Gracies 12.05.54 AT Dinnertime Theatre

Super All-Fact Issue

Member of Please Recycle Hell’s Kitchen IPA Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 1 Just the facts, ma'am: a Antidote for Poisons hastily written editorial Circa 1912 First. -- Send for a physician. by Sean Hammond, guest editor Second. -- Induce vomiting by tickling acts are funny things: given throat with feather or finger; drinking Fenough time, they change. hot water or strong mustard with Rather than dwell on the tired example of Columbus' water. Swallow sweet oil or whites of contemporaries thinking the world was flat (which they eggs. didn’t), reflect back on your own life. What did you once Acids are antidotes for alkalies, and vice accept as fact that now you look back on with amuse- versa. ment? What do you believe now, and how long do you Acids: Muriatic, oxalic, acetic, sulphuric have to wait until that belief falls to the wayside? (oil of vitriol), nitric (aqua fortis). -- If there is any Truth, in the Platonic sense, then we Use soapsuds, magnesia, lime-water. will never know it. A human or any sentient being has to Prussic Acid. -- Use ammonia in water; remain in flux for its entire life; to stop changing is to die. dash water in face. Imagine, then, a constantly changing being trying to understand an unchanging Truth. Einstein is gyroscoping Carbolic Acid. -- Use flour and water, in his grave, but the image fits. As long as we continue to mucilaginous drinks. learn and experience the world, our perceptions change. Alkalies: Potash, lye, hartshorn, ammo- An unchanging, eternal Truth, as seen through the nia. -- Use vinegar or lemon juice in eyes of a human, will appear to change. We simply won't water. ever see the elephant, despite the lack of a fence to peek Arsenic (rat poison, paris green). -- Use through. milk, raw eggs, sweet oil, lime-water, To make matters worse, some facts are important; flour and water. others aren’t. The relevance of a given fact changes over Bug poison, Lead, Saltpeter, Corrosive time. Schizophrenics, for example, see patterns in the Sublimate, Sugar of Lead, Blue world that most don’t; that doesn’t mean the facts they Vitriol. -- Use whites of eggs, or milk connect aren’t important or that the connections they are in large doses. making are incorrect. Toward that end, GDT is proud to Chloroform, Chloral, Ether. -- Dash cold bring you this tribute to facts. Read into it however you water on head and chest; artificial res- want, but remember: piration. This, too, shall pass. Carbonate of Soda, Copperas, Cobolt. -- Use soap-suds and mucilaginous Fun with Death: Horace Wells drinks. Horace Wells became addicted to chloroform while Iodine, Antimony. -- Use tartar emetic, experimenting with various gases during his anesthesia starch and water, astringent infusions, research. In 1848 he was arrested for spraying two strong tea. women with sulfuric acid. In a letter he wrote from jail, Mercury and Its Salts. -- Use whites of he blamed chloroform for his problems, claiming that eggs, milk, mucilaginous drinks. he'd gotten high before the attack. Four days later he was Opium, Morphine, Laudanum, Pare- found dead in his cell. He'd anaesthetized himself with goric, Soothing Powders or Syrups. -- chloroform and slashed open his thigh with a razor. Use strong coffee; hot bath. Keep awake and moving at any cost. Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 2 The Politics of High Tech Damnation (reprinted from GDT, 04.01.51 AT) by A. S. Zaidi where the art schools fit into his vision of RIT's “ IT should stand“ for 'really in touch' with the Rreal world,” said Carl Kohrt, executive vice future, Simone replied that while RIT was primarily president of Kodak, in his keynote address during the known for its engineering and computer science, Nov. 14, 1996 installation of the cornerstone for the there was a danger that graduates could be too “nar- 157,000 square foot Center for Integrated Manufac- rowly focused.” turing Studies (CIMS). The building was financed at What the schools of American crafts, photogra- a cost of $21 million, $11.25 million of which was phy, interior and graphic design did for engineers, provided by the federal government and $9.25 mil- said Simone, was to provide them with “breadth of lion by the state of New York. experience.” “As they walk on campus they see, uh... The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has somebody... there are not too many engineers with, also earned the appreciation of the Central Intelli- uh... long hair, for example,” he said, pointing to Kurt gence Agency, which has designated the institution as Perschke, a grad student in ceramics. a “strategic national resource worthy of explicit There was a moment of stupefied silence. Kelly development and support.” In a 1985 Memorandum Gunter, a writer for GDT at the time, described what of Agreement between RIT and the CIA, the school followed: agreed that its curriculum would be “responsive to “I think I heard a cricket at this point. The silence certain defined specialties of the CIA.” in the room was actually tangible as everyone had to RIT's responsiveness to those specialties may well stop and take a mental step back. I know