The State News Bi-weekly Magazine February 15, 1968

Scene from the PAC's production of “ Animal F arm /* See cover notes, page 7. Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan

RCR, poetry reading: l i v i n g a r t

By JE F F JUSTIN The rise of culture at MSU is witnessed by such ventures as a coffee house, publicized mainly by word of mouth, and packed for three hours by students and faculty as artist and wrfWHi«»- This was the experience at The Pit restaurant Wednesday, Feb. 7, the scene of what might become a regularly held event of art. The haginwing was 8:30 and by 9:80 a full hor n started the evening with folk sags by two friiarists from the Folklore So­ ciety. Quiet mate. The crowd settled itself. The word-of-mouth publicity had brought stu­ dents who were primarily friends of the per­ formers or artists themselves. They would be characterized as left-wing, but it’s usually a mistake to characterize people. At coffee houses held in the past on campus, the more buttoned-down students provided as enthusias­ tic an audience. Roy Bryan, who along with Stan Guyer de­ serves the credit for die organizing, introduced me, and I read my own verse. That kind of communication gives a good feeling. The am­ plifier readied out the sound with difficulty into die corners of the room, and I had to speak loudly. Whatever merit those verses have, they are the medium of poetry which doesn’t waste words. It slaps the superficial word out of its apathy in an age of small-talk it is good to speak poems. Robert VanderMolen, the student poet whose book '‘Blood Ink” remains eminently worth buying, read next His poems have a quiet tone under which images range throughout all his life. His technique is striking: assemble diverse things and experiences, ask the reader to con­ nect them and explore the significance of the relation himself. • His last poem talked about going camping after he had been sick. The poem is trying to tell the hearer about human limits: The highest I could walk Always faced me With the fleshy backside Of the following hill But I can’t tell you the kind of knowing the pnem transmits. You have to read it yourself, and you ought to. There was an intermission. People who had been coming in during the reading and were «tanking in the aisles in order not to interrupt William PTtt Root, poet and teacher at MhU, wim nis wire ana auug.M.r. it, recognized friends and made their way to Photo by Jorry McAllister the few seats that were left Affected by the way of life of one subculture in society. In his traditional foundations. Hie voice of the future lining voice of the poems, much talk centered case it is island fishermen, an Indian-caucasian is heard here. around “The Red Cedar Review,” which had culture whose economic and spiritual vitality Robert VanderMolen forms part of the “Red just made its appearance and was bong sold depends on the fishing industry. Cedar Review” as well as the coffee house at at the coffee house. Like the Jewish youngster, they are being The Pit. Reading his poem, you can hear his I had a great many thoughts about it This squeezed out of life by commercial forces— flat voice behind it. which lets the compressed volume, published by students, conquers the the large-scale mainland fishing companies. force of the words do all the communicating. limitation« of the merely written word to offer But here it is not a question of spiritual aliena­ His verse skillfully creates confusion between the same alive experience of art as the one we tion in a destructive environment Rather, they memory and reality, giving the qualities of had been witnessing. The stories which open must rebel against dynamics that assume the both to each. and dose the volume deserve sharp focusing. aspect of an unalterable !ate, their futile rebel­ In the morning I slept late The first is an amazing story by Chris Anto- lion a tragic affirmation of human worth. The She working nides, “The Day of the Barber,” which uses the characters come across as distinct individuals Fixed coffee and sat on the half sun second person to involve the reader. Skillful you can get to know. The innuendoes of their terrace handling of this difficult technique knocks the interaction are forcefully exposed. This was a memory rcadrr around the world along with the pro­ For example, in a last ditch effort to regain And the grass I can smell tagonist, an adolescent in a big city Jewish the mortgaged boat the harassed father and Before the sun baked it flat ghetto. son take a catch of worthless eels to market You don’t know if the first part or the last is He runs amuck of his family and finally so­ in the rain. The son drops a sack of the eels the memory. The simultaneous, different ciety at large. The hard city of stone and glass and, in general misery, lashes out at his father meanings established a powerful atmosphere. fractures the bones of culture in him by its for whom the drama of fishing constitutes the Peter Fiore’s “Faces and Places,” dedi­ commercial, hrutai attitude toward life. dignity of life. “Get off the island. Why stay? cated, “For Malcolm X,” uses vivid imagery The imperturbable world is crystalliscd in the Let’s cross over and all get jobs. I can work. ” to portray a strange man in his striking world: sponsors of a radio program of classical m»sic- He wishes he could take his words back as he The time of white fathers and mothers a company that makes aspirin. The youngster's lifts iq> the sack again: But you were blade, man, hope of listentag to the music is always dashed carmel fudge really, by the noinnsrnlal world. To destroy his rela­ I got one of the sacks up Like the wiseman at Herod’s court. tion to it, he uses the sponsor’s product hi a “You look pretty funny,” he said. He The poems use an exceptionally wide range novel way-attempting suicide, after breaking was smiling at me now, trying to make me of tones and styles. The two examples above the materialistic barrier by shattering a drug laugh. are like the other poetry only in that the rest store window. I tried to laugh for him. But I felt is equally skillful in its own way. It is rare to Tending ultimately in a detention home he hollow and cold. find such richness in a single volume. learns that a better way to confront the world “I guess I used to like playing in the The photographs are lovely. is cunning. Coming to value the preservation mud. I guess it’s funny all right.” People at the coffee house had had a chance of his hair as his insensitive brother, he invents “You’re getting to be a man now. You to buy coffee or something to eat, and the inter­ - ways to foil the brutal barber. don’t think playing in the mud is so funny. mission was over. Virginia Van Valjah began Pnnning doesn’t solve bis spiritual alienation That’s one of the things that change.” to play and sing pathos and humor, the humor because of his “goyishe kop,” which is a Yid­ “I guess so,” I said. especially enjoyable. The singing harmonized dish expression for someone who just can’t We were walking now, heading for the well with the demanding poetry that had been groove withthe traditional Jewish outlook on town along the shore. read. Its easy flow made a good contrast life. Our protagonist’s alienation is wider, how­ “You’re getting to be a man,” he said A. J. M. Smith, the University’s poet-in- ever. He is a stranger to the whole capitalistic again. “You’re the only boy I got.” residence, next made his way to the made- shift stage. The posture of this professor and world. These stories give the finest experiences his poetry demonstrate the dignity that long- Theodore Sjogren’s story, “The Storm” is of the volume. Yet the poetry too is great. It equally effective in focusing on problems of the is avant-garde, building something new on (conttnued on page 12) whole human condition through magnifying the; Thursday, February 15, 1968 3

