Newspapers / Salem College Student Newspaper / May 12, 1950, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page Two OfUiUMtl Oii. Jlectl4A£4. This year’s Lecture Series has proved suc cessful in most respects. Although I haven t heard all of the speakers and am not qualiheU to comment on all of them, the three lectures which I did attend were both informing and entertaining. . T.auterbach, the first speaker, held mj in terest throughout his talk, but I felt that he was too much like a classroom lecturer to ex cite the enthusiasm of a large number of stu dents. Granted, his speech was informative, and we probably need that sort of thing. But he didn’t appeal to a majority of the student body. From what I can gather, Hung and Warburg were the same general type as Lau- terbach. , Madv Christians’ program was completely enjoyable. Her delivery was informal, and she supplemented her play excerpts with amu sing stories about her life or the lives of her fellow actors. Yet Miss Christians was not merely entertaining, for she gave the audience a glance at drama with which everyone should be familiar. The highlight of the series was John Mason Brown. He combined wit with interesting comments and thought provoking ideas. He talked so fast and said so much that the audi ence had to keep on its toes to follow him; so certainly nobody was bored. His subject-— contemporarv literature in relation to world events— was of interest to everyone. He stands out as my favorite. My suggestions for next year would be an other Mady Christians’ type and as many other unusual styles as possible. AYell known names would help draw larger crowds. Eleanor McGregor World Hews By Kitty Burrus Statehood for Alaska and Hawaii The question of statehood for Alaska and Hawaii has . come up again, and President Truman de clares it more urgent than ever that they be included in the Union. He says that such action would not only promote the welfare and development of the two territories, but also strengthen the security of the nation as a whole. Despite President Truman’s sup port of these bills, they do not have full Democratic backing. Persis tent opposition has come from the Southern Congressmen, who fore see that the addition of more re presentatives will weaken their strong minority position on such important issues as Civil Rights. Alaska would get one House seat and two Senators, while Hawaii would be entitled to two House seats and two Senators. Seven new Congressmen would make an im portant margin on many closely fought issues. The bill for the admission of the two territories has passed the House, but as yet has not come up for a vote in the Senate. Bitter Struggle over FEPC Bill The Fair Employment Commis sion (FEPC) bill, which is in the form of a proposal to prevent dis crimination in hiring because of race color, religion or national origin, has been grimly tackled by the Senate. As was expected, the measure has met sharp opposition from the tightly knit Southern States. Senator Russell of Georgia called the bill a “legislation monstrosity based on Russian ideas, and af firmed that we can never hope to defeat Communism by copying a part of the Communist program. However, Senator Thomas of Utah declared that the measure is designed to right a wrong that “fairly shouts for remedy.” Sena tor Ives of New York added that Civil Rights, especially anti-dis crimination, are fundamental to the American concept of freedorn and should be above party considera tion. Supreme Court Upholds Union Non-Communist Oath The Supreme Court has an nounced its support of the Taft- Hartley Act provision which re quires Union officials to file non- Communist oaths if their Unions are to gain the protection of the National Labor Relations Board for vital bargaining rights. Chief- Tustice Vinson said that a majority of 5-1 concluded that the section does not unduly infringe on the free-speech amendment of the Con stitution. Following this conclusion, both national and local officers of nearly all Unions have filed non-Com- munist affidavits with the NLRB. 0 '(S' By Jane Watson nineteen Eighty-Four The lecture series this year has presented, I believe, five speakers for the enlightenment and amusement of Salem College students and faculty and residents of Winston-Salem. I feel that, for the most part, these speakers were worthy of the money spent for them; and that not enough people showed up to hear them. This is unfortunate, and elicits a horrid truth : that too few people are interested in improving their minds or in deriving momen tary benefit from the cultural advantages of fered them. I might add that there is no small number of young ladies on this campus who could easily use a little of this culture. When questioned as to which lecturer they enjoyed the most, those who attended re sponded almost unamiously John Mason Brown; and when further pressed for a pos sible reason, that “because he was funny, I guess.” I was out of town when Mr. Brown entertained, but from all reliable reports, I deduce that he spent most of his alloted time in telling of shady stories. Could it be