NOVEMBER 22,1991 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3
Patterson unpredictability entertaining
By CECILIA LYNN CASEY
A half hour before he had to
perform, Tom Patterson was
standing on the stage of the main
room of the Student Activities
Center behind the podium, writ
ing away.
His jacket still on and a bag
still slung over his shoulder, he
composed a song that he would
sing later. Several persons who
arrived early and watched him
writing had the burning question,
“What is he writing? What’s he
doing?”
It was that sense of curiosity
about what he would do next that
kept the audience entertained all
evening.
Patterson started his perfor
mance by putting on a mask made
for him by an “outsider” artist
named Bernard Schatz, who goes
by the name of L-15, and singing
a rap song that he had made up.
This led into some slides that he
had brought showing pictures of
L-15 and some of L-15’s other
pieces of artwoik.
Next he read a poem entitled
“Miles Cook On This Eternal
Blue Flame,” which he wrote
when Miles Davis died Sept. 26.
Accompanying this, Patterson
read “Thelonious Sphere Monk
Passes On Into The Great Beyond
17 February 1982,” which he said
he had written while he was driv
ing in his car and first heard that
Monk had died.
From poetry to a short story,
Patterson then read the account
of ‘The Phantom Sheik.” In the
summer of 1974, Patterson went
out west where he met George
Comforth, also known as the
Phantom Sheik. “The path of my
life has always put me in contact
with these eccentric old men,” he
said.
Patterson had been hitchhik
ing when the Sheik picked him
up and gave him a ride to a place
called Rodeo. During the ride the
Sheik told Patterson about his
rather colorful life. It seems that
for 34 years Comforth had the
Sheik living in his body and
teaching him different things and
helping him through Ufe.
As Patterson read the story of
the Sheik, he would imitate the
voice of George Comforth, which
delighted much of the audience
as was apparent by the applause.
Then Patterson revealed what
he had been writing before the
performance, a song “The Ballad
of Senator No!” This was the
highlight of the evening as
Patterson put back on his L-15
mask and sang in a southem ac
cent about Senator Helms.
Later, during an interview,
Patterson said he “is very disap
pointed that Jessie Helms is the
nation’s greatest enemy against
culture.” There was laughter
throughout the song and loud ap
plause after it.
Patterson jumped back into
showing more slides, followed by
another poem, “God’s Last Red
Light,” written for the Rev.
Howard Finster who is an “out
sider” artist.
From there he read from two
of his books, “Howard Finster
Stranger From Another World,
Man of Vision Now on This
Earth,” and “St. Eom in the Land
of Pasaquan,” which were about
the Rev. Finster and St Eom, also
known as Eddie Owens Martin,
both of whom are outsider artists.
Patterson made the reading even
more lively by impersonating
both Finster and St. Eom, truly
bringing them to life.
During his interview after the
performance, Patterson explained
what outsider art is and why he
writes about art. “Outsider art is
a term used to refer to an artist
who has had no formal back
ground or education,” he said.
“I have always been interested
in art, especially outsider art. As
a child growing up in Georgia, I
would go on trips with my family
and I would see different kinds of
art along the road that people had
put there to show off,” he said.
“Then as a teenager, I grew inter
ested in contemporary art.”
Patterson majored in English
in college and is now the editor
of A.R.T.V.U., a quarterly visual
magazine. Patterson is also a free
lance writer, art critic for the
Winston-Salem Journal, poet, and
essayist. When asked what he en
joyed most when he wrote about
art, he said, “It gives me an op
portunity to think about art more
fully and in the process of writing
about it, I understand art more
completely.”
Next he was asked what he
enjoyed most about art, and re
plied, “That’s impossible to an
swer,” going on to explain that
he enjoyed so many things about
art that there would be no time to
list them aU.
Patterson was himself enjoyed
for his artistic talents by many in
the audience. Junior Charlotte
Layton was very inspired by
Patterson. “I Uked that he was
different, from what one might
normally expect from a typical
writer. He was great,” she said.
“He is writing from today’s
perspective,” she added. “I do
believe that he was a wonderful
representative for outsider art.”
This was the last of the visit
ing writers to come to Wesleyan
this semester, and in some way
the most distinct. As Patterson
jumped from subject to subject,
reading and singing, he had the
audience wondering what he
would do next. With the other
writers, there was some form to
what they did, and although this
was not bad, there was high fun
to be had by watching and listen
ing to Patterson break the pat-
tem.
