Newspapers / The St. Augustine's pen. / Dec. 1, 1966, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page 2 THE PEN December, 1966 The Pen Staff EDITOR ■ IN - CHIEF Brenda Dowery BUSINESS MANAGER Robert E. Williams, Jr. LAY OUT EDITORS Hilda Austin, Barbara Dennis, Robert S, Monroe REPORTERS Donnel D. Morris, Robert S. Mon roe, Carey L. Younger, Reginald B. Elliott, Hoyle E. Utley, Connie Horsley, and Isaiah Wilson, Jr. TYPISTS Douglas Pieper, Acquanetta Williams, Carolyn Davis and Regina Robinson ARTIST Arthur V. Wise, Jr. Existentialism: Religious Individuality And Moral Freedom By BRENDA DOWERY Jean Paul Sartre, Kirkegaard, Karl Jaspers and Heidegger. These are just a few names in the field of existentialism. There is no true definition for this school of philo sophy ... It does have some char acteristics which do make it in- dentifiable. Among these is moral freedom. This does not mean free sex and aU the other things con trary to midfUe-class morality. Moral freedom to the existentialist means thataU moA values begif with the idfl^lurjAine should bi ^.lavf^consioSB^^B course,, that all people wdcim'^Bve what the middle-class conSTO^ positive values. This is known as good faith. One might consider it as the safety valve for the existentialist, prevent ing moral decadence. Existentialism also advocates religious individuality. One group of existentialists denies organized religion, believing that man must experience life in order to live it. He must throw off the shackles of the midcBe-'class morality, con struct his own values, and involve himself with them. Christian existentialists, as op posed to atheistic existentialists, also deny organized religion or the church, stating that through the church, man is taken away from God. The church has kilted God; the churches are the tombs of God. Only through realization of sin and the complete surrender of the being of God can man expect to come in contact with God. The only true fact about life, say the ex istentialists, is dead. Man must resign himself to this and be pre pared to meet God without the foam-padding of the church. One might say here that the key to existentialism is freedom. Free dom from organization, freedom to mold one’s own life and participate in it. Man must rise above the middle-class morality and materi alism to a plateau where he has no protection from the harshness of life. Drive Safely On The Presidency Support For United States Commitments By REGINALD ELLIOTT Today we find more and more people who find it easier to criti cize the President. Granted; this is a privilege that American citizens have. However, I feel that we must do it, but with a very large degree of rationality. When we criticize, we make judgments as to merits and faults. However,- in the discus sion of merits and faults the facts of the situation are usually present only in part. For example, during the Cuban Crisis, American citizens criticized the President in a time which could do more harm than good. It would be militarily im possible to let all of the military and political “cats out of the bag.” On the other hand, when the mases are informed, they are bet ter behaved. For they are not in a contemporary engima, but in a contemporary condition in which they can exchange thought, hence becoming a part of the active con temporary world. Now this thought is ideal, but totally practical, for we must re tain under government auspices, many of the political and military top secrets, for obvious reasons. If all our moves were made public, the enemy would only need to read The New York Times or The Wash ington Post to find out where the attacks were being made and other pertinant military data in a time of national emergency. In Viet Nam, we have a com mitment, as we do with other coun tries in other parts of the world. If for one moment, our allies and enemies thought we could not or would not support our own com mitments on international policies, we would be over run by our enemies in ten years. President Johnson as Command er-In-Chief of the armed forces, Iries to regulate the high quality of Ytf/national relations fhat we have ^ TlT^iintT-Uj-f—Vp; , ■ ^3\wers of the President are awe some, but they must; be, for he heads the largest and richest cor poration in the world. His mind and actions must be quick, even on the most dangerous of decisions, even decisions that involve the lives of hundreds of American troops. He must also support what we call United States commitment. For example our commitment in Viet Nam is very simple. President Eisenhower made a promise to the Vietnamese government that the United States would give military advisors and economic aid to their country to enable them to combat the communist threat. This was in the form of an oral contract. Con tract is a form of commitment. The failure to fulfill this commit ment would bring nothing less than dishonor to the United States. Hence we must support our Presi dent in this our search for inter national peace. Bradley, Bradley. Bradley Samuel M. Bradley, the advisor to the Pen Staff is someone that merits mentioning in our first is sue of the Pen. He has experienced a life of the unexpected, and true to the muse so obviously attendant, has recorded it as he has lived it — with frankness, fortitude and finesse. Born in the border state of Kentucky, the poet comes from a family described as “Republican in politics and mountaineer-inde pendent in spirit.” Mr. Bradley served in the U. S. Navy during World War II, both as an enlisted man and as an officer, and became a Quaker and Pennsylvanian short ly thereafter. He