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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1987)
Tuesday, February 17, 1987 Page 6 Daily Nebraskan An lefejrfiaiiirimgm Is Poetiy &m a pidsdDn cell Etheridge Knight writes for blacks and for all Americans By Kevin Cowan Staff Reporter Editor's note: The following interview took place after a reading by poet Etheridge Knight on Feb. 3 at UNL. The cell door closed behind Ethe ridge Knight in 1961. Between then and 1908 Knight realized his calling to po etry. As a result, while serving his seven-year sentence, he became the proud author of two books. Upon first impression, in his blue and white crocheted stocking cap and suede coat with "Life begins after death" embroidered on the back, Knight could be mistaken for just another large, black transient. But when Knight pours out his first free verse poem, even those most skeptical bend an ear to listen. "Hard Rock was known not to take no shit from nobody. And he had the scars to prove it . . . The word was that Hard Rock wasn 't a mean nigger anymore. The doc tors had bored a hole in his head . . . as we waited " (to find out if Hard Rock was still mean) "we wrapped ourselves in the cloak oj his exploits ..." Excerpts from "Hard Rock" As he read a few of his earlier poems, a translucent view of the prison and its captives moved freely about the crowd. Poetic visions of inmates (like "Hard Rock") or tribulations cast upon him self and his race for the gut thrust of his prose. "Run sister run, the boogey man comes. And what do I do. I boil my choose on a twisted spoon and dance like an angel on the point of the needle, I sit counting syllables like Midas gold. I am not bold. I cannot give a hold to the demons and convince them away from your black belly so I grab for air sing my song. Revolution turned Castro's dream, reality clash By Ken DiMaggio Staff Reviewer Portrait" by "Fidel: A Critical Tad Szulc More than 25 years ago Fidel Castro marched into Havana a triumphant hero. He still wears the olive drab uni form, the black, shiny combat boots and the green army cap. And of course, he still retains his most famous feature his beard. But it is no longer the shoe-polish black of his youth. It has started to turn gray. And for many of Castro's critics, so has his revolution. In his biography, "Fidel: A Critical Portrait," former New York Times reporter Tad Szulc does not overlook the sclerosis that permeates contem porary Cuba Mismanagement pervades Cuban industry. In 1985, half of the soft-drink and beer bottles produced in Havana were unusable and had to be destroyed. Expensive imports deteriorate on Cuban piers because of government snafus in unloading ships. Absenteeism remains high among Cuban workers. Self-censorship is routinely practiced by Cuban writers and artists. Meddling with a neighbor But unlike many of Castro's critics, Szulc is aware of the revolution's con tributions and America's complacent and meddling relationship with its Caribbean neighbor. Cuba has one of the highest ratios of doctors per patients in the world. Each year, thousands of Cuban doctors and health officials leave Cuba to perform free medical care in impoverished countries. And Cuba is no longer an economic and cultural colony of the But the air cannot stand my singing long. " Verse from "The Violent Space or What To Do When Your Sister Sleeps Around For Money" Knight's poetry clearly reflects his view of a face worn weary with adversity. As does the poetry that fills his well-worn satchel. The poems he read, written by others, bullseye blacks' struggle. This though aside, Knight says he is speak ing to all America. When asked about this seemingly contradictory statement, Knight said, "Poets speak to their own people. My primary audience is black people, but generally I'm speaking to Americans." Ironically, most of the audience was white. Since his release, Knight has tra veled all over the country. His liveli hood has been his reading and the sale gray United States. After Cuba was pro claimed an independent republic in 1902, the United States became the de facto sovereign power, replacing Spain. The Piatt Amendment literally made Cuba a U.S. protectorate. Under the amendment, the United States could send troops during times of political unrest in Cuba and maintain its pres ence on Cuban soil for an indefinite Book Review time. In 1906, 1910 and 1917, the Uni ted States sent in the Marines to occupy several Cuban provinces. Even when the amendment was revoked in 1934 under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy, Cuba's sover eignty was never independent of the United States. From Machado to Batista, the United States supported