THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Wednesday, February 28, 1968
Page 2a
Larry Grossman
Mexican way
National highway 85 reluctantly enters the Sier
ra Madre Oriental mountain range in the Mexican
state of Hidalgo as if aware of the harsh path to
follow. It struggles up the slopes in-a series of
sharp curves and turns through pine forests and
then descends with impatience into a region of
wet, tropical vegetation. Banana and coffee planta
tions line the margins of the road in the hot val
legs. Corn fields hacked out from the forest cling
uncertainly to the mountainsides.
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Youth power
College students invariably express an opinion
on the country's top leaders with such comments
as "LB J is a warmonger; Nixon is the 'Born
Loser' personified; McCarthy is dreaming the im
possible dream; Romney is just dreaming."
But never do the 7,000,000 students enrolled in
colleges and universities in the United States have
the opportunity to express their opinions as a uni
fied group.
At last Time magazine is giving these students
a chance to inform themselves about top presiden
tial prospects for next year's elections and then
participate in a nationwide primary election.
; The adaptable ASUN Special Projects has
agreed to sponsor "Choice 68," a nationwide presi
dential primary specifically for college students,
which will be held in April on more than 650 cam
puses. " Before the mock primary the University will
receive information concerning presidential candi
dates' platforms, foreign and domestic policies and
political leanings. This information will be dissemin
ated to the campus primarily through the Daily
Nsbraskan.
The results of this election will be highly signi
ficant. The presidential selection of 2,000,000 (the
number expected to vote) students, whether or not
they are 21, should be very effective in gaining the
attention of the numberous presidential hopefuls.
; Never before have the opinions and actions of
America's highly informed and knowledgable young
adults been given so much consideration or re
spect. "Choice 68," however, will be most significant
for the University, as next fall Nebraskans will be
voting on Amendment No. 1, which would lower
the state's voting age to 19.
; ; ' Obviously the entire state will be watching the
-pre-21" set at all the state colleges and especial
ly at Nebraska. If the University demonstrates that
- eoUege students are capable of organizing a suc
; cessful election of this scope and then voting in
telligently (and in large numbers) in this election,
it, should make an impressive argument for the
passage of Amendment No. 1.
Cheryl Tritt
Rodney Powell
An ear-ful
sS fciinmJ
" " I was feeling guilty again (and I'm not even
Jewish). Yes, the world was too much with me, I
was too with the world I didn't know what was
coming off (I couldn't touch that line with a pro
verbial ten-foot pole). (But a twelve foot pole, maybe).
I am
a Walrus
Not even my customary cup of Ovaltine could
comfort me, so I knew that I must face the prob
lem squarely, meet it head on so to speak, really
come to grips with it. But I couldn't it had taken
weight-lifting and had a decided advantage.
Then it dawned on me (an unpleasant experi
ence, requiring an immediate shower) that this in
ability to even face my problem was, in fact, a
symptom of my general malaise, it was this very
tendency to evade reality, to circumvent the hard
data of life itself which engendered my feelings of
guilt. Reminded on every corner of this lack, I knew
that I must strive to cultivate a sense of Respon
sibility. That night as I went to bed in a compost heap
(what the world needs now is lots of mulch). I
knew that my Responsibility was growing it was
becoming rooted in my system.
Soon I would be responsible enough to handle
a Total Education, responsible enough to close my
door, responsible enough to kill some VC. Xo
more guilt. Oh, it was wonderful, so very wonder
ful, that by my faith I'd be saved through eternity.
But the next day little doubts began to eat
away at my seemingly solid structure (and I
couldn't even call Otto the Orkin maa). Some
wicked thing deep inside of me kept whispering
Var." Why should that have bothered me?
The little begger wouldn't stop "ear, ear,
ear, ear, ear, ear," the word obsessed me, pos
sessed me, taunted me, flaunted me. Oh, it was
a wicked word! .
I tried to be rational. I would go through the
proper channels. Good old Responsibility would ac
company me and together we would arrive at some
mutually acceptable compromise.
If whatever was whispering "ear" would be
willing to whisper only dnrlng certain hours of the
day, I would be perfectly willing to allow It to
ai long as things didn't get out of hand. After all,
we were all mature.
The monster wouldn't listen. "Ear" echoed, re
verberated, clanged, banged in my head. I was
falling apart. I felt eary. Eary to bed, eary to
rise, ear, ear.
At last we reached a crisis. Responsibility him
self didn't know what to do. I did. I was weak. I
gave in. Ear's looking at you.
Daily Nebraskan
Fen. 28, IK
Vol H, No.
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Lrsa Womatu.ua.
