Page 62 - TheGoldBug1967-68

PAGE 4 THE GOLD BUG MARCH 1, 1968 Somebody Up There.?;i Understage Perversions: The Yogi's Judgment 1 "Jacky Loves Macky" by zivt by IRA ZEPP / The Threepenny Opera. Not cold that hampered her singing were George Stover as the naive a minister, as Keith Thacker exactly the way English majors was very eooa a." th .. whnrf> The rather enthusiastic response of American students to Maharishi find it setoutinJohnGay'sBeg- Jenny Diver. And Don Stoat modest beggar who objects to Yogi's transcendental meditation, the Increased interest In Zen Budd- gars Opera, not even the way and Car-of Hooper as Polly's dirty clothes and going barefoot, hism, the presence of gentle people with flowers In their hair, and the Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill parents were properly pom- Le slla MUler asaiovelywhore. pro- it was antce all, In continued support of Billy Graham campaigns reflect a phenomenon we envisioned it, but a William Tri- pous' Mr. Peachum, and drunk- duction, nice sets, nice cos- cannot Ignore. bby - Jerry Solomonproduct!on en1y hoydenish, Mrs. Peachum, tumes. NIce idea Tribby and . Shirley MacLalne, a disciple of the guru, explains this phenomenon specially adapted to conditions Effective In character roles Solomon. for all of us In a response to the question, "Why are you so disillus- at WMC. (Its own special ver- toned with ttre when you apparently have so much?" She replied, "It Is sions of living and stereophonic due to the West's moral decay, the perpetual suck discomfort, Madison sound). Also conditions at W, from the features Editor: Avenue's subliminal prograganda has taken over even the churches and M. C. specfalfy adapted tofft the the movie sex symbol MarJlynMonroe committed suicide because of such requirements of T. P.O. Jl [fJl# phony values." So Shir:ey went to India to "Introspect and search." Pick something easy, Some- . This phenomenon is a deep human cry for personal meaning and power. thing always done. Make sure It Is a genuine human protest against what C. Wright Mills called the it has at least 8 major scenes, It has been over a year now since I decided to bag wrIting about the "power elite" or what Vernon Dibble called "the garrison society", a and ... oh... about 4 different problems of the WMC microcosm and discuss instead some broader natural reaction to our bondage to bigness, bureaucr-acy and the Imper- settings including a cell In ideas in this column, Now, with a semester as Student Government sonalization of mass society, Newgate Prison, a brothel in President under my belt, I'd like to return to these Issues, as well The reaction was almost inevitable. You can expend animal vigor so Wapping, a beggars shop, and as some notes on the outside world. long; you can deal superficially with people upto a point; you can run so an empty stable temporarily In the last number of this newspaper there were several letters and far In the academic rat race and then you ~ay, "I've had It, I want some converted into a hall fQr wit- articles which left themselves open to criticism. Mr. Buffum contends time off to regain my balance, torenew my personal Ufe, and to receive nessing a marriage feast. Try that our previous editor, Walt Michael, has used the GOLD BUG to wage again the inner strength I need." to Include many charaders, a "biased ink throwing war against the fraternities." He goes on to say Materialism and affluence have their advantages; secular Involve- both in types and number, and, "You are trying, as are the liberals In our nation, to destroy the free- ment is commendable; concern for the poor is Indispensable; but as finally, make every role you can dom of enoree, In this case, you are trying to eliminate the freedom to someone asked, "What informs, directs, governs, Impels, .md moti- a singing r-cte-eror everyone choose one's friends." vates that life in the world?" Perhaps it is that source 0; power to must sing, if you can't possibly Personalities aside, as eeatures konor if this paper for almost three which Maharishi, Zen, and Graham are pointing. find lyrics for one or two cha- years now, I feel compelled to defend my good friend and roommate as Now Ldo not mean to make "savtng cr souls" and "saving of the world" racters why then you must use well as the GOLD BUG. Mr. Buffum's attack Is completely unfounded. mutually exclusive. Nor do 1 mean to pit an eastern meditative religion them in the chorus. This year, under "blased"leadershlp,theGOLDBUG has Increased Its against a western acttvtsttc religion, We need both. Greek coverage to a fUll page, The "Letters to the Editor" column has Jesus did stress giving a "cup of cold water" to the needy. But that Add Imagination and sweat always been open to opinions from all sides, but apparently all these can and does become !lat, dutiful, legalistic, and exhausting apart from and non-singers who will sing fraternity