that I was explain its attempts to cut art programs and the ensu- whispering inside my skull, “Please dear lord, let this ing student unrest there. In late April '96, four weeks be a metaphor for something. Please don't let him before the end of the final academic quarter, RIT pro- mean what I know he's saying.” Of course, he had to fessors leaked word to students that several art pro- keep talking. I, and everyone else in the room who grams, including painting, printmaking, glass, tex- had been repeating that silent plea, could no longer tiles, ceramics, art education, medical illustration and block it out: he was indeed saying what we thought interior design, were about to be discontinued or he was saying. In the wake of that aftershock, the placed on “probationary continuation.” room's ambient animosity level grew ten fold and The cuts would have devastated RIT's prestigious threatened to precipitate out of solution. Simone School of Art and Design (SAD) and the School for eventually realized his folly and made a feeble American Crafts (SAC). A couple of days after learn- attempt to save his floundering position by saying, ing about the cuts, students gathered at RIT's Bevier 'Well I guess there are a lot of people here with short Art Gallery on a Monday to organize. When they hair.' All was lost.” heard that the college's trustees were meeting at that The next day, students rallied in a breezeway, very moment on campus in Building 1, they moved packed tightly together. A new activist group, Save to its lobby to get their attention. Our School (SOS), had been born of panic and anger. Soon President Simone and Provost Stanley McKenzie came down from Random Fact: the trustee meeting to hear the con- In 1964, a freighter carrying a cargo of sheep sank in the cerns of the students. Simone might harbor of Kuwait. Afraid that the dead sheep would contami- have calmed the students, right there nate drinking water, people feverishly tried to devise ways of and then, with some vague words of raising the ship. Luckily someone remembered a Disney reassurance. Instead, one of his gaffes, comic book in which Donald Duck used ping pong balls to caught on videotape by a film student, raise a sunken ship. So the ship was filled with 27 billion plas- propelled the students into action. tic balls and was soon afloat. When a student asked Simone Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 3 “The art programs are world-renowned,” said and marketing. engineering student Jesse Lenney to the crowd. “Who In a memo to RIT administrators, written during runs this place? Who are they trying to please by the first week of student protests, Thomas Lightfoot, booting the art students?” an associate professor in CIAS, said: Later, at an RIT community meeting, students “Numerous proposals have been put forth... which expressed their concerns to Margaret Lucas, then have not been seriously considered or even responded dean of the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences to. Is the faculty the driver of the curriculum or the (CIAS). On Thursday, students formed committees administration? Is the faculty even a partner in the for speakers, alumni and parent contacts, rally orga- process? Or are we just employees, to do what were nizers, research, as well as media and community told, as the President has suggested?... I must add that outreach. the faculty, of at least the SAD/SAC component of At a mass rally at Webb auditorium attended by the college, also pointed out its judgment that the hundreds, students viewed the videotape in which review instrument was seriously flawed... It is also Simone made his infamous notable that the reasons for hair remark. “That's what Fun with Death: Attila the Hun discontinuance keep we're here for, to run changing. The President around so the engineering In 453 AD, Attila married a young girl named wanted to identify a pot of students can have some Ildico. Despite his reputation for ferocity on the money that could be saved diversity,” said Kurt Per- battlefield, he tended to eat and drink lightly, through this process. He schke, unappeased by and was sensitive to alcohol. On his wedding was convinced that there Simone's apology to him a night, however, he really cut loose, gorging was lot of waste and couple of days earlier. “I himself on food and drink. Sometime during money being lost by our want an apology for cut- programs. When it was the night he suffered a nosebleed, but was too ting my school. I don't discovered that there was give a damn about my drunk to notice and drowned in his own blood. no money to be found, the hair.” reasons shifted to a That day, the faculty voted unanimously to support resource reallocation rationale. the efforts of the SOS students to save the art pro- That week, SOS obtained donations from parents, grams. Professors who had previously limited them- student groups and alumni. They passed out flyers to selves to slipping information under the door of the students and asked alumni to write to the trustees, new SOS office at night, now openly criticized the some of whom professed to be unaware of the pro- process that had led to the cuts. posed cuts. They got coverage from local