that he was patronizing what he felt was a hyper mediocrity of understanding in his audience? Could he* be correct? Another lecturer who spoke earlier in the year was Dr. William Hung, who, instead of exposing to us American listeners something of significance concerning the tense situation in China at the time, spent approximately one hour in whimsically relat ing how and why he obtained his cognomen. (I believe he was named after “William the Silent”, an exgovernor of 17th Century New York, known for his prodigious taciturnity.) The other speakers presented were of a higher calibre. Mady Christians, who with the exception of her weak rationalization that Juliet (Shakespeare’s fresh and unsullied hero ine of 14 years) must be played by a woman of middle age (and/or upwards) whose matu rity and wisdom have reached full fruition, was excellent. Her satirical interpretation of Kate, from “The Taming of the Shrew”, was refreshing; and her whole approach was casu ally informal, intimate and gracious. How ever, she played primarily to an esoteric few, for the majority of her audience was, I fear, unfamiliar with most of her selections. Both Richard Lauterbach and James War burg presented their talks on the eastern situation with well-organized, lucid and logical material; and I regret to say that the number present in Mr. Warburg’s audience was pathe tically few. There was a better turnout for Mr. Lauterbach who was the first speaker of the year. For the sake of those who require laugh- provoking artistry, the committee will en deavor, in planning next year’s program, to include at least one side-splitting evening of entertainment. We hope that occasion, any way, will draw a respectable number of spectators. Betty Leppert George Orwell's novel, 1984, may be called a novel of prophecy. Or well points out the danger to the individual if the trends to the col- lectivistic state materialize—a state ruled by a powerful minority, a minority interested in power for power’s sake. The evil in power is brilliantly dramatized in 1984. Orwell here creates an ordinary man, Winston Smith, in the toils of the power state of 1984, and he handles the fantastic theme with grim irony. Winston, thirty-nine years old, lives a barren, dingy, listless life in London in 1984 when England has become Airstrip One. He lives alone, but with no privacy, in a dreary room, one side of which is the Telescreen, which he can not turn off and which receives and transmits at the same time. Thus the Thought Police can listen and watch him and broadcast to him all the time. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth where all past newspapers and books are con stantly changed to the new lan guage, “Newspeak”, and brought up to date, to fit changes in state policy when a leader is “vaporized” These changes are easy to make— one merely talks into the “Speak Write” machine, then destroys the original copies. The aim of the new language, Newspeak, is event ually to eliminate all words and consequently all thought. Wins ton feels men already speak as dummies, “from their larynx, not from their brain”. Winston, born in (1945, has a few memories of life as it was before all Truth was suppressed. The girl he loved secretly, Julia, only twen ty-six years old, has no memory of such a time. She is possessed of an instinctive understanding of the evils of The Party and an in stinctive cleverness in outwitting it. But she considers the Party invin cible, and she does not care for ideas, for Truth, In the end her instinctive cleverness loses, and The Party defeats her. The ignorant, masses called “pro les”, (85% of the population) are kept dormant by rumors, gambling, lotteries. But hope may reside here—t hough it may take 1,000 years. The party enforces its power over men by psychological methods. Each day there is on the Tele screen a program called “Tw’o Minutes Hate”, which leaves men frenzied. Each year there is a Hate Week, Enormous pictures of the mythical ruler. Big Brother, shown constantly on the screen, put a hypnosis over the crowds and set them chanting. Through me thods like these the party keeps men numbed so that they accept the state of continuous warfare. Measures have also been taken by the state to make sex (except for reproduction) abnormal and repul sive. Their reasons are to prevent men forming loyalties outside the party, and also through sexual pri vation to induce hysteria which can be transformed into war fever and leader worship. The three super-states into which the world is now divided carry on continuous warfare. They con stantly shift sides. The states are alike—governed by the small inner party whose main desire is to per petuate its rule. There is no longer a real cause of war because mach ines and materials can supply men’s wants. But continuous warfare “uses up the products of the mach ine without raising the standard of living” and keeps the masses, the “proles”, working, in a state of anxiety, so that the few can en slave them. Winston feels that if he as^ a human being can stay sane and re sist fear and physical torture, there is some hope