BOOKMARKS

' H o p s c o t c h ’ istotal involvem ent

made of searching for the answer to / . o r b n t h e By DAVID GILBERT (.rw k 's question: Why do the young die? Why does anybody die? It is as though the novel is searching through involvement with its read­ Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar ers for the answers. Signet, December 1967, 95c Oliveira finds no answer in life or death, Available at Paramount News books or discussions, love or hate. He is ob­ sessed by the fear that comes from watching yourself from a distance, as though a stranger In a review a few weeks ago, I discussed is moving and breathing in your body, a perfect the concept of environmental theater and its double of you, a disembodied Doppelgänger. attempt to force the viewer by aggressive Near the very end of the novel, Oliveira’s friend confrontation to respond to life with his whole Traveler tells Oliveira that he himself is the being. More recently, Stuart Rosenthal praised Doppelgänger: the P.A.C. production of Inimnl hirm because the viewer could really become involved in the “I’m alive,” Traveler said looking into his play since he could hate the bad guys or eyes. “Being alive always seems to be the price of something. And yon don’t want to "heavies. ’ Il»p*ci> irh fits within this same the modern Bohemian hero, Oliveira, a group context both stylistically and dramatically. pay anything. Yon never wanted to.” of Oliveira's friends are holding involved dis­ Oliveira has retired to another world; he can­ The techniques that Cortazar uses in his cussions about suicide, the philosophies of not sense his own movements, he doesn’t feel novel are varied, excellent and quietly daring. Heidelberg and Madras, and the respective himself. He is the shadow called Oliveira. For the first 56 chapters, which constitute the realities of words and pictures. Intermingled No one. of course, lives long this way. Oliv­ first book. ” there is a grand mixture of first with these are demands for quiet (a sick baby eira must die or go mad. He finally enters the and third person styles, stream-of-conscious- is asleep) and for hot coffee. Then Oliveira's dying life of insanity from which he can never ness, minute Joycean description, Pirandelo- mistress prepares her baby's medicine, only exit. As if to emphasize this closed circle, the esque philosophizing and even a treatment of to find the child dead. While everyone bustles book does not end. The last chapter, 58, directs loving reminiscent of Leonard Cohen's Hvmiii- around getting cologne for the fainted mistress you back to the preceding chapter, 131, which Jul l.osns. Cortazar seems remarkably fresh and redressing themselves bitterly for their in turn directs you to chapter 58, to 131, and on in that he knows he has something to say. discussions, which were irrelevant in the face forever. There is no end. but only a shifting can say it well, and draws upon many sources of the infant's death, the reader is left with back and forth between the two chapters, without imitating anyone. the feeling that he is there in the apartment, which the reader must follow until he knows sitting with soaked shoes on a hard floor, wish­ why there are no answers, why we must for­ The " second book’’ is fantastic. You begin ing he were elsewhere. The reader is, in fact. ever wait for Godot, why the death of a baby with chapter 73. then retreat to chapters one Oliveira, bored and yet filled with an unspeak­ in a Bohemian flat is only an incident in a and two, then advance to chapter 116, as able and distant sadness: reported conversation. We are changed by the directed in a small notation at the end of each Oliveira told himself that it would not he so trivial as well as by the profound. chapter. Cortazar has marked these as “Ex­ difficult to go over to the bed, squat down There are many more facets to llupsroich: the pendable Chapters,” but they are not. they beside it and say a few words in La Maga’s motif of initiation, the metaphor of llopxcoich. embody the meaning of the book. The “ hop- ear. “But I would be doing it for myself,” the meanings of the names of the characters scotching" device produces what may be the he thought. “She’s beyond anything. I’m (La Maga-the Magus, the Magi, etc.) and cleverest physical involvement of reader with the one who would sleep better afterward.” much more. Everyone should attempt to get literature since the introduction of pictures in He put (his coat) on slowly, looking all the through l l o p x t o i r h as there is much to get out books. The reader must jump about the book while towards the bed as if he expected of it. I’m still somewhere between those last in a somewhat ridiculous fashion, but two pur­ something. alternating chapters, trying to feel that either poses are served. Again, the reader realizes that his own life is life or death is an answer.