television As information came to light, it was made clear stations. that RIT professors had been given an “Academic The rallies were followed by image-oriented Program Review Criteria” form to numerically evalu- protests. With the permission of Albert Paley, an RIT ate their programs according to their centrality, finan- artist in residence, SOS students symbolically shroud- cial viability, marketability and quality. Administra- ed his sculptures outside the Strong Museum and the tors were to recommend programs for consolidation Eastman School of Music. They also wrapped the or discontinuance based on the raw data provided. Main Street Bridge railings that Paley had designed. The professors did not appear to have understood At the Memorial Art Gallery, ceramics grad stu- the purpose of the evaluative “tools,” which were dents Molly Hamblin and Kurt Perschke used gauze meant to give the appearance of “scientific objectivi- and string to cover works by Paley and Richard ty” to corporate downsizing. Not surprisingly, the Hirsch, an RIT ceramics professor who attended the programs that won out in the evaluative process were event in support of the arts. “We intend to keep the those dear to the corporate interests on the RIT heat on,” said Perschke. “Today's demonstrations are trustee board, including accounting, business admin- about showing the fundamental connection between istration, management, finance, information systems the school and the art community.” Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 4 The media images of a Rochester without art suc- some reason, it appears they really don't find getting ceeded in embarrassing the trustees, and the RIT replaced by student workers too funny. administration quickly backed away from its intention At another meeting, an undergraduate asked to cut the arts. In under two weeks, SOS had proved Simone what role students played in the decision- that students, alumni, faculty and even much of the making process at RIT. Christopher Hewitt, writing business community strongly supported the arts. for The Reporter, provided an example of Simone's Through efficacious aesthetic persuasion, the students sensitivity to students: had saved their programs, at least for the time being, He responded by telling the student that “in my while alerting the RIT community to the implications opinion, the 18-22 year-old age group is not qualified of the Strategic Plan. in making decisions. You're a customer...and if you It was impossible, however, to sustain this don't like it, you can vote with your feet.” When activism, which began to wane as finals drew near. asked about Simone's comment, the student replied, “A lot of students have shown how dedicated they “We can vote with our feet by stamping them down are, but their work suffers,” explained glass grad stu- in protest. Why should we run away from a place that dent Luis Crespo. “Come 'crunch time,' people will we belong to when we can stay and make it a place feel torn. In the end it boils down to the fact that they that others will come to, not run away from? I think are students and have to get a grade.” that these old men who are making the decisions In a series of informational meetings, Simone tried don't realize how qualified the 18-22 age group is in to promote the Strategic Plan, but the authoritarian making change and solid, competent decisions.” character of the plan made it a hard sell. In addition Thus did Simone squander the trust and goodwill to downsizing programs, the plan called for outsourc- that had come to him as RIT's new president soon ing RIT's physical plant services. Anthony Burda, an after the CIA controversy of 1991. editor of the student weekly, The Reporter, was pre- Cut to 1991. The collapse of the Soviet Union had sent at one meeting. He described Simone's response threatened this country with a peace dividend, but to a woman who had asked him about the outsourc- now the U. S. was avoiding that danger as it edged ing: towards Bush's reelection campaign and the Gulf “As an alternative to out-sourcing... we might War. move towards student help... like fifty percent, some- In this climate, Richard Rose, then president of thing like that....” He points to catering, where the RIT and a former Marine, announced that he was tak- student staff comprises about 90%. He also points to ing a four month sabbatical to work on national poli- savings in pensions, health insurance, etc., by having cy and procedures in Washington. It occurred to student janitors. Not to mention the saving in flat pay, someone to try to reach Rose at the CIA. When Rose resulting from paying students only around $5.25 an answered the phone, the RIT-CIA scandal had begun. hour. “By the time they're ready for a pay increase, they graduate.” He starts laughing before he can fin- Though most documents pertaining to CIA activi- ish his sentence. Everyone laughs. Well, the profes- ties at RIT were shredded, a few were leaked to the sors laugh. The lady in the audience, and the janitori- press after a highly publicized theft from Rose's al staff of about thirty, sit in the back quietly. For office. Many professors and administrators recalled