boys must be suffering from writers cramp or general illit- something else he stressed, namely, being born anew, receiving power anyway (whyn.rt--bothRexHar- eracy. The sword of rash antipathy seems stronger than the pen of log- from God, drinking from the Fountain of Life, Jesus dia emphasize the rison and Richard Burton did it) ical criticism. I would also take issue with Mr. Buffum's second state- importan~ of "~ing into the world", but not apart (as in his own life) and you may have fun. Evenwlth ment, quoted above. Who is destroying whose freedom to choose whose from renonc withdr-awal from the world for solitude and prayer, r-eal food and wing--an allure- friend's? Fraternity "brotherhood" has ruined a hell of a lot more We neec both. Himalayan retreats and ghetto advances; changed men ment guaranteed to get at least friendships ttian the GOLD BUG could ever dream of destroying. 11' Mr. and altered society, contemplative withdrawal and planned involvement, MacHeath, Polly, and Gang to Buffum would like examples, I will be glad to send him a list. It Is In- gaining of self and lOSing of self. performances no matter how teresting to note that of the twenty-two names appearing on the mast- But could the response to the Indian mysttc be a warning that we dare th:ed or ill they are. Then just head of this semester's GOLD BUG, only nine are members of Greek not forsake the appropriation of personal power and meaning as a basts let It run, and don'tworrylfit's for study, love, and service In the world? not aU smooth, a slight jagged- organizations. If you really believe in the "freedom of the majority" ness in a jagged play about Jag- (as you say further in your letter, Mr. Buffum) you should not find it dU- Enlightened Self-Interest ged people and with some of the fi.cult to understand that the GOLD BUGstarr ts not violently pro-Greek. most jagged ever song lyrics was Linda SUllivan's "Open An article which I found Quite interesting ("Hark, who comes, Hark, who Letter to Closed Minds." Because of U's Intelligent style and my great messenger In the Midst of Destruction comes, Victoria's and the "Moon respect for Sully I can only criticize what 1 believe are fallacious riding comes." Over Dock street Blues."). "facts", that is, Instances where she has been misled by "closed by Wm. Ridlngton ml~s" on a subject about which we profoundly disagree; I find no ar- The play opened with Richard Among the many groups of cit- uation, we would have to look for- McCall singing what probably is gument with Linda's low opinion of those who listen but refuse to hear", izens greatly concerned about the ward to years of milltary occupa- one of the most lecherous ver- but I think that her eight "tmdtsputable" facts about Vietnam are slightly U. S.lnvolvement in VietNam,two tion to keep the country stable. sions of "Mack the Knife" ever less than that. are typical of the points 9f view Since we are the major foreign heard. Soon followed some of First, that the U. S, Is committed by the SEATO treaty to defend South found In most of the rest. I refer army now In Viet Nam , neither the best scenes of bungUng co- Vietnam: beside the fact that thtswas an ex post facto excuse for our in- to the academic community and Russia nor China havIng any for- medy in the playas MacHeath's tervention, I must seriously ponder whether a nation Is morally correct to prominent religious leaders. ces fighting there, we are Inevit- (Richard McCanna) Gang (Will In defending ( and thereby compounding) bad obligations. Second, that we Although the matter of conscience ably In the role of the hated for- DavIs, Tim Jolly, Jeff Cohee) were Invited by the South Vietnamese government and that this sentiment is fundamental to many concerned eigner who has destroyed the coun- produce the provisions they has been reiterated by recent votes: it must be r-emember-ed that South citizens, few are pactnsts and try. have stolenfortheweddingfeast Vietnam Itself is only a temporary theoretical construct created by the most have as a major reason of The cultural tradition of the Vlet- of their leader and one tnno- Geneva Accords (which also called for nation-wide elections in 1956, and concern the fact ·that the present namese people and their national cent, white lace clad Miss Polly eventual re-unIfication). The government which supposedly asked us to U, S. policy is and will increas- monuments are suffering destruc- Peachum (Judi Messick). The come fight was only an American puppet (and hardly a model democracy, Ingly be disastrous to the wellare tion, During World War II our army four gang members, obviously at that, since it was controlled by a fascist cliqUe of rich landowners of our government and its citizens. had oUicers who evaluated cultural an 18th century incarnation of and run as a police state), so, In essence, we Invited ourselves into a It Is particularly approprIate for and historic