March 17, 1969
The N.C. Essay
Page 4
ICE CREAM
IS NOT WINE
hy John Julian
Mario sat at a table in front of Luigi's cafe and gazed blankly from
the shade of the blue-white-and-red umbrella into the glare of the mid-day
sunlight. The piazza at the center of town was deserted--the shops were
all closed, the pigeons were all dozing in the shade under the old Roman
arch, and even the flies seemed asleep. Mario sighed and looked down at
the cassata of ice cream before him. It sat there coldly and stared back
at him with two cherries that a nose-shaped wedge of pineapple made look
almost like eyes. Luigi, seeing, Mario's despondent frame of mind, had re
fused to serve him his usual glass of wine, this lump of ice cream offered
no consolation.
A glass of red wine glows when set down in the sunlight. It can be
sniffed for at least a quarter of an hour before the first sip, just enough
to wet the lips, is taken. It can be turned between the thumb and first
finger and the resulting eddies can be considered with great philosophy.
The glass can be held up to sparkle in the sunlight, where the wine takes
on a transparent warmth, except for certain mysterious areas of opaqueness
which shift as the glass is tilted this way and that. Thus seen, the wine
embodies the intimacy and warmth, and at once the mystery, of the human
spirit.
A spoonful of ice cream, held up to the light in a comparable manner,
simply lies there and melts.
Mario's despondent mood was the result of a certain clumsiness that
was ruining his courtship. On Sunday afternoon it had rained, and so he
and Maria, walking in the garden of what had in other times been the castle
of the noble Montone family, and was now a public museum and park, had been
all alone. They were close, because they had only Maria's small umbrella
to shelter the both of them. At a particular moment in their conversation,
she had looked up at him in such a way that he had to kiss her. He leaned
down, her lips had opened ever so slightly, her eyes were soft--the fist
in which he held the umbrella tightened its grip in the tension of the mo-
ment-’-their lips touched--and the umbrella collapsed about them, its catch
released by his tightened grip.
Mario shuddered at the memory. Maria had of course been wonderfully
understanding--he just wished she hadn't had to be.
Maria was coming across the piazza toward him. With a glass of wine,
he thought, he could gallantly toast her, raising it to his lips while his
eyes spoke for him but with ice cream? What was there to do?
As she approached, he rose to greet her--and cracked his head on the
umbrella, which was tilted toward his side of the table. He sat down again
more quickly than he'd planned, and she sat down and stretched out a hand
to see if he was all right. Mario relaxed as she touched his forehead. He
took her hand in his, reached out and took her other hand. She smiled.
Mario shook his head and smiled to himself. The tenderness in her eyes
told him that well, that well, one thing was that she wanted to be kis
sed. He leaned forward across the table
The eye takes in an amazing field of view, but the mind's eye is sel
ective. Under the existing circumstances, it was hardly possible for Mario
to concentrate on anything except Maria's face, particularly her eyes, into
which he was gazing, and her lips, for which he was aiming. Therefore, to
the visual sense, all else was as if it had never existed.
Table umbrellas are generally held up by a pole which is inserted in
the center of the table. The pole is made of medium-to-heavy-weight alum
inum pipe which is rustproof and sturdy.
Mario almost wanted to laugh, but he definitely wanted to cry. For
the moment, he could not face Maria, and so he bowed his head on the table.
She watched his shoulders heave once, and then rise and fall slowly in a
great sigh.
"Maria" he said, "I have put my face in the ice cream."
STUDENT VOICES AND VIEWS
As you can imagine, all these
activities were quite engrossing.
So much so that one almost forgot
the reason for which one had come---
to see Romeo and Juliet. The movie
was well worth waiting through the
rest of the festivities, for it
proved to be a very imaginative por
trayal of Shakespeare's classic cre-
(aon't from page 2)
ation. It was especially interest
ing to note the striking resemblanc
es between extras in the cast and
certain personages at N.C.S.A. With
an attentive eye one could pick out
a Leland Schwantes, A Tom Lawrence,
and a Luciano Addis.
All in all the evening was a
grand success for the Teenybopper
set, and proved amusing for the
N.C.S.A. curiousity seekers.
flARCH 13
by Tom Cavano
If words could carry all the
meanings he meant them to and you
could see the colored questions that
he's asking you would see him run
ning out to catch his being and to
know he is himself without a mirror
he feels so lonely he can't hear his
soul believing so he searches for a
woman to reflect him.
EDITORIAL POLICY
(aon't from page 2)
The retort to Mr. Stambler's
letter, however, is a different mat
ter. Before any comment is made,
though, the newspaper wishes to of
fer apology to Mr. Stambler for the
inclusion of this article in the pa
per without a name. This, too, is a
matter necessitating a statement of
policy on the part of the editors.
First of all, the anonymous letter
was submitted for print on Sunday
before the paper was issued, and was
not seen by either Mr. Fragola or
the editors. Had this been other
wise, it is likely that it would not
have seen print. My own reaction
upon discovering this letter in the
paper was one of disgust and disao-
pointment at the cowardice of the
writer. It seems that if Mr. Stamb
ler possesses the simple temerity to
write his opinion and sign his name,
thus submitting himself to the abuse
he has received, then the person who
sees fit to deliver such unbridled
(and in manv places, poorly written)
invective should be possessed of the
same degree of courage. Henceforth
the policy of this paper with regard
to any material submitted for publi
cation will be this: that any such
material, whether article, opinion,
or letters to the editor, will be
accompanied by the signature (in a
legible manner) of the author, on
the material itself. Any material
submitted without this will not be
considered for publication, with the
possible exception of "non-propa
gandist" poetry. If the author of
any article should desire for any
reason to remain anonymous, he may
request that his name be withheld.
Decisions as to the feasability of
this request will be left to the
discretion of the editor of the Es
say.
It is hoped that this editorial
has served to clarify these appar
ently controversial subjects and to
state satisfactorily the stand of
the Essay. Let it be saic^ cnce
again that the Essay is open to com
ment, opinion, creative writing, and
articles by any and all interested
person. We urge readers to respond,
and rather than being content with
making disparaging remarks and idle
comments, to display enough concern
and energy to reply through the pro
per channels the Essay itself.