[email protected] Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 5 their experiences with the CIA when the press and a choice of a new director for the imaging science cen- fact-finding commission began to investigate the ter. One agent, Robert Kohler, became an RIT trustee affair. in 1988. Another, Keith Hazard, later joined RIT's The “lead organization” in the CIA-RIT relation- advisory board for imaging science. ship, according to the 1985 Memorandum of Agree- In 1989, the administration tried to remove the ment, was the Center for Imaging Science. New center from the College of Graphic Arts and Photog- courses were to be added in artificial intelligence, raphy and place it under the RIT Research Corpora- integrated electro optics and digital image processing. tion (RITRC), which administers most of the CIA Rochester journalist J. B. Spula explained why the training, recruitment and research at RIT. CIA helped build RIT's imaging science facilities: CIA influence extended to the rest of RIT as well. RIT offers the CIA, and the national security estab- The Federal Programs Training Center was created at lishment in general, state-of-the-art support in things RIT in 1988 to give technological support to the CIA. like aerial photography, image-analysis, and high-tech There, students were paid $8-10 an hour to produce printing. These and related technologies are the build- forged documents. The crafts were also put to CIA ing blocks of surveillance, spy satellites, and, at the use. Woodworking majors designed furniture with end of the militarist's rainbow, “Star Wars” in all its secret drawers, and picture frames with cavities for imperial glory. listening devices. In 1985, Rose consulted with CIA agents over the (continued on pg. 6)

History with assassinated on a Friday in a pub- prior going to trial. Skinned Knees lic place, while their wives The Play at Home Game: watched. by Sean T. Hammond Get a penny and a 50 cent piece Andrew Johnson, a one time from mom. President Lincoln was southern Senator born in 1908, the first President to appear on a hings happen in cycles, and succeeded Kennedy to the Presi- coin in profile, facing right. THistory knows this. Filthy dency in much the same way Kennedy has a similar honor, but from playing outside all day, his Andrew Johnson (a one time he was the last President whose mother, Recollection, will holler southern Senator born in 1808) profile appeared on a coin, facing at him for sure. It happened succeeded Lincoln. left. Glue the penny to the left before, and good money says it On top of having to lose corner of your wall, and the half will happen again. Cycles, their husbands, both First Ladies dollar to the other corner. Now get remember? For now, though, His- lost children while living in the out your crayons and draw pic- tory is free to play with his White House. tures of all the major events favorite toy. Taking an ancient and If only the Presidents had between 1860 and 1960. That battered glass top from his pocket, way, Kennedy and Lincoln can he rapidly winds the string around listened to their secretaries, Histo- ry might have seen the top wobble look across 100 years of history. the spindle and gives it good spin, It's fun! sending it jip, jip, jiping across the a bit. Kennedy, Mr. Lincoln's sec- pavement. Gyroscopic historical retary, had advised him not to - STH inertia keeps the disk-world with- attend the play at Ford's theatre. in locked into the ever repeating And poor Lincoln--Kennedy's 9131.25 RPE (rotations per secretary--warned him against Hedge Numerology: event), flicking the poor inhabi- going to Dallas. But as it was, tants into the pattern of eternity.... John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln Lincoln: 7 letters with an imported gun at a theatre Kennedy: 7 letters In 1860, Abraham Lincoln and evaded arrest in a warehouse. was elected President of the Unit- Much later, Lee Harvey Oswald Andrew Johnson: 13 letters ed States. 100 years later, John F. shot Kennedy from a warehouse Lyndon Johnson: 13 letters Kennedy was elected. As history with an imported gun and later hid John Wilkes Booth: 15 letters would have it, both men were in a theatre. Both men were killed Lee Harvey Oswald:15 letters Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 6 In one course, students identified only by their notice that 'the rising sun' is coming - the attack has first names designed wax molds for keyholes. The begun.” CIA even tried to place an interpreter at RIT's Nation- When the contents of “Japan 2000” were dis- al Technical Institute for the Deaf. closed, Rose tried to distance himself from them by Andrew Dougherty, Rose's executive assistant and saying that the report was only a working draft. a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Although he later released a revised version, the Officers, supervised CIA activities at RIT. He report still caused widespread indignation. RIT histo- authored the 1985 memorandum and consulting rian Richard Lunt observes, “It is the height of reports for the CIA, two of which caused a stir. The hypocrisy to solicit gifts from leading Japanese cor- first, “Changemasters,” resulted from discussions porations to finance the imaging science building