. —Bowling.
8:15 P.M.—The Ameri
can Guild of Orga
nists: Heinz Wunder
lich, organist—Augs
burg Lutheran Church.