received his for mal education in American Litera ture and Civilization at the Uni versity of Washington in Seattle and at the University of Penn sylvania. His interest in the linguistic approach to English is evident in his verse and he has been published in many of the nation’s largest and most cele brated periodicals. Mr. Bradley has also distinguish ed himself as a translator of 19th and 20th century poems in collabo ration with Marianne Bogojavlen sky of Dickinson College. His most recent activities included a col lection of African tales and poems. Mr. Bradley has also been a lecturer in English at Lincoln Uni versity in Oxford, Pennsylvania. St. Aug.’s Junior Enjoys Summer In Africa I are ra poctations Joe Cannon with Dr. Robinson Junior Mathematics Major, Joe Cannon of Ayden, North Carolina spent a very informative and profit able six weeks in Africa this past ■summer under the “Operations Crossroads Africa” program for college and university student throughout the United States. The program is, under the direction of Dr. James H. Robinson, its found er, and ha| as its purpoes, the bringing tof l'ier of young people across raci.i(. religious and nation al boundaries in an act of faith and power of kowledge, to produce not only better human relations, but international understanding as well. Close contact is definitely estab lished between the participants and Africans while at work through general discussions, conversations, etc. The program also gives the participant? a first hand look at various cc'untries in Mrica, while cases, far beyond ex- Mri Cannon was ■ Itaff Hera are some of the questions taat were asked dur ing the inter/iew and Mr. Cannon’s reactions: Q. Who influenced you to take this trip, Joe? A. I had heard of Operation Cross roads before, but never seriously considered taking part in it until after discussing the matter with some friends of mine and alumni of “Crossroads” who had themselves the chance of visiting Africa. Q. How long did the program last? A. “The program lasted from June 20, 1966 through August 27th. At the beginning of this period, the participants were given a week’s orientation at Rutger’s University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The summer reached ts peak with the various groups involved spend ing five days in an evaluation ses sion at whicli time, the participants along with the leaders, told about the projects, gave suggestions as to how 1967 “Crossroads” can be even better ; had the opportunity to meet the Reverse-flow Crossroads Africans who came to the United States under the same program), and finally, to meet the area direc tor, who gave us an overall view of the projects.” Q. What were the costs and gen eral expenses? A, “The total cost was $1,750 which covered round-trip fare from New York to Africa, as well as one week of orientation, board and lodg ing at Rutgers University, How ever, “Crossroads” makes a grant of $1,750,00 to each selected student which means that the student is re quired to pay $1,000 in order to participate.” This amount can be secured from such sources as women’s clif.is, service clubs, fraternities, soror ities, friends, etc.. if the participant cannot defray the costs himself. If I might add, I recieved most of my $1,000 from such sources as I previously named.” Q- How many students partici pated? A. “Approximately 325 college and university students from Cana da and United States participated.” Q. What was the immediate re- spose and reaction upon arriving in the foreign country? A. “As the plane landed at the airport in Nairobia, Kenya, I found myself iii a state of perplexity — unsure about the things fhat I might see once I got off the plane. One can imagine some of the things that ran through my mind. How ever, when I did get out of the plane, the things I saw were sur prising and far. far beyond my ex^ctation. There are huge oil refineries (Shell, Gulf, etc,), a beautiful airport, and people from many parts of the world. This, I think, was an excellent way to commence the summer,” Q, Did you encounter any diffi culties with language since you were not taught the native lan guage before going? A, “There was really no lan guage problem because English is a second language in Ethiopia,” Q. How did the African people accept you and your companions? A. “It seemed that the attitude toward foreigners was quite heart warming, The people would go out of their way to talk to us. They were very so"iable.” Q. What important cities did you visit? A. “I saw a couple which .surpa's many of our cities. There is Nairobi which is the capital of East Africa that is about three or four times the size of Raleigh with many attrac tions — large department store,= , theatres, hotels. Also there is Addis Abab which is the capital of Ethio pia which is about three times the size of Raleigh, It too has much to offer its citizens as well as visitors. There are many huge and beautful structures in each of these cities,” Q. Within what country did you spend most of your time? A. “The larger part of the sum mer was spent in Ethiopia, as that was the country where the group I was in was assigned,” Q. What was the project you worked on? A. “Our project consisted of con structing two rooms to an already six room school which was about 35 miles from Addis .