among six panelists, including Robert McFarlane (of while at the same time preparing a confidential docu- Iran-Contra fame) and former vice presidents of ment for the CIA which claims the Japanese govern- Xerox and AT&T. ment and Japanese corporations are conspiring to “Changemasters” advocated economic espionage attack and destroy the United States.” against U.S. trading partners, the transfer of govern- The graduation ceremonies in May '91 were ment-funded technology to the private sector, and the marked by protests. Visitors to RIT found the outlines repeal of antitrust legislation. The second report, of bodies drawn in chalk on sidewalks and parking “Japan 2000,” was an outgrowth of discussions with lots. such experts on Japanese culture as McFarlane, Tim That June, the administration announced that a Stone, a former CIA agent and director of corporate blue ribbon trustee committee would investigate CIA intelligence for Motorola, and Frank Pipp, a retired activities at RIT. Somehow, a committee containing Xerox executive. It warns our nation's decision-mak- the likes of Colby Chandler, then chairman of Kodak, ers: “Mainstream Japanese, the vast majority of and Kent Damon, a former vice president of Xerox, whom absolutely embrace the national vision, have did little to reassure critics of RIT-CIA ties that its strange precedents. They are creatures of an ageless, inquiry would be impartial. The administration later amoral, manipulative and controlling culture - not to added two students, five professors and an alumnus, be emulated - suited only to this race, in this place.” who happened to be a Kodak vice president, to the The report concludes, “'Japan: 2000' should provide committee. It also brought in Monroe Freedman, a former law school dean at Hofs- Random Fact: tra University, to serve as its Chicago artist Haddon Sunblom was hired by the Coca Cola senior fact finder. Company in 1931 to create an image of Santa Clause for their As the scandal unfolded, Rose 1931 pre-Christmas advertising campaign. Prior to becoming a fat and Dougherty hastened to reas- Coke bottle, the Dutch Saint Nikolass often wore glue, green or sure the RIT community that the yellow, and was thin, tall, and had hollow cheeks. CIA was not unduly influencing the curriculum or threatening aca- demic freedom. Claiming that “morality is built into every fiber of my being,” Doughtery said that the CIA would never do any- thing morally objectionable. “They are really gun-shy about doing anything improper with an academic institution,” he main- tained. Monroe Freedman, the senior fact finder of the commission that Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 7 investigated the RIT-CIA ties felt otherwise. In his the University of Rochester. In June, Rose announced report he wrote, Intimidation and fear are recurring that he would sever all personal ties with the CIA, themes in comments about matters relating to the and Dougherty resigned as his assistant. Two months CIA at RIT and, specifically, about Mr. Dougherty. later, in September, Rose announced that he would One Dean called him “authoritarian,” “harsh,” and a step down as president the following year. “threatening individual.” Another Dean said that Mr. As a result of the CIA controversy, a committee Dougherty “had the power to make you or break was created to oversee research contracts at RIT. you.” Recently, however, the committee informed Simone “To clash with him meant that you were going to that it was not receiving the information that it need- be fired,” the Dean said, giving the name of one per- ed to do its job. In fall '96, RIT trustees unanimously son who, he alleged, was fired because he had said voted to designate President Rose as RIT President that Mr. Dougherty did not understand what a univer- Emeritus. sity is. One Vice President expressed resentment that RIT's current president, Albert Simone, took office he had been compelled to accept the appointment of in 1992. At first, the RIT community welcomed an unwanted subordinate for an administrative posi- Simone's accessibility and his involvement in univer- tion, noting that the subordinate also had responsibili- sity affairs. He was quoted in the October 10, 1994 ties at the RITRC. “Things were done, said the same Henrietta Post as saying, “If you're not an open per- Vice President, and I had to go along.” son, a sensitive person, a person who genuinely likes Some RIT faculty and administrators declined to others, you can't be an effective decision-maker.” cooperate with the intelligence agency. Edward Compared to his predecessor, Simone appeared McIrvine, dean of RIT's College of Graphic Arts and forthright and in touch with students and faculty. In Photography, twice refused CIA security clearance an early speech, he expressed his commitment to the requests. Nonetheless, the CIA conducted a check on liberal arts. “He's a breath of fresh air,” said philoso- McIrvine without his permission and asked to see his phy professor Wade Robison. medical records when it found that he had seen a psy- About six months after his inauguration as presi- chiatrist a few years earlier. dent, Simone began to craft a ten year Strategic Plan Malcolm Spaull, head