7A
William F. Buckley
Uncle George's mansion
We have seen that George
Wallace stoutly insists that he
is not to be thought of as a
racist candidate, even though
he has never explained satis
factorily why he was an en
thusiastic national Democrat,
in the tradition of Roosevelt,
Kennedy, and Johnson, up
until the moment when the
Federal Government began to
interfere with the will of Ala
bama on the matter of seg
regation. It is not as though, when
Governor Wallace stood at the
threshold of the University of
Alabama and defied the fed
eral marshal to carry out the
court order integrating the
university, he there and then
repented of his former acti
vities, perceiving the implica
tions of state welfarism.
He appears to be perfectly
satisfied for Washington to
collect taxes and remit the
proceeds to the states pro
vided there are no accompany
ing instructions how that mon
ey is to be used. He Is quite
prepared to accept, for Ala
bama, twice as much m:ey
as Alabama contributes to the
federal treasury.
What he is net prepared to
do is acquiesce in Washing
ton's instructions on how Ala
bama should run its s c h o o 1
system, or indeed anything
e'se that Alabama runs, that
bears on the question of race
segregation.
What will prove especially
interesting about George Wal
lace in the months to come
is less his views (he has
adopted the full paraphernalia
of the conservative, even
though he is a welfarist
populist, catalyzed by his
passion for racial segre
gation) than his techniques.
Here, as I discovered a few
weeks ago, are a few of them.
1. Exaggerating the South's
plight.
GW: ... We had five
generations of people who
didn't go to school because
there were no schools for
black or white.
, All they could do is eke
something out of the ground to
eat . . .
(There were public schools
in Alabama, and for that
matter private schools, during
the five generations in ques
tion.) 2. So's your old Man.
Buckley: . . . Certain poli
ticians grew up in the South
and lusted for participation
in a type of government
which is distinctively anti
conservative, the type of
government of which Mr.
Roosevelt and Mr. Kennedy
and Mr. Johnson are (repre
sentative). Then all of a sud
den the consequences of that
federalization also meant that
they couldn't continue in their
segregated ways, and that's
when Governor Wallace was
born
GW: Of course, I was not
even voting in the days that
you're talking about. I didn't
even vote in those elections,
but when yon say that, be
cause the people of the South
voted for Mr. Roosevelt that
made them anti-conservative,
well New York voted for Mr.
Roosevelt all four times . . .
GW: It doesn't make any
difference to me whether
some prominent conservative
is not for me. 70 of the
people last night on a poll on
the television station in St.
Louis said they would support
me.
The fact is that I won the
television poll on WIIC in
Pittsburgh the other day and
defeated Johnson, Kennedy,
and Reagan by almost three
to one.
B: And they might have
given more votes to Peron
than they did to you, right?
GW: That's artil smart
answer.
B: We know he got many
more votes (in Argentina)
than you got in Alabama.
GW: I got more in Ala
bama than you got in New
York.
3. Nobody-Ever-Lets Me
Talk.
GW: Why don't you let me
talk on this program? After
all ... I thought you in
vited me to get my opinion,
but when you get on this
show, the man that puts on
the show wants to do all the
talking. (At the point in the
program, the moderator had
spoken 178 words, I had
spoken 269, and Wallace 845.)
4. There-Ain't-Nobody-Loves
the Nigra-Lik-Me-An' Lurleen,
GW: In fact, we don't have
segregation in Alabama . . .
I've always made speeches
in my state in which I said
anybody's entitled to vote
regardless of their race or
color . . . and we had Negro
citizens by the thousands who
voted in 1958, when I first ran
for governor, land I might say,
in the run-off governor, that
they voted for me.
B: Is that they didn't have
the education you're talking
about?
GW: You reflect on the Ne
gro voters of Alabama if you
want to, but I won't
Perspective on prose
Twentieth century life meaningless
Editor's Note: This review of
Thomas Pynchon's V. is con
tributed by Tom Holland, an
instructor in the University's
English department
Thomas Pynchon's V. is
probably one of the most ela
borately plotted books since
Proust. It has two separate
narrative lines, each of which
includes a great deal of ma
terial which is, at best, inci
dental to the story. What is
apparently the main plot
chronicles the life and loves
of Benny Profane, ex-sailor
and schlemiel (which the dic
tionary defines as "an un
lucky bungler"), during 1955
56. The second plot begins
around the turn of the century
in Egypt and proceeds at ran
dom through time and space,
ending on Malta during World
War II.
Profane's love life is unusual
he loses a girl because she
is in love with her MGr ,his
jobs even more unusual. At
one point he is employed as
an alligator hunter in the
sewers of New York. There
he discovers the tomb of Fa
ther Fairing, a priest who de
cided during the depression
that the rats would inherit the
earth, and so set out to con
vert them to the true faith.
This sort of absurd detail
occurs so frequently in t h e
book that it becomes almost
plausible. Profane's friends,
too, are unusual One of .hem
spends his life under an Army
blanket, under which occa
sional disappear food, drink
or girls. Another is a painter
Mho has devoted his life to
painting Cheese Danishes in
various situations.