brutal dictatorships so long as they served American inter ests. Given this unequal and exploitive relationship, the two countries were heading for a collision with or without Fidel Castro. But when Castro became the new power in 1959, neither he nor the Eisenhower administration could tell how damaging and hostile rela tions between the two countries would prove to be. Chatting with Castro Szulc was able to speak to Castro about the Bay of Pigs invasion imme diately after it occurred in 1961 and in a series of interviews conducted in 1985. In 1961, Castro gave Szulc a tour of the battlefield at Playa Giron, the beach where one arm of the invasion took place. Szulc describes Castro as a young, exuberant military commander .X ' J . John BruceDaily Nebraskan of his books. He has had several resi dences at various universities, but says, "I try to stay away from that." Knight plans to continue traveling all over the United States. "I'm different from my contemporar ies," he said. "I really ain't got the urge to go to other countries. I'm not sure if the communication would take place. Ya know, I speak American." Knight feels that poetry is too hard to translate, even on the page. Maybe he has a point. Knight's poe try, laden with slang, would give even the best translator a coronary. The implications of his work would be diffi cult for other cultures to derive. Espe cially after translation. Knight's poetry, as another poet at the reading put it, is an "open your guts and pour" poetry. Between the words and Knight's loud voice, a disinter ested spectator can become an avid follower in one reading. resting, "his foot on the wreckage of a Brigade B-26 bomber" and "expansively waving his cigar." In 1985, Szulc spoke to Castro at his office in the Palace of the Revolution nearly 23 years after living through the Bay of Pigs, the mis sile crisis and the continuous hostile conditions faced by the United States. There is no doubt in Castro's mind that Kennedy had misgivings about order ing the invasion, and on the President's assassination, Castro was sorrowful, saying, "I really felt a profound pain the day I received the news of his death it shocked me. It hurt me, it sad dened me to see Kennedy brought down." Castro a victim But it is also worth noting that Cas tro himself was the victim of many attempted CIA assassination plots in the '60s and '70s. Even had Castro been assassinated, his revolution could not be dislodged. When the last of Batista's government fled on Jan. 1, 1959, Cuba had finally taken control of its own destiny and would never let its power ful neighbor take it away. When Castro began his guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra in 1956, he did it without the support of Cuba's main stream political parties including the Communist party. With only a cou ple of hundred rebels, Castro was able to defeat a Batista army of 20,000. But the peasant support that Castro had made up for his lack of numbers. In conversation with Szulc, Castro repeat edly emphasizes that he does not export revolution. Deteriorating social and political conditions are what create revolutions. And this is what seems to elude many Americans and prevent them from understanding Castro and his revolution today. Amerika ' waichcMe social, political trash By Charles Lieurance Senior Reporter Editor's note: This is part one of a continuing analysis of the ABC miniseries "Ainer- Just before the TV series "Amer- ika-'began Sunday night, MTV broadcast "The Red Nightmare," a Defense-Department paranoia film narrated by Jack Webb and made - 1 during the height cf McCarthyism. Here's the plot: Jerry, a hardworking joe, lives in mid-America with his wife and three kids in a tacky sub- urban home where they are all dclsr- iously happy, eating pot rost and watching "Servant Lilko." He struts to take his liberties for granted. He stops :ing to rTA i:;eetJr.:;s, city council meetings zr-A iho like l:::cau::3 ailcr a hard dry's work, hi'd Kit er 3 1 jv.::r cr v;;.ch TV. A ' " ? '" 1 b ceres J.dc :re? American ver. V.'elb i: 'wHas sis hz is about to "lV2jC rrya ,f,.