of the Film and Video for RIT, calling it “the most participatory plan in all Department, was asked to train CIA agents in video of academia.” He then embarked the university on a surveillance. Spaull declined because he is a friend of path of managed attrition, and began to make plans to the family of Charles Horman, the journalist who was expand partnerships with industry and to revamp the kidnapped and murdered in Chile during the 1973 curriculum. Having slashed six million dollars from coup. Spaull said that there was “some evidence that the annual budget, Simone announced his intention of the CIA knew he was in captivity and acquiesced in cutting ten to twenty million dollars more, citing the his execution.” need for “teamwork” if the RIT community was to Another professor, John Ciampa, head of RIT's benefit from the plan. American Video Institute, refused to work for the “If we have the sense of community I've talked CIA by pointing to a clause in his contract that says about...I believe that we'll be able to find ways to - if that the Institute would only engage in life enhancing we have to - downsize, restructure, reorient, re-priori- activities. tize, reallocate,” Simone said, adding reassuringly, “I As the RIT scandal drew attention to CIA involve- think we're going to have to do all of those things, ment at other universities, Dougherty advised his CIA but that doesn't mean we have to do them and have a superiors that time was of the essence if the agency's lot of hurt and bloodshed and despair and destruc- activities at RIT were to be preserved. “Every day tion.” that the Federal Programs Training Center can be Had the RIT community been more familiar with identified with RIT compounds our problem.” Simone's tenure as president of the University of Dougherty proposed replacing the RITRC with a Hawaii (UH) from 1984 to 1992, it might have been non-profit university foundation that would include wary of the changes in store for RIT. David Yount, Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 8 who served as vice president under Simone at UH, vately to his staff that Al Simone has no class. Espe- says in Who Runs the University? that it was widely cially embarrassing were the sexist comments and rumored that Simone had been brought in as a “hit ethnic slurs that sporadically popped out - his golfing man” and that approximately one-third of the twenty- double entendre about the hooker or his careless pro- four deans left office early in his administration. nunciation of local names... Although he was coached According to Yount, Simone's brash personality for years by female staffers who managed most of the did not endear him to the UH community: Many of time to put the right words in his mouth and the right his listeners echoed the sentiments of former Manoa thoughts in his head, the wrong words and thoughts Chancellor Marvin Anderson when he confided pri- continued to emerge. He habitually said “woman” when he meant women, intro- CONSCIOUS DREAMS Some advice: duced professional couples as PRODUCT INFORMATION * Drink lots of water. If you feel sick “Dr. and Mrs.,” instead of “Dr. PSILOCYBE CYBENSIS or if you want to neutralize the effect, and Dr.” and betrayed genuine (THE MEXICAN) eat something light, take a high surprise whenever the career of a Effect: dosage of vitamin C (1gr) or eat married woman surpassed that of The magic mushroom brings you a something sweet. her husband. visionary, dreamy state of conscious- * We do not advise you to smoke a Several student groups, ness. The Mexican gives a relaxed, joint before the trip because it including Students Against Dis- very visual and colorful effect. diminishes the effect. Smoking a crimination and Hawaii Women joint afterwards may prolong or of Color, held a mock trial of Use: enhance the effects. Simone. Their mentor, Haunani- You can eat the mushroom so the * Do not use mushrooms more often Kay Trask, Professor of Hawai- psilocybine will be absorbed in you than an ounce every few weeks. Take ian Studies, charged Simone body through your mouth. Chewing time to do something with the with incompetence, racism, sex- it well slowly improves the effect insights you have received. ism and ignorance of Hawaiian and saves your stomach. You can also Keeping: history. The jury found him make tea from the mushrooms. Cook guilty on all counts, and the Conscious Dreams' mushrooms are some water slowly, keep the fire low judge pronounced him “an excellent products and have been and leave the mushrooms in for embarrassment to the entire uni- about 20 minutes. Pour the water and grown with great care and attention. The mushrooms have been packed versity community and to the mix with a caffeine-free tea. Don't human race.” sweeten the tea!. If you like, you can fresh so you can keep them in the eat the residue. Take the mushrooms fridge for 3-4 days. You can keep The origins of RIT's crisis in on an empty stomach in a quiet nat- dried mushrooms up to 6 months. the arts do not lie, however, in ural environment or home. the colorful personality of Albert Warning: Simone, but in the convergence Dosage: Do not use when pregnant, nursing, of the interests of large corpora- 15 grams (gives a mild trip) to 30 depressed, on medication, when dri- tions with those of the national grams (gives an intense trip) ving motorized vehicles, younger security state. The development than 18 years old, in combination of Kodak and Xerox products IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TRIP, with stimulants or alcohol. DO NOT EXCEED HALF A depends in large part on the DOSE, WHICH IS 15 GRAMS!!! Treat the mushroom with respect, be advances made in the imaging alert to your environment and help sciences. Simone, who is both After 30 minutes you will notice the those who take mushrooms for the RIT president and chair of the mushrooms start working. You will first time. If so, the spirit of the Greater Rochester Chamber of get relaxed, giggly, then visualiza- mushroom will show you more of the Commerce, has built up the tions will start that last 4-6 hours, secrets of the Universe well-connected CIMS at the depending on the amount you take. HAVE A WONDERFUL FLIGHT expense of the arts. TO YOUR INSIDE Speaking of connections, Gracies Dinnertime Theatre Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 9 CIMS was built by the Pike Company, a construction firm which tops the list of a dozen Monroe County companies that last year exceeded the legal limit on corporate campaign contributions. Tom Judson, Pike Company pres- ident, claiming to be ignorant of the New York State statute that limits such contributions to $5,000, said: “Maybe I can get some money back.” DRAMATIS PERSONÆ Indeed. No corporation has ever been fined for violating the statute, which was enacted in 1974. Publisher: C. Diablo Thus are connections made. The first off campus RIT trustee meeting convened in Washington, D. C. in April '97. President Simone explained, Editors: “We want Washington to know us better. We have had a lot of support from Giles Francis Hall the federal government. We need more.” Sean T. Hammond Jeremiah Parry-Hill During their three day stay in Washington, the trustees met with members of Congress and federal officials to discuss such matters as technology trans- Layout: fer and research, and were briefed by a Department of Defense (DOD) Sean T. Hammond undersecretary on U. S. technology policy. Anita Jones, the director of Jeremiah Parry-Hill DOD's Defense Research and Engineering, observing that she didn't know Illustrator: of any other university board coming to Washington, said of the RIT trustees visit: “I thought it showed a lot of forward thinking.” Interested? Email [email protected] In March '97, I interviewed Kurt Perschke and fellow ceramics student and SOS organizer Molly Hamblin. They related to me the history of the Writers: School of American Crafts, which owes its existence to Aileen Osborn Sean T. Hammond Webb, founder of the American Craft Council. SAC opened at Dartmouth in A. S. Zaidi 1944 and moved to RIT in 1950. As the first school in this country exclu- Contributors: sively devoted to crafts, SAC was inspired by the Crafts Movement, which Many antebellum has been a counterweight to the values of the Industrial Revolution for over chirurgeons and the fine a century. marketers of “Conscious To hear Hamblin describe the material with which she works is to come Dream Products” to feel that it has a life of its own, giving new meaning to Keats' “strife between damnation and impassioned clay.” Hamblin believes that RIT stu- Feedback: dents are too engrossed in the information highway, too dazzled by the Send email to prospect of being able to purchase groceries by computer, to bother to [email protected] express themselves. She describes to me the eeriness of RIT buildings that are full of people and silent except for the clicking of computer keyboards. Cover: While Perschke and Hamblin are elated that the art schools have earned a Jack Webb reprieve, they know that their existence remains precarious. Hamblin says (b. 4/25 BAT, d. 12/37 AT) that the art schools have been given a three to five year “umbrella,” during Adoration: which they have to successfully market their programs. While advertising The beatific A-Master A has increased student enrollment in the art schools for next year, the RIT (the MCP) in all its tem- administration remains uncommitted to the art programs. platonic wonder, with Hamblin notes that positions are being left unfulfilled as professors retire, assists from the useless and that the increased number of art students has not led to an increase in B-Master B. the space available to them or to improvements in their facilities while Per- schke laments the absence of institutional memory at RIT, where students © 1999 Gracies Dinnertime Theatre. know little about the 1991 CIA controversy. Unless the disjunction between Don’t reprint the contents of this publica- past and present is overcome, the arts and crafts may go the way of the dodo tion without permission; that’s stealing. and the carrier-pigeon. SAC may be forced to eventually leave RIT and The facts documented in this publication become independent again in order to survive, says Hamblin, who does not are not guaranteed to retain their consensus validity as total elapsed time increases. relish the idea of being in an institution where she is not wanted.