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Strange But True...
Records Show College's Changes Over the Years
Bev Rogers
Guest Writer
Guilford College Builds Gymnasium for Women
Dateline: 1896
Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, is the first coedu
cational college in the country to start a physical education
department, engage a director and build a gymnasium for
women before building one for men. The director will
have charge of classes for men.
Women participating in the physical education pro
gram will be required to wear long sleeved black blouses,
black collars, flowing black ties, wide pleated black serge
bloomers, long black stockings and soft-soled black shoes.
Public exhibitions of skill will be given by members of
the department.
Band Chick Speaks
Camille Hayes
Staff Writer
Blackgirls— Happy (Mammoth)
I'm going to try not to gush. As far as I'm concerned,
Blackgirls can do no wrong. That's the thing about
Blackgirls: their sound is fairly idiosyncratic, so either
you really, really like them or you really, really don't.
For one thing, the music is very simple. It's justa guitar,
a violin, a keyboard and three female voices.
So anyone who doesn't like listening to women sing
may now stop reading. And the music is also very
gentle and pretty. Anyone who doesn't enjoy listening
to pretty music may also stop reading.
Now that we've gotten rid of the misogynists and the
head-bangers, we can talk about the album. Happy
differs from Procedure, Blackgirls' first effort, in that
on this second album, the group is sounding more
cohesive; they seem more like a band instead of just
three people playing, if you know what I mean. And the
recording of the album itself is less flat than that of
Procedure. Happy has more, um, texture. (Forgive me,
I'm still trying to master the jargon.)
As the name promises, Happy is more light-hearted
than the first record. The album is dominated by
keyboardist Dana Kletter's ethereal singing and song
writing style. Kletter has a penchant for wistful ballads,
which at its best produces truly fantastic songs (like the
surprising waltz "Cathedral") and at its worst smacks of
self-indulgence. (Beware the lyrics of "Mother" and
"The I Love You Song.")
As always, Kletter's almost too-whimsical presence
is tempered by guitarist Eugenia Lee's gritty vocals and
"up yours" attitude. The two women's highly divergent
styles are more fully integrated on Happy than they
have ever been befoce.
I get the sense that the band has finally come into its
own. The album is great, really wonderful Buy it, take
it home with you, sleep with it under your pillow, listen
to it over and over and over again.
Rating:
A Weekly Recor
Source: Things Civil and Useful: A Personal View of
Quaker Education, by Helen G. Hole
• • •
Students Decry Alcohol Abuse
Dateline: May 28,1877
A number of Guilford students joined with citizens of
the Greensboro community to protest the increased use of
alcohol and nicotine. Many carried banners of protest,
while others chanted the following: 'Three things I will
never do: I'll never drink, nor smoke, nor chew."
Source: Things Civil and Useful: A Personal View of
Quaker Education , by Helen G. Hole.
• • •
Enrollment Drops, School May Close
Dateline: 1874
During this academic year, the enrollment of the school
Dinosaur Jr.— Green Mind (Warner Bros.)
You know how it is with alternative bands. They
play in tiny clubs, they release albums on obscure,
cleverly-named labels, they develop a following. Then
the minute they achieve any sort of success they sign
with a big company and suddenly they're dull. It's like
some sort of curse; at times it seems as though creative
and commercial success are mutually exclusive. As
much as I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, I'm afraid
it's my job to tell you: Green Mind, Dinosaur Jr.'s
fourth album (and their first release on Warner Bros.),
may well mark the beginning of the band's descent into
tedium.
Mind you, I use the word "band" loosely here. In
fact, the only original member left is singer/guitarist J.
Mascis. Though he is backed on all of the songs by
various and sundry musicians, Green Mind is largely a
one-man effort. This might be the key to understand
ing why all of the songs sound the same. Okay, not all
of them. Green Mind gets off to a promising start —
"The Wagon" is probably the best song on the album.
It is strictly standard college fare (ragged guitar and
fashionably off-key vocals) but Mascis has a nifty
voice, and the beat is catchy. But the first song, alas, is
the album's high point. By the third track my mind was
beginning to wander, and by the time the sixth song
rolled around I was snoozin' hard.
Now, I don't mean to sound unduly harsh. Most of
the songs are fairly good taken individually. But I am
not critiquing individual songs, I am examining the al
bum as a whole. And taken as a whole, Green Mind is
simply uninteresting. Uninteresting art is kind of a pet
peeve of mine. Obnoxious I can deal with; I can even
handle the occasional bad album (as long as it's funny).
But I reserve my particular ire for boring music.
Thus, the rating: *-
Rating Guide
Five Turnips=Almost Perfect
Four Tumips=Pretty Darned Groovy
Three Tumips=Fair to Middlin'
Two Turnips=Much to be Desired
One Turnip=Yuck-o
has dropped to only 42 students. Trustees, in their annual
report, said, "We feel the necessity of a better and higher
grade of school, one more accessible to a larger number of
our members." ('Members' equate to 'Quakers.' All the
trustees are Quakers, and the school has a tuition sur
charge for non-Quakers.) It is widely rumored that the
school will close at the end of this academic year.
Source: Guilford: A Quaker College, by Dorothy Gilbert
• • •
Guilford College Faculty Has Total of Ten Ph.Ds
Dateline: 1939
Guilford College is proud of the fact that there are a total
of 10 people on its faculty with Ph.D. degrees, including
one woman. The only other small college in North
Carolina with an equal number of Ph.D. degree recipients
on its faculty is Davidson College. Even the president of
Guilford holds a Ph.D. degree.
Source: Guilford College: On the Strength of 150 Years,
by Alex Stoesen
• • •
Faculty Opposed to Music at Guilford
Dateline: early 1890s
Guilford faculty have gone on record that music is not
to be encouraged at Guilford College. Vocal and instru
mental performances are not consistent with Quaker
simplicity, say those who are opposed to music in the
curriculum. Even inextra-curricularareas.musicisnotto
be encouraged. Students will not be allowed to purchase
a phonograph for their use.
Source: Guilford College: On the Strength of 150 Years,
by Alex Stoesen
• • •
Class Schedules Considered Demanding
Dateline: 1847
Student Delilah Reynolds states that the school has a
rigid schedule that keeps students from enjoyment, except
at mealtimes. She notes the following hours:
5 a.m.—Bell rings for rising
6 a.m.—One hour class in grammar
7 a.m.—Breakfast
8:30 a.m.—Classes until 11:30 a.m.
Noon—Lunch with waiters at tables
2 p.m.—Classes resume until 5 p.m.
6 p.m.—Supper hour
7 p.m.—Study hours enforced in residence halls
9 p.m.—Lights out
A bell rings for each change of interval, and students
march to classes and dining hall in pairs. Some students
have protested.
Source: Guilford: A Quaker College, by Dorothy Gilbert
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THE GUICFCiRDIAN: April B; ;i991
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