-.o : tiav j.tb.3 ha.tit he lirCS vCiS in beeches Cemr.ur.iet. Ills wife and chilJrrn become kirjl lie can't take the Irats to Sunday schosl to teach them Ec.r.eco:Jlcc.srs about God and country because ths church has been turned in to a state museum. His cideet da:;;htcr is packed cf to a state f:m to v.crk. The rug rats are sent U) stale schools. Eventually, all-America: Jerry snaps and is taken before the Franz Kafka Memorial Tribunal where Lis wife rats on him. He is convicted without a proper hearing taken cut and shot. Juct before the execu tioner (a stone-faced foreigner) drills Jerry, Jerry breaks into his last words, foaming at the mcuth about a free country and liberty and justice, for all. Mercifully, the exe- cutioner pulls the trigger before Jerry starts singing "The Star Spangled Banner," I have dreams like this too. Mine usually involve the CIA tapping my phone because I subscribe to too many left-wing newr.pr-rs, mistak- ing a conversation 1 have with a heal grocer for the inception of Cornhuskers on NETV Two locally produced specials focus ing on competitions featuring UNL athletic teams highlights this week's programming on the Nebraska ETV Network. Some of the best collegiate track and field teams in the nation face off in the "Husker Invitational Track and Field Meet," airing Sunday at 2 p.m. Videotaped Saturday at the UNL Bob Devaney Sports Center's indoor track, the two-hour sports special features highlights of the Husker competition against opponents from Brigham Young University (BYU), Kansas State, Ohio State, Tennessee, the University of Las Vegas and the University of Southern California (USC). Sportscaster Bob Cullinan will be the announcer for the sports special, with track and field authority Dick Railsback providing color commentary. "Husker Track and Field Meet," funded in part by Nebraskans for Pub lic Television, Inc., is produced by the sports and special events unit of UNL Television. Steve Alvis is senior pro ducer of the special, Jim Carmichael is director, and Barb Hanson is unit director. Rivaling Nebraska football for na some internal anarchist revolution, bursting into my home at night, tak ing me to a dark room in a ware house district, grilling me under bright lights for 10 hours and then taking me out into a cornfield, tying my hands behind my neck and snowing me nmu uiui m uie uui-k of the head. Araenfca is tcday . - But this colum n is about the ABC miniseries "Amerika." What's im 1 l,llrlntl,.1 1. mediately nouiTauu: vuuui us never-never land is that it resem bles so closely the America we live in. If I didn't know better I'd swear writer, director and producer Donald Wrye was trying to say that if the Communists tock over tomorrow, only hard assed political windbag and the filthy rich would even notice. I here s still a farm crisis, not enough to eat and suruvaiist groups barricaded in rural areas. The power is still in the hands cf the few. There are one cr two ncre tanks in the streets t::t, try, that's the beauty cf American tyranny: There don't lv:i to Iz tr.:.!,s in tha street. IV-Iico, seeLl wc.'.ers and ncre r..!:ec tio th? v.crk cf saver: I t3.r..i3, and Jeiiy can. s . . I Vi-iuc V a ty turn3 djin ui crA.t.vO. lvCv. tank treats are bill en city sir 1 la, But let's ljy c.T the fA'Alcs and get to the meat and potatoes, as Jerry would say. Is it coed TV? Yes, so far "Arcnka" is fairly tcp notch, The characters ere uncharcct eristi- aren't refugees from seep c paras cr down-and-out stars on the come back trail. T,'f. rf't Tfl t.-t 4'-'ri The Russians spit out semi prcf:; nd quotaUes like "survival is pcv.wr v;Ithot dcma" ar.d, cn the subl et cf the ncn-viclent invasion, "you lc:t your country before we even get hers." The latter line is spoken by a Russian Caicial to an American who has thrown in his cards to maintain .seme semblance of order in his small community of Milfcrd, Neb. (actually Tecumseh), as they watch a group of Omaha punk rockers try to trash a police car. ' So"Amerika"ismorethanwat ch- atle. In fact, if it weren't so socially and politically disgusting, I might even grant that the first ni;,!;t was one cf the best pieces cf TV I'd seen : in years, I vvi;.;h it v, ere n't so. Rut it is. tional respect and prominence is the UNL men's gymnastics program. The grace and excitement of national-caliber gymnastic competition is presented in a two-hour special on Feb. 28 at 9 p.m. on "UNL Men's Gymnastics." The Nebraska team, a perennial col legiate powerhouse, faces another leader in the gymnastics field, the University of California-Los Angeles Bruins, in a meet videotaped Jan. 22 at the Devaney Sports Center. Hosting the program is sportscaster Bob Cullinan, with color commentary provided by former Husker gymnastics standout Jim Hartung. "UNL Men's Gymnastics" is funded in part by Nebraskans for Public Tele vision, Inc., and is also produced by the sports and special events unit of UNL Television. Alvis is senior producer of the gymnastics program, Carmichael is director, and Hanson is unit director. Another upcoming program of inter est on NETV: Julie Blane leaves Richard and the tour in episode five of "Lost Empires" on "Masterpiece Theatre," airing Mon day at 7 p.m. "Masterpiece Theatre" is telecast with closed captions for hearing-impaired viewers.