Perhaps the funniest epi
sode with "The Whole Sick
Crew," as they are called, is
the one in which Esther Har
vitch gets a literal and meta
phorical nose job. But be
neath all the humor, these
people are essentially a pa
thetic lot, and more realistic
than the reader would care
to admit.
Cne member of the group
supplies a sort of link with
the second plot. He is a middle-aged
clerk named Stencil,
whose whole life has been de
voted to solving the puzzle of
the disappearance of his fa
ther, a British spy, in 1919.
The only real clue he has to
work with is the letter V, re
ferred to by his father in a
letter. So his life becomes an
obsession with this letter: "As
spread thighs are to the liber
tine, flights of migratory
birds to the ornithologist, the
working part of his tool bit to
the production machinist, so
was the letter V to young
Stencil."
This plot centers about a
mysterious woman known
only as V., who keeps reap
pearing throughout Europe
and Africa during the 20'i
and '30's in scenes of increas
ing decadance, brutality and
sadism, and is finally killed
during a German raid on
Malta in World War II. Sten
cil never learns much about
her except unrelated inci
dents, and the plot is value
and shadowy.
And other people and things
whose names begin with V.
keep appearing: Vheissu, a
country "discovered" by an
insane explorer, populated by
irridescent spider-monkies; a
Venezuelan revolution which
takes place in Italy; Botti
celi's "Birth of Venus"; and
o n e of the nuns in Father
Fairing's Parish, a rat named
Veronica.
All of this detail builds up
into an elaborate riddle with
no meaning; for, as it turns
out. Stencil's father was killed
in a shpwreck during a ty
pnoon. The son's whole life
has been spent in a pointless
search based upon circum
stantial evidence.
But if S t e n c 1 1 ' s life is
wasted, he fares no worse
than anyone else in the novel.
Tbe point of the book is that
human life in the mld-20th
Century is a waste: why not
spend your life nnder an army
blanket? Man is becoming
"dehumanized," like art.
This is seen most clearly in
the case of V., who progres
sively replaces parts of h e r
body with artificial replace
mentsan amber foot, a glass
eye which has a clock built
into it, etc. The drawing of
"Kilroy" from World War
II becomes a wiring diagram;
and a dummy used for test
ing radiation tells Profane
that it is "Nearly what you
are. None of you have very
far to go."
Machines are not becoming
human, but man is becoming
a machine. Esther's sex life
is an operation for a deviated
septum; Slab's "cheese Dan
ish" paintings replicate them
selves with monotonous regu
larity; life gets us nowhere.
As Profane remarks at t h e
end of the book, "No, offhand
I'd say I haven't learned a
thing."
Military
recruiter ban lifted
(CPS) Three colleges who
banned military recruiters
last fall have lifted the bans
and several other schools
which were considering such
bans have decided to drop the
idea.
The bans were originally
put into effect at Amherst
College and Columbia and
George Washington Universi
ties after Selective Service
Director Lewis B. Hershey
sent a letter to local draft
boards recommending that
they reclassify and draft
anti-war and anti-draft dem
onstrators as soon as possible.
The apparant reason for
the dropping of tbe recruiter
ban idea is a letter which
Presidential assistant Joseph
Califano sent to the presi
dents of the Ivy League
schools last December. Cali
fano said draft boards will
not be used to "repress un
popular views" or judge the
legality of demonstrations.
Although General Hershey
tersely commented that he
knew what was in the letter
"but I didn't write it" and the
White House has not formal
ly disavowed Hersbey's let
ter, administrators at Colum
bia, Amherst, and George
Washington all subsequently
re-admitted recruiters.
The Army and Marines re
cruited last week without in
cident at Columbia, the first
campus to ban recruiters. In
fact, the campus chapter of
Students for a Democratic So
ciety voted not to obstruct
the recruiters. However,
there was some student criti
cism of university officials.
Student criticism of George
Washington President Lloyd
Elliott was even stronger
when he lifted GWs ban al
most as soon as Califano'f
letter was released. Tbe stu
dent senate passed a resolu
tion opposing Elliott's action,
but he has not reinstated the
ban.
Military recruiters volun
tarily agreed to suspend re
cruiting at Dartmouth until
students and faculty could
work out a policy. The ato
dent government asked for a
ban, but the faculty voted
to let recruiters on campus,
provided they will talk to any
one, including opponents of
the war.
Faculty groups at Stand
ford and Cornell Universities
both voted that recruiters
should be banned. Nothing
was done at Cornell, partly
because of the Califano letter
and partly because no more
recruiters were scheduled for
the rest of the year. At Stand
ford the academic council
voted overwhelmingly to ban
recruiters but after a letter
from Califano to Standford
President Wallace Sterling
the faculty decided to drop
the matter.