First, and similar to the technique used at the beginning of Bergman's film. /Vr*o»«. the artificiality of the medium is presented, and thus the reality of what is presented seems that much more real. Second, the reader is forced to take a more active role in the predominantly passive act of reading: it is not enough to turn pages in sequence, but the reader must jump Paperbounds on your about like a child on chalked squares, stooping to pick up a pebble or colored glass bit of life, reading list?! according to nonsensical rules which neverthe­ The New York Times less command his complete attention. OFFICIAL SPORTS Cortazar’s technique is more than stylistic­ RECORD BOOK compiled and edited by Frank ally exciting: it has a strong dramatic effect. L it sky and Steve Tyno of die There is no getting out of llnpxcatch. You are New York Tim es Sports Staff. involved in it psychically as well as physically. The writing is so beautifully smooth that you Paperback . . .$1.00 flow into and out of people and events: you are An encyclopidia of answers! Every­ the river of Heraclitus into which the charac­ thing you want to know about every ters and situations cannot step twice. This sport from football and surfing to transformation amounts to the reader becom­ sled (tog racing. It’s all herel Rec­ ing the novel and the novel reacting to the ords, record-breakers, statistics, reader. It is a strange and almost terrifying pictures, polls, and penalties. Read feeling. it. For example, in one incident, at the flat of THE 10 BEST-SELLING PAPERBACKS 6. Good 01’ Snoopy 7. The Country Team 8. H ell’s Angels 9. In Cold Blood 10. Gone With the Wind COLLAGE

Executive Editor. . . Eric Pianiti p o o Æ ô R e s Contributors: Lawrence Battis- tini, Dave Gilbert, William Hixon, Jeff Justin, Bob Zes- O ver 100 Publishers Stocked in our Warehouse chin, Jeff Weidner, Jim Yous- ling, Doug Huston Been Looking for Revlon Protects? They w ill be coming soon to the Campus Book Stores. Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan

The m ilitary trium ph ... By LAWRENCE BATTISTINI hoped could be avoided flared up all over Copyright, 1968. Vietnam. French troops were originally concen­ The evidence is certainly clear that trated in Cochin-China, and for some time the French authorities in Indochina had they were in no position to attempt the never really shown any good faith toward military dislodgement of the Vietminh the agreements concluded with the Viet­ from the key cities and towns of Annam minh. The evidence is equally clear that and Tonkin. For a while, as long as their real aim was somehow to regain their military position was inferior, the actual control of all Indochina. After French authorities in Vietnam were willing their initial military successes, however, to make paper concessions to the Viet­ the French began to run into serious minh, provided all of Indochina remained trouble, for they were unable to rally to in the French political and economic their side any substantial number of system. At the same time. Ho Chi Minh really respected persons or elements of and other Vietminh leaders were willing the native population. Meanwhile, in and even eager to negotiate to avoid war, elections held the preceding January for provided the independence of the Viet­ the National Assembly of the Democratic namese people was fully recognized and Republic of Vietnam, the Vietminh coa­ established. lition had won 230 of the 300 seats, and As a result of negotiations which did on November 8, a democratic constitution follow, an agreement was signed at Hanoi had been promulgated, based on the prin­ on March 6, 1946, by Ho Chi Minh with ciple that “ All power in the country be­ Jean Sainteny representing France. This longs to the people of Vietnam without agreement recognized “the Republic of distinction of race, class, creed, wealth Viet-Nam as a free state with its own or sex.” government, parliament, army and finances On Jan. 6, 1947, the Vietnamese govern­ as a part of the Indochinese Federation ment issued a declaration which was of the French Union.” The Vietnamese basically an appeal to the conscience of Government (DRV) also agreed to re­ the world. The declaration reminded ceive amicably the French forces which world opinion that although the Vietnamese would enter the northern zone to relieve government in signing the Hanoi agreement the Chinese occupation troops. It was of March 6, 1946, had offered France recognized, however, that the agreement cooperation and the open door, the French was only a first step and that immediate representatives in Indochina had sabotaged discussions would be resumed in France this agreement in the hope of restoring at a higher level concerning “Vietnam’s their colonial prerogatives. "The era diplomatic relations with foreign powers, of colonial conquest and domination is the future status of Indochina, and over." proclaimed the declaration. " V i e t French cultural and economic interests Nam is firm ly resolved to persevere to in Vietnam.” An annex to this agree­ the very end in her struggle for her most ment provided for the withdrawal of all sacred rights, namely, the territorial in­ French forces from Vietnam within a period tegrity of her country and her political of five years. I S Under VietwiinK independence.” Five weeks later, on French statesmen in Paris no doubt C o n t r o l Feb. 13, 1947, the French government believed that the potentially explosive headed by Paul Ramadier announced situation in Vietnam was on the way to in Paris that as far as France was con­ solution. As for Ho Chi Minh and other H U n d e r T r e n c h cerned, the March 6, 1946, agreement Vietminh, they probably would have been C o n t r o l “does not exist.” France hence com­ content to remain associated with France mitted herself to seeking her own solution within the so-called French Union, pro­ on the battlefield. The French military, vided Vietnam was given a truly inde­ for the settlement of the vital, unresolved now having substantial forces in Indochina pendent status. They were, after all, issues. heavily armed with modern equipment, not anti-French but anti-colonial, and most The Fontainebleau agreement was to be were confident that they could easily crush of them had great admiration for much Ho Chi Minh’s last negotiation with the the poorly armed and under-nourished of the culture and thought of France. French until the Geneva conference of Vietnamese guerrillas and regulars. How­ However, “Paris was not the colonial 1954. Urged on by the rubber and rice ever, they completely failed to take into