VOLUME XVII, NUMBER 16
N.C. WESLEYAN COLLEGE, ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1979
WILLIAMS AND FLINT VISIT WESLEYAN
by Smead Jolley
Wesleyan will host two
poets during March, Jonathan
Williams and Roland Flint.
Both poets have previously
read their poems here during
the 1977-78 academic year.
Williams will arrive first, and
will lecture to the Friends of
the Library on Monday,
March 5th, in the library at
8:00 in the evening. The
subject of the lecture will be
The Jargon Society, the
publishing company Williams
originated in 1951 and has run
single-handedly since then. On
Tuesday morning at 11:00
o’clock he will read a selection
of his poems in the Audio-
Visual room. Roland Flint will
be on campus March 26th and
27th, and available for con
ferences with student poets.
He will also be attending and
speaking at some classes. He
will read his poems at 8:30 on
Monday evening the 26th in
the Browsing Room of the
library.
Both poets will read from
new books. Williams will be
celebrating his 50th birthday
in March with the publication
of two books of poetry: The
Elite Elate Poems, from his
own Jargon Press; and
Shankum Naggum, published
for the occasion of his visit by
the Friends of the Library at
Wesleyan. These books will be
for sale at the reading and will
be available thereafter at the
college bookstore. Roland
Flint’s second book of poems,
Say It, was published in
January by the Dryad Press.
Copies should be available
from the college bookstore.
The Friends of the Library
will be publishing “Muncie,”
a poem from Say It, in
broadside form, and this will
be available free at Mr.
Flint’s reading.
Williams is a native of
Highlands, North Carolina,
and now divides his time
between Highlands and
England. He has published the
work of many of the leading
poets of the twentieth century,
as well as having many
volumes of his own poetry
published. Williams attended
Princeton University for two
years and studied painting
and design in Washington and!
Chicago before discovering
the educational opportunity
afforded him nearer home by
Black Mountain College,
where he studied, off and on,
between 1951 and 1956. In 1977
he received the North
Carolina Award in the Fine
Arts for “his many and
various contributions as poet
publisher, essayist, editor,
designer and lecturer to the
cultural life of North Carolina
and the country at large.”
Originally from North
Dakota, Roland Flint now
lives in Washington, D.C.
where he teaches courses in
literature and writing at
Georgetown University. In
1970 he received a Discovery
Grant from the National
Endowment for the Arts. In
1972 he received Georgetown
University’s Edward B. Bunn
Award “for faculty ex
cellence.” The Corcoran
Gallery awarded him its first
Poetry Award (to a poet in the
Washington area) “for
achievement and promise.”
Two books of his poems are
available from Dryad Press:
And Morning (1975) and Say It
(1979).
Jonathan Williams
A very strange society
FEBRUARY 12, 1979
WESLEY AN’S OFFICIAL
SNOW DAY
“A very strange society”
is the phrase the novelist Allen
Drury used to describe the
Republic of South Africa. The
second annual North Carolina
Wesleyan Spring Symposium
will examine some of the
aspects of this, the most
racially segregated society in
the world today.
The Symposium’s keynote
speaker will be Leonard M.
Thompson, Professor of
African History at Yale
University and one of the
world’s most distinguished
authorities on South Africa.
Professor Thompson will
address the college com
munity twice. His keynote
speech will be entitled
“Afrikaner Nationalism.” His
second address will involve an
assessment of South Africa’s
future. Professor Thompson
lived in South Africa for
twenty-five years, and has
written or edited numerous
books and articles, among
them The Oxford History of
South Africa and Survival in
Two Worlds: Moshoeshoe of
Lesotho.
The Afrikaners, the
subject of Thompson’s
keynote address, are the
dominant white ethnic group
in South Africa. Their system
of race segregation - called
Apartheid -- reserves 87
percent of South Africa’s land
for whites, even though whites
make up barely 20 percent of
the population. White wages
are more than ten times
higher than black, and ap
proximately ten times more
black babies die in infancy
than white.
The continued application
of Apartheid laws has, ac
cording to some observers,
brought South Africa to the
brink of race war. Some 290
blacks were killed by police
during riots in 1976. Then, in
1977, world attention was
again focused in South Africa
following the death after a
police beating, of the black
leader Stephen Biko.
Another thrust of the
Symposium will be an
examination of United States
policy toward South Africa.
John East, Professor of
Political Science at East
Carolina and influential in
Republican Party politics,
and Christopher Nteta, a
black South African now
living in Boston, will discuss
this issue.
Two films, “Last Grave at
Dimbaza” and “The Afrikaner
Experience,” will complete
the Symposium schedule.
Those students who want
Convocation Credit for this
term must attend the Keynote
Address, the discussion of
United States policy, and at
least one of the showings of
“Last Grave at Dimbaza.” All
other Symposium events will
receive regular Convocation
credit.
SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
Monday, March 19
10:30 am - -(-Keynote Ad
dress: “Afrikaner
Nationalism” Leonard M.
Thompson, Yale University,
Everett Gymnasium
2:30 pm - “South Africa:
What of the Future?”
Professor Thompson, Room
105
8:00 pm - -|--|-Film: “Last
Grave at Dimbaza” Room 105
Tuesday, March 20
9:30 am - -|--fFilm: “Last
Grave at Dimbaza”, Room 105
11:00 am - -(--t-Film: “Last
Grave at Dimbaza” Room 105
1:00 pm - Film: “The
Afrikaner Experience” Room
105
2:30 pm - -(-“United States
Policy toward South Africa: a
Discussion”, John East, East
Carolina University,
Christopher Nteta, Boston
State College
+ Required for Convocation
Credit for Spring Term
-(--(- Students seeking Con
vocation Credit for Spring
Term must attend at least one
showing, and are advised not
to wait until the last one unless
necessary.