It was also more than fitting
that Patterson was the last writer,
because just as the audience
wondered what was next, so could
they wonder what will be next in
the Visiting Writers Series.
College papers face increasing censorship
By AMY REYNOLDS
On Dec. 15, the nation wiU
celebrate the 200th anniversary
of the BiU of Rights. Yet, after
two centuries, student newspapers
are still fighting to uphold Aeir
constitutional rights to a free
press.
And now, a 1988 Supreme
Court mling that gave high school
officials broader power to censor
school-sponsored student publi
cations has some free press advo
cates fearing that the same argu
ment may be stretched to include
college newspapers.
The Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
raling specifically referred to the
censoring of student publications
when they are part of a school’s
curriculum and when the deci
sion to censor is “reasonably re
lated to legitimate pedagogical
concems.”
The Student Press Law Center
says that’s what is happening at
Ohio State University.
Last month, the student news
paper, The Lantern, began pub
lishing under protest after the
school attempted to enact a policy
of prior review aimed at prevent
ing libelous stories from miming
in the newsp^er. The student
editors said it was censorship.
Three weeks later, when the
policy was approved, three edi
tors and six reporters resigned and
seven editors were fired.
“When I started my job, I
asked what the policy was and
they (the publication committee)
told me there was no prior re
view,” says former editor Debra
Baker, a senior who quit because
of the policy. “I asked that ques
tion before we got started (pub
lishing this quarter), and that’s
what started it.”
Ohio State rans its- stjudent
newspaper as a laboratory for
journalism classes. While most
student reporters and copy edi
tors are required to work for the
paper as part of the lab, the edi
tors and some reporters are paid
by the school to mn the paper.
Financially, the newspaper is in
dependent, generating revenue to
ran itself through advertising and
giving enough money back to the
school to pay for the student staff.
“Financially we’re indepen
dent, but we’re not separately in
corporated,” Baker says.
The new policy, ^proved by
the faculty of Ohio State’s school
of joumalism, allows the faculty
advisor of the newspaper to read
stories prior to publication but
does not give the advisor the
power to pull a story for any rea
son. Any disagreement between
the editor and the adviser about a
story and its potential for libel is
given to an outside attomey who
would render a legal opinion
about the story. The editor would
then be forced to alter any poten
tially libelous parts of the story,
if they exist.
The policy came about because
the university feared that its ties
to the newspaper would make it
liable for what appears in the
newspaper; hence, if someone
sues The Lantern for libel and
wins, Ohio State says it has to
pay.
Mark Goodman, executive di
rector of the Student Press Law
Center, disagrees. He says with
out the prior review policy the
school would not be liable. He
thinks Ohio State is attempting to
expand the Hazelwood ruling.
Ohio State says it is just trying
to avoid a costly lawsuit.
The Ohio State conflict is just
one of many across the country.
After the Hazelwood raling, cen
sorship of student publications
started to rise.
Goodman estimates that the
law center receives about 500
calls each year about the issue.
Only a fraction end up in court.
Currently, another censorship
battle is brewing at Edinboro
University of Pennsylvania,
where the Student Government
Association decided to stop
funding the newspaper’s outside
media services that provided edi
torial cartoons and columns from
writers Mike Royko, Dave Berry,
and others.
The SGA conducted a student
survey at the university cafeteria
and student union asking readers
what they wanted to read in the
newspaper.
“As far as funding is con
cerned, if the students don’t want
(Royko, etc.), we’re not going to
fund it,” says Tina Brooks, SGA
president. The absence of the
columns “would open up some
pages for more news,” she says.
The advisor of The Spectator,
Tom Stanko, says the SGA is try
ing to censor the paper to get more
coverage of Greek events because
the majority of the SGA mem
bership is Greek.
Some examples frcm the pre
vious yean
• The University of Denver’s
student newspaper. The Clarion,
was indefinitely shut down for
printing sexist jokes on its back
page, an area devoted to jokes
and satire.
• An editor at Long Island
University’s newspaper. The
Seawanhaka, was arrested and
had film from his camera exposed
after he took pictures during a
speech by controversial City
College professor Michael Levin
that ended in a scuffle between
protesters and the police.