mind and heart of French Indochina.” syndicates and their native collaborators account that men with a “ sacred cause,” Faithful to their obligations under who were deeply concerned about their well led and well organized, cannot always the Hanoi agreement, the Vietminh per­ interests and privileges, as well as by the be easily subdued by superior weapons and mitted French forces to enter North frightened colons, the French authorities machines. Unable to match the armaments Vietnam peacefully and to take over cer­ in Vietnam paid no more attention to the of the French, the Vietminh resorted to tain key points. However, the French letter or spirit of the Fontainebleau agree­ guerrilla warfare and the strategy of pro­ authorities in Vietnam apparently had ment than they had to those of the Hanoi tracted resistance in the mountains, jungles no real intention of abiding by either the agreement. In November 1946, French and rice paddies of the country. They spirit or the letter of the agreement. In forces ruthlessly bombarded and seized felt certain of ultimate success because of May, the very day after Ho Chi Minh had Haiphong, killing thousands of civilians, the justice of their national cause and departed for France to engage in top- and shortly afterward the first pitched the support that would come from the level discussions concerning the precise battles between the French and the Vietminh vast majority of the people in making future status of Vietnam, the French in took place in Hanoi, which resulted in a. manpower, food, logistical support, and Saigon announced the formation of a quick and decisive French victory. How­ intelligence available. separate Vietnamese government for ever, neither the will nor the spirit of * * * southern Vietnam. In August they sum­ the Vietminh was broken. They withdrew With the war going badly against them, their forces into the rural areas and pre­ moned a so-called “Conference of the the French dug up their former puppet pared for a people’s war to the death under Federation” of Indochina, dominated by emperor of Annam, Bao Dai, and installed the generalship of the brilliant Vo Nguyen the French and virtually composed him in April 1949 as the head of the so- Giap. Hostilities then spread throughout of Vietnamese quislings, and established called State of Vietnam. Through this Tonkin and northern Annam, while in a poppet regime purporting to represent maneuver the French hoped to disguise Cochin-China the guerrillas, who had never all of Indochina. Shortly afterward the their imperialist objectives and to arouse laid down their arms, stepped up their French military forces in the north (continued on page 5) arbitrarily seized, “like conquerors,” activities. Thus the war that Ho Chi Minh the ports and customs of Haiphong and ooooooooonnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooBBQOOOo proceeded to “establish order” by dis­ arming the Vietnamese police, making wholesale arrests and fomenting local coops to dislodge the Vietminh. Lawrence II. Hattistini. professor o f social science at MSI was educated at Hrown I aicersily and Trinity College. He ret'eired Despite the actions of the French which his Th.l). nl Vale. Specialising in I .S.-Asian a ffairs, he is the au­ outrageously violated the Hanoi agreement, thor o f six books in this area. Ilis experience includes four years Ho Chi Minh still patiently hoped that as professor o f history nl Sophia I nirersity in Tokyo; extensile war could be avoided and that the Paris Ira cel in I-a rape and Isia: and service as an intelligence officer government would make amends and agree during II or Id II nr II. In the past two issues (.ollnge has presented articles by pro­ to the establishment of a truly independent fessor Hnllistini dealing with the history and psychology o f the Vietnam within the French Union. The discussions in Paris, although cordial, I ietnamese people. Beginning his study ns Jar back as 4(H) HA... failed to settle any of the really crucial he has traced the historical roots that have flow ered in the cur­ issues. Nothing really more than a modus rent war. Two more articles will follow this third one. They will vivendi was concluded, at Fontainebleau, deni with I .S. escalation of the war and. finally, professor which provided for a cease-fire in Indo­ Haltistini s evaluation oj our presence in I ietnum. china, guarantees of civil liberties to the Vietnamese people, and a final conference to be held not later than January 1947 oooooooooooooaoaeooooooeoaoooooooooaoi Thursday, February 15, 1968