monuments in the path the Marx Brothers, steal the civil war. As to thereaffirmat1onofthlslnvltaUon at the polls, the Sept- an academic community that dis- of the fighting and gave advice about wrong props, eat before the ember elections were tightly controlled by Ky's honchos (scratching of· cussion and reflection about the saving them, as for example InItaly. toasts are given, fumble their any candidate that might be pro-NLF; strict censorship In violation of appropriateness of the war be a In Vietnam we read that our forces efforts to welcome this new the new constitution) and only proved thatthe ballot box does not a dem- major point of approach to the "had to destroy" a town "to save bride, and seem generally af- ocracy make. problem, Some reasons given Fact number five pertatns to the "revolutionary development" pac- against the war include the fol- ;~;. ::: ~:n~l~~::!~r v~e~t~:~~ ~~l~y,o:hee;l~~~n:;~~~~~I:~; ification program and Its reforms. Unfortunately (according to non- lowing. We are tarnishing our image in (played cringingly by Jerry Hof- mllltary eyewitnesses) "RevDep" isn't working particularly well. The We should not be involved in a many countries of the world. fman), and each other. much publicized strategic hamlets are, at best, unsanitary cages and, at land war In Asia. Our domestic problems in the Both Richard McCanna and worst, no better than concentration camps. It Is also curtous to note We should not be Involved so cJ.ties are so serious that many in- Judi Messick come into their that the assassination rate among RevDep cadres is alarmingly high, deeply In one small country not formed people feel that their solu- own during the last two ads. despite the tact that they are working in paclfled villages. Apparently threatening our security that our tion IscrucJ.altoourdomestlctran- Judi In the scene with/against the Viet Cong are not the only enemies of the people! Also, the cUed surplus m1lltary strength is spread qu1lity. Policies that woUldgreatly Karen King (Lucy Brown) in figures onthe V.C. defedors and activists are, to say the least, deceiving thin. Improve this situation could most Newgate PrIson In a burlesque As a matter ot tact, the terms themselves need better definition since We should not attempt to police easily be paid for by only a small of the stock operatic situation it is usually impoSSible to distinguish just who Is or Is not a V.C. And the whole world, and cannot hope part of the money being spent in where the soprano-heroine and that !lve to seven mUllon people are kept out of reach of Saigon's efforts to hold In check most of the trou- Viet Nam. The survival of our own the mezz-"other woman" Vied to govern may be a good indlcai10n that the Thieu-Ky combo is less bJe spots on our own. tranquility has prior claims over vocally for the love of the tenor- than popular at the grass roots level. Granted that "a concerted, united The injection of our mtli ary even otherwlsejustif1ableventures hero. Karen was excellent as effort on both sides is necessary" It Is also Imperative that those who presence and strong influence in abroad. the husky-voiced seductive are trying to find their way through the muddle of arguments should many places in the world cannot In a good academic community lover of Macheath --"the com- realize that they are not getting the straight truth from their govern- help but create resentment against one can wish for an earnest attempt plete girl" in counterpoise to ment. PatriotIsm becomes easUy confused with jingoism, and the most us. To assume that we should In- to know the facts, evaluate the iss- Judi-Polly, the petite girl" (who conscientious partrlot may be branded a traitor when slogans and emo- tervene in the affairs ofmany other ues, and take action appropriate to fell because she. neglected to tion rule the land. countries is an evidence of "the our form of government, namely remain perpendicular). However, despite my remarks, I was glad to see these matters raised arrogance of power." making one's Informedopinlon John Van Hart's unfolding and In print. We have worn the phrase "lackot communication" to a frazzle Even if we were to assume a known to hIs representatives In collapsing sets distended Into this year, but 1 seriously wonder if the objective student might consider complete miUtary victory In Viet government. In compassion for the the various scenes rapidly and that he Is at least as much to blame as the bureaucrats of the older gen- Nam we would stUl be In a position devastating destrudion, pain and easily, accurately reflectIng eration. Only through an open airing of our true viewpoints (and not the most undesirable tor us. Due to death we are causing we can do no both tone and color of the play. ones we think we're supposedtohave)canthere be honest interchange of the element of civil war In the slt- less. Suzanne Pratt, even with a Ideas. . CARY WOLFSON