for the individual and for a sane world. He realizes that in moments of crisis one is “never fighting against an external enemy but always against one’s own body”. Yet an unconquerable instinct in him made him hang on day by day, “spinning out a present that had ,no f u t u r e”. He feels an “abyss opening neath his feet at the thought of lies becoming truth”, of the practice of what he called double think. He recoils at The Party’s picture of the future; “a boot stamping on a human face forever”. Winston, trying to find a way out, joins O’Brien, one of the party leaders, in what he thinks is a re- he finds this is just another step volt to overthrow the party. Later in breaking his spirit. O’Brien be trays him, and in “The Ministry of Love” after unbelievable torture and pain, his persecutors finally defeat him. When they bring him a mirror, he does not recognize his own forlorn, gray-colored, skeleton like, face with the eyes of a fierce animal. The corruption of his mind is complete; h,e accepts the slo gans of the Party: “Ignorance is Truth; War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery.” He learns to love what he hates. The final betrayal is of Julia whom he had loved, and thus the suffering of his body, pain- kills the spirit 'of good within him. Orwell presents a dismal picture for the individual. Apparently he May Day dawned bright and clear. Actl bounded out of bed at five o’clock and chirped a merry good-morning to the crow cawing on her windowsill. She splashed cool sulfuric acid over her drowsy eyes, put her teeth in, and watered her geranium. Then, after trip ping down the first flight of steps and stumbl- ing”down the last, ishe arrived breathlessly on Bitting’s lawn where the Choral Ensemble were '’already perched on their appointed limbs in the" willow tree to wake the May Queen with joyous song. Acti had only enough time to grab a cold potato from the dining hall and hurry behind Main Hall for the morning devotion. She crept up behind a marshal, her green eyes gleaming and her fangs bared. Suddenly she pounced; grabbed, not twm, but three pansies from the marshal’s tray and stole silently away. All during the service Acti stood on the edge of the crowd chuckling and purring to herself as she rubbed the faces of her three pansies lovingly. Soon the eight-thirty bell brought Acti back to earth and her four classes that morning, By 12 :10 she was so impatient that she hooked her legs over the radiator and hung out of third story Main Hall to see if her parents or date were in sight yet. Par down the road she saw a greenish cloud of smoke which she recognized as the family Pierce Arrow. She waited until the professor wasn’t looking, put on her suction shoes, and sneaked down the wall. The car coughed to a halt and Mother, Daddy and fifteen other distant relatives fell out onto the pavement. Acti was so excited about seeing them she stepped oh Uncle Coon’s face with her suction shoe. (He looked much kinder with popeyes, anyway.) Suddenly Acti realized that her date, who was to have joined her family at Church Mountain Finish ing School, was missing. She looked anxiously among the seething, drooling crowd of her relatives, but he was nowhere to be seen. A fat tear dripped off Acti’s quivering chin, when all at once she heard a familiar groan from underneath the back seat. Furiously she clawed the upholstery away, and there he was wedged between the cushions. Tenderly she gave him artificial respiration, with her suction shoes. As soon as he began to breathe, they piled into the ear again (this time thoughtful Acti was careful to tie her date securely on the running board) to go out to lunch at the hotel. Pour hours later Acti quickly downed the last drop of her fingerbowl and herded her family out of the dining room. When they arrived back at school, Acti cautioned her family to put on their spiked shoes, tied them together with a mountaineers cable and started them on the steep descent to the May Dell. Her hero remained behind to park the car. Acti began to worry when an hour passed, and he still hadn’t returned. Soon he panted up to her and collapsed on the doorstep. “After all”, he said, “Kernersyille is a loiig way away.” If they were to see any of the program, there was just one thing for Acti to do. She threw him over her shoulder, ran down to the May Dell and found the last empty seat—on top of the Academy spire. They were just in time to see the May Pole wrapped. At least Acti thought it the May Pole; it could have been the Rey nolds building. Prom that distance it was a little hard to tell. believes man’s spirit can be inher ently good, but there is a limit to the pain his body can suffer. There is no place for God in the horrible picture he presents of a (Continued on page four) EDITORAL DEPARTMENT Editor-in-Chief Clara Belle Associate Editor _ Lee Associate Editor Mary Lib ” j; j Business Manager Betty Advertising Manager Carolyn Bute e
Salem College Student Newspaper
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May 12, 1950, edition 1
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