... of Vietnam nationalism attacked them with all the thread-bare was the Vietminh that was winning the (continued from page 4) cliches of “ anti-Communism” . war, m ilitarily as well as politically. A steadily increasing majority of the Viet­ some measure of native support. It was By 1953, thanks chiefly to the very con­ namese regarded the Vietminh as the real this same Bao Dai, incidentally, who had siderable assistance that came from the patriots who were fighting to end the long formally transferred all his sovereign United States in the form of war equipment, period of colonial enslavement. The powers to the Democratic Republic of Viet­ the French appeared on the surface to have popularity of Ho Chi Minh soared to new nam back in August 1945. checked the Vietminh and to have turned heights. Indeed it would not be trite By this time the Communists in China the tide of war. Actually, however, it to say that he was venerated by most were delivering the final crushing blows Vietnamese as the long-awaited George to Chiang Kai-shek and the b a n k r u p t Washington of their country. Wherever Kuomintang regime, and it was manifest the Vietminh were in control, and this that all China would be theirs within a came to amount to almost all of the few more months. Accordingly the struggle rural areas, they introduced bold and in Indochina now began to take on a new sweeping agrarian reforms. To most dimension for Washington with regard peasants, some 80 per cent of the popu­ to the “ containment” of Communism and lation, the regime that made these re­ Soviet power, which had now become a forms was worth supporting. cardinal objective and obsession of Ameri­ With the inauguration of the Eisen­ can foreign policy. Because Ho Chi hower administration in January 1953, the Minh and other foremost Vietnminh United States took an increasingly serious leaders were Communist, the anti-French view of the progress of the war in Indo­ forces in Indochina came to be regarded china and moved promptly to augment as a part of the “ monolithic" world American aid substantially. Secretary Communist movement directed by the Dulles and the Defense Department Kremlin. Bao Dai, although .disreputable even exerted strong pressure for direct and discredited, now began to receive American military involvement, which attention and support in Washington. Thus, was resisted by President Eisenhower. as had been done in China, the United Soon after the conclusion of the Korean States committed itself to one of the cease-fire agreement, signed on July 27, parties (French imperialism» in what 1953, Communist China began responding was clearly a Vietnamese struggle against to the U.S. massive assistance to the foreign domination, and partly also a civil French by considerably increasing its war between pro-French (conservative and own assistance in materiel. At no time, reactionary) and anti-French (reformist however, did Chinese assistance to the Viet­ and revolutionary t elements. minh amount to more than a small fraction By the terms of an agreement between of what the United States made available Bao Dai and the French, Vietnam was to the French. In September, 1953, the to become an associated member of the United States announced that it would make French Union. Similar steps were taken available an additional $385 million over in Cambodia and Laos. Actually these and above the substantial funds already were all puppet, or quisling, regimes. earmarked for the war in Indochina. By The French continued to fare badly in the 1954 the United States was actually footing war, however, for Bao Dai was unable the bill for 80 per cent of the total French to arouse any significant native support. m ilitary expenditures in all of Indochina. By the end of 1949 the greater part of By the time the war came to an end, Vietnam was effectively under the con­ according to the U.S. Information Serv­ trol and administration of the Democratic ice in Paris, the United States had made Republic of Vietnam. This republic was available to France a total of $14,169,280,000 formally recognized by the newly estab­ of aid for use in Indochina (all of which lished People's Republic of China on Jan. 11. was probably not expended because of the 1950, by the Soviet Union twelve days later, abrupt termination of the w ar.) and then by other Communist states. In the spring of 1954 the war took a Secretary Acheson reacted violently to these disastrous turn for the French when the recognitions and falsely contended that they Vietminh shifted from a “ passive stance” revealed Ho Chi Minh “ in his true colors to the offensive and began to engage as the mortal enemy of independence in the French in pitched battled on a big Indochina” and the instrument of Russian- scale. On May 7. at Dien Bien Phu. the Communist tyranny. Vietminh won their greatest victory of the It was no doubt in response to these war when they forced the surrender of recognitions that the United States an­ a besieged French force of 10,000 men. nounced it was extending recognition to the It was probably the greatest defeat suffered French-established facade governments of by France in her many colonial wars. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. After the It subsequently led to the fall of the French outbreak of the Korean War in late June government and the rise to power of 1950, President Truman pledged that the Pierre Mendes-France, who pledged to American aid, which the French had terminate the war by negotiation. Despite been receiving for some time, would be the disapproval of Secretary Dulles, who substantially increased and that a m ili­ was adamantly against negotiation and all tary mission would be sent to “ provide for a military victory, even to the extent close working relations.” As far as he of offering France the use of a couple of was concerned, the war in Indochina and nuclear bombs to be dropped in North the war in Korea were part of the same Vietnam and near the Chinese border, cloth. preparations went forward for the con­ As American war equipment began ar­ vening of the now celebrated Geneva con­ riving in Indochina in increasing quantities ference on Indochina. to help the French in implementation The Geneva conference on Indochina of the U.S. policy of containment of the was co-sponsored by Britain and the Soviet Soviet Union and “ international Com­ Union. It was attended by representa­ munism” , Ho for the first time began tives of seven nations in addition to the to attack the United States bitterly. He two sponsoring nations: namely, the accused the United States of having assisted United States, China, France, the Demo­ France from the beginning of the conflict cratic Republic of Vietnam, the> French- and of having moved closer to direct sponsored government of Vietnam, Cam­ intervention. In areas under Vietminh bodia and Laos. The conference con­ control, newspapers and periodicals now vened late in April and formal discussions began attacking the United States with the on Indochina got underway on May 8. same vehemence as they attacked France. Initially the two belligerents were far apart, As the war dragged on and French ex­ partly because of the severe indirect penditures and casualties mounted with­ pressure exerted by Dulles for a hard line out any victory in sight, notwithstanding the on the part of France. obstinacy and unshakable confidence of the At the time the conference got down m ilitary, a great debate took place in to serious bargaining, the war map greatly France. Intellectuals, moralists, journa­ favored the DRV. In addition to controlling lists, politicians and many others argued most of the territory north of the 17th parallel, for withdrawal from Vietnam and recogni­ the DRV controlled about 40 per cent of the tion that the days of colonialism, even when territory sough of that parallel. The DRV was veiled, were over. Other groups, es­ strongly opposed to any division of Vietnam, pecially those associated with the power­ which it considered to be a single nation cul­ ful military-colonial establishment de­ turally and historically. The French, however nounced the protesters as unpatriotic and (continued on page 12) Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan

U N O E* THE JM0CKIN6 EVES OF “StOPPV '\5oT » HaH6 o«10 **y SW*S.. uHtiL 1 aM pGuiiE a «hy in OUT-a/ this aiRoF POFFY* LEFTY HSHTS HIS WAY BACK ^ - fltOM THE PSYCHEDELIC HI6 HTMAWE..

H i p p i e s hit the com ic strips

parently infinitely more popular with anti- sermon out of the Chicago Tribune Syndicate By BOB ZESCHIN LSD writers than it is with the hippies they called “ Teen-Wise,” whose current saga is that Cartoons and comic strips traditionally act write about. “ Listen,” a journal of better liv­ of young Eddie (“ M y parents don’t understand as mirrors of the times and surroundings in ing through abstinence from everything in me” ), who chucks it all in favor of joining a which they appear. But lately, they seem to sight, recently ran “ The Creeping Madness,” a hippie enclave led by “ Dove” and his perpetu­ have lost their perspective~at least as far as “ true story of horror” about a shudderingly ally glassy-eyed girlfriend “ Petal.” At the last subject matter is concerned. righteous young all-American who goes irrevoc­ installment, after begging for money, Petal The subject matter is hippies. Apparently op­ ably insane after getting a shot of LSD from a announces to Eddie: “ We’re in luck! We’ve erating on the principle that Smalltown, Mid- gang of Hell's Angels that he had just told. got enough to buy some acid!” After an omi­ viDe, and Gasoline Alley all have flourishing “ It’s thanks to people like you that this whole nous pause, Eddie returns with a line that will Haight-Ashburies of their own, nearly a dozen generation w ill be blighted, and perhaps the live with “ Aauugh!” and “ Gloriosky!” as a strips in the last six months have introduced next one made crazy! But I have news for you: comic classic: “ You m ean. . . LSD?” hippies into their story lines—the result being a You can’t throw a monkey wrench into the hu­ Eddie is really fast on the draw. profusion of “hips in the strips.” man nervous system without paying in bitter It’s easy to explain why this sudden explo­ A1 Capp of “Lil Abner” was one of the first. coin!” sion of hippies and why cartoonists have sud­ After aping protestors with his “Students Wild­ Drugs are, of course, the sphere of hippie denly seized on them. First is that they’re ly Indignant about Nearly Everything life which with the cartoonists are most pre­ in the news. Second is because they have so (S.W.LN.E),” he eventually turned to parody­ occupied. To the artists, drugs are to hippies many caricaturable qualities-their clothes, ing hippies, paving the way for all the strips as water is to fish. Strip hippies spend most their attitudes, their habits, all of which are to follow - “Steve Canyon,” “Kerry Drake,” of their waking hours taking trips on doses of anathema to the middle-class stereotype that “Winnie Winkle,” “Gil Thorp” and many LSD powerful enough to stone a herd of ele­ most strips are dedicated to. Kids are always more. phants. wholesome and cuddly, then they grow up and Even "Little Orphan Annie,” usually as The second method, the far more common go o ff to college where :they hang pennants averse to changes of time and history as the one, is for hippies to materialize out of the in their rooms. But they always return to their Rock of Gibraltar, recently featured a flag- dirt and wreak havoc among regular strip char­ hometowns, where they m arry childhood burning by what looked like walking tumble­ acters. For example, Gil Throp, the football sweethearts and settle down in a little white weeds, who made the mistake of holding it in coach hero of a strip so corney it's usually rele­ house in the suburbs. the local immigrants’ part of town. A gang of gated to the sports or want ads, nearly swal­ Hippies have rejected all this. And since fiercely accented patriots straight out of Jacob lowed his whistle when his star player (and comics deal wholly in stereotypes, they deal Riis literally settles their hash (no pun intend­ tbe mayor’s son, to boot) hung up his shoulder with the stereotype of the hippie-unwashed, ed). One strange thing: with their earrings, pads and joined a gang of hippies led by a unkept and drenched in drugs. babushkas, and neckkerchiefs, most of the car­ super-reprehensible named Rud. Where will it end? The hippie movement is toonist Harold Grey’s avengers were dressed dying (everywhere except in comic strips) and every bit as strange as the hippies were. Dress designer Winnie Winkle had a similar as soon as the fad runs its course, cartoonists The moral of the story is: It doesn’t matter traumatic experience when, hard on the heels will have to find someone else to caricature. how weirdly you’re dressed, as long as your of discovering that her son hung out with a One last note: Surprisingly, the strip that in­ political motivation is pure. gang of dope-pushers (only to find out that troduced the first hippie (in appearance if not Hippies usually enter the strips in one of two Billy was working hand in hand with the police in name) more than ten years ago hasn’t men­ ways. First, strip regulars don beads and but­ to exppse them), she learns that her daughter tioned them since-referring of course to “ Pea­ tons to pose as flower children for various rea­ is dating a hard-core hippy. nuts” and the patron saint of all flower children sons. For example, Poteet Canyon, little sis­ The best example, however, - “ PigPen.” ter of Steve, recently posed as one to do a f PERSONAL!./ X DON'T USE newspaper expose on the hippies at Maumee I GOOF BALLS' MY BAG IS ...SO WE WEAR THESE NEON 0L0THE5 University, who were protesting their college’s AND MAKE A tOT OF NOISE... BUT SUPER-TRIP FILLS!.. STP winning football season by staging a sit-in HERE'S THE FUNNV PART. WE on the 50-yard line at half time of one of the big MAINLY COME OUT ONIY AT NIGHT games. Milton Caniff’s hippies were apparent­ ... AND WE PONT LIKE ANYONE ly non-non-violent. They tried to crush Poteet TO SEE OUR EYES.. to death in the phone booth from which she tried to phone in the story. Or, take “Kerry Drake,” where detective Lefty Drake covered his burly frame in levis, vest, and Iron Cross to trade down a dope pusher nicknamed “Sloppy Poppy,” who turns out to be a dazzling blonde who discovers his plot and forces him to uncover the story after giving him an injection of LSD. LSD mainlined straight into the veins is ap­ Thursday. February 15, 1968 7