I was returning home from Mexico City one
Christmas and had chosen to follow the route
through the eastern mountains. I started out early
on the outskirts of the Capitol and by late after
noon after a series of truck rides had reached a
town with the impossible name of IxmJqullpan,
I met three Mexican boys on the edge of the
town who laughed at my efforts to pronounce Ixmi
quilpan. They taught me tbe Spanish for turkey
and then flagged down a bus going to their home
in the next town. I waited half an hour more un
til a Volkswagen bus with New York plates stopped.
The drivers were two fellows from Brooklyn
named Ivan and Harry. They had just left Acapul
co and now were heading back to New York. Both
were fat and tallcfed with Buddy Hackett accents.
Ivan wore a faded T-shirt which had "Manhattan
Speed Shop" stenciled on the front.
He chewed cigars and kept up a steady stream
of chatter with Harry. Harry was fat, but not as
fat as Ivan. He had a face not unlike the Gerber -baby
wearing glasses. Their bus was stuffed with
cameras, two motorcycles, swimming and diving
gear, and lots of cheap souvenirs.
It soon was dark and we passed through tiny
mountain villages lit only by cooking fires inside
thatched huts or an occasional Coke sign circled
by flocks of suicidal moths. The ride was so pleas
ant that I started to doze in my seat, until I was
shaken awake by a violent skidding of the truck.
The brakes had locked at a point where tho
road was only a shelf wedged between a sheer
rock face to our right and a murderous drop to
the valley floor on the left. Luckily we happened
to be going slow and were near a narrow shoulder.
We stopped the bus and inspected the brakes. Wt
could do nothing new except get a mechanic.
Ivan and Harry were not dismayed. They
planned to get one of the motorcycles out in the
morning and find a mechanic. In the meantime we
settled back to enjoy our night in the mountains.
I brought some food out of my pack and made
peanut butter sandwiches and tomoto soup. Ivan
and Harry sang Alan Sherman songs and laughed
and joked.
In the gloom of the valley we could see faint
specks of fire from the houses of the corn farmers.
Harry decided to give them a show and set off
some fireworks. Several whistling rockets flew
through the air followed by firecrackers and ex
ploding roman candles. This lasted for half an hour
and then we bedded down for the night I set my
sleeping bag beside the truck and shivered to sleep.
I was awakened several times during the night
by trucks growling up the road and by the cold.
By sunrise, I was drenched from the wet clouds
that filled the valley. I walked over to the edge
of the cliff and looked down into the tropical for
est. I exchanged morning greetings with four pass
ing farmers dressed in loose white pants and shirts
Each had a machete stuck in his belt
Ivan and Harry woke up and we got one of tho
motorcycles ready for a trip down the mountain.
I rode with Ivan as an interpreter because he did
not know the Spanish for mechanic (mecanico).
We asked for a mechanic In the first town we
came to. There was none there but the noise of
our arrival attracted a large crowd of curious chil
dren. When we started up the cycle, they all
screamed and disappeared into the forest
We found the town of Tamanzunchale a few
kilometers further down the mountain and discov
ered a Chinese-Mexican mechanic named Kim Leo
Lopez. He drove us back to the truck and told
Harry to bring It down the hill in first gear. Tho
truck was in the garage for the whole day. Harry
and I wandered about the open air markets while
Ivan drove around the city on his bike wearing a
three foot wide sombrero.
That night we left the city and the next day I
parted paths with Ivan and Harry in Brownsville. .
Texas. -
Campus Opinion
Dear Editor:
There have been too many Professor X's Mys-
tery Courses during my four years at the Univer- -sity.
That is why I wish every college professor "
could have attended the retreat held a few weeks
ago by East Campus Faculty at the University of
Omaha. I know that the retreat taken by over 110
agriculture instructors helped solve many course
problems and create insights in their teaching.
The symposium on instruction that was held
was divided into three useful parts directed by
three professional educators. The three areas were:
1) Establishing educational objectives 2) Instruc
tional strategy 3) Testing. The taxonomy of educa
tional objectives and programs lattices were im
provements that many subject minded professors
acquired.
I feel that more retreats are needed in the fu- .
ture to evaluate our college education and teach
ing procedures. Perhaps the professors will even-'
tually discover how to modify the behavior of a
cessP f student8 to a "ortowWele learning pro-
Our University Professors need to receive gui
dance concerning improvement of instruction, as
the East Campus instructors did. They can then
supply to the students the storehouse of improve
ments they deceived. I believe they will then
remember that many students study not to learn
but to avoid failing. I um confident that retreats
will be continued in the future by East Campus Fa
culty. Hopefully the other colleges will consider
holding or attending such conclaves.
Chris Carlson
Ag Advisory Board