\baba. In ad dition to this, we did Ah things as assembling abou^^ffly benches •ft»'-rfrn«her digging holes to plant tree^Bh the help of men from the locl^^riited States Air Force. Aside from this, some members of the trroup taught classes at night in such subjects as English and Mathematics. This par ticular project was under the direc tion of the Mini.stry of Community Development? Q. What did the people you work ed with and you, personally ac complish and benefit from the work? A. “As far as the project is con cerned, we started things which were badly needed by the commun ity and even though we did not complete parts of our initial task, it was our hone that the community complete the portion we did not finish. Before we left, we saw evi dence of the community working on the project,” “I can personally say that I acquired many lasting friends and also expanded my horizon, I do not speak for the other members of the group but I can assure you that they feel the same way,” Q, Do you feel that the trip was worth your money, effort, and time? A. “I definitely feel that it was worth every cent that I had to pay and if I had known as I know now and if I had the finances, I would have paid the $1,750, as I feel that it was vrorth it. Thus far, I have not been able to find another way that I could spend the summer with such rewards of both a social and educational nature,” Q, Would you recommend or en courage other students to take this trip? A. “Of course, I wish every stu dent could have the opportunity to visit Africa, A first-hand exper ience, as I had, would rid them of many misconceptions that they might have about Africa. At the same time, such a trip would en courage students to set their goals higher.” Q, Would you take the trip again? A. “Yes. I plan to join the Peace Corps as soon as I graduate so that I can go back to Africa.” New Faculty Member Presently at Saint Augustine’s College several new instructors have joined the staff. Mrs. Eliza beth A. Morgan, an instructor in the English Department, is one of these faculty members, Mrs. Morgan, a native of Balti more, Maryland, completed her un dergraduate studies at Eastern Baptist College in Saint David’s Pennsylvania, and her graduate work at tiie University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mrs. Morgan stated that this is her first teaching job and she feels that Saint Augustine’s is a “good place to begin.” She said that the student body is “extremely friend ly,” also the faculty has been help ful and kind. Upon questioning Mrs. Morgan about Saint Augus tine’s, she said that teaching in a Negro institution has been of inter est to her. Since she has been here, she has found that several outsidjr wondered how she liked the job and what her position was as far as the school is concerned. She feels that she is not “Different.” She says that when a person does not con centrate on a situation such as this, one will not feel as though he is “different.” Commenting on the students as a whole, Mrs. Morgan said that she finds the students here the same as those everywhere. There are some who are concerned and work hard at their studies while others are less concerned do little work. She said that she at tempts to work for “those who care” and she is enjoying it im mensely. Mrs. Morgan was influenced to teach English in a very interesting way. After her freshman year in college, she went to Europe to spend the summer and to visit her sister who was studying in London. On the return trip to the United States on a student ship, she and her sister met a group of 500 Ni gerians who were also on their way to the United States. The two young ladies, on their two week voyage jtegan to teach the Nigerians idio- pPatic expressions and coUoquial- ^m of the English language. This »tuation influenced her to pursue •|j««lj^and^ become aiv.in.sjruc-_^ U iWmie Enj^lish language, While attending college, Mrs. Morgan held varied jobs. She worked as a form instructor at a reform schooj, a chambermaid, and a waitress, to mention a few. Mrs. Morgan and her husband who teaches at J. W. Ligon Junior- Senior High School in this city, plan to spend next summer travel ing in Scandinavia. We, of THE PEN staff, would like to welcome Mrs. Morgan to Saint Augustine’s College and as an advisor to our newspaper. NAACP The wide range of activities in which the NAACP engages and the notable success it has enjoyed has earned for the Association the deep respect of its friends and the deep fear of its enemies. The College Chapter of the Na tional Association for the Advance ment of Colored People (NAACP) here at Saint Augustine’s College are greatly concerned as to what is taking place in our society. We know the many problems that we are confronted with today. We know the rights we enjoy as Amer ican citizens are constitutionally guaranteed But these guarantees have not been self-implementing. Many of the rights have been ignor ed and defied, particularly in the South. It has been the NAACP pri marily which has successfully chal lenged this “Dixie” defiance and secured implementation of basic constitutional rights for Negro citizens. The bi-racial goal of the NAACP is to integrate the American Ne gro into all areas of American life. In spite of the enormous strides made through legislation, through political action, many obstacles re main in the past of those who seek fuU citizenship and equal oppor tunity. The NAACP needs the moral and financial support of every liberty- loving individual and group if this goal is to be achieved. The College Chapter of the NAACP here at Saint Augustine’s College officers are as followings: President Sy Smith; Vice Presi dent, Reginald Elliott; Secretary, Sharon Hemphill; Treasurer, Ro bert Monroe; Reporters, Leo^ Mays and Carolyn Davis; Advison Mrs, Millie D. Veasey, Mr. J. Mi]( Holloway. 1 i
Dec. 1, 1966, edition 1
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