COMMENTARY

Bipartisanship— Vietnam

By WILLIAM B. HIXSON, JR. Despite their complexity of motives, son.” Thus the Republicans, far from these men exerted a major role in the wanting to destroy the commitment to As he looks toward the November elec­ American foreign policy between 1918 and the Cold War, wanted to intensify it. tion, the discerning voter is confronted by 1941. A later generation, which saw the Between 1953 and 1961 the Republicans the issue of the war in Vietnam. He may ineffectiveness of international resistance controlled the Executive, but through a accept the cherry predictions radiating to Nazi aggression, bitterly laughed at shrewd combination of militant rhetoric from Washington-and accepted by much these/ men’s passion for disarmament. But (“roll-back,” “massive- retaliation” ) and of the “ opposition,” such as Senator Dirk- it was the steady pressure of these cautious action were able to subdue debate sen. Governor Reagan, and M r. Goldwater- "isolationists” for the removal of Ameri­ on foreign policy. Then the second “great that we are actually “winning” the war. can occupation forces from Latin Amer­ debate” occurred in the late 1950s. Many But he may remember that many of those ica that permitted the “ Good Neighbor Eastern “interventionists” were con­ currently radiating optimism, whether Policy” to succeed. vinced that the Eisenhower Administra­ politicians, soldiers, or journalists, were In 1940 the entry of Theodore R o o s e ­ tion had overemphasized the Strategic equally optimistic in 1961, and in 1963, velt's old associates, Stimson and Knox, Air Force and ignored Africa, Asia and and in 1965. He may therefore seek another into the Cabinet marked the ascendancy Latin America and both Senator John alternative and attempt to extricate his of the “ interventionists.” They were Kennedy, a Democrat, and Governor country from an apparently endless war, among the most persistent voices heard, Rockefeller, a Republican, became the d e s t r u c t i v e of American men and re­ warning of the menace of Hitler; hence, spokesmen for this view. But the issue sources and, most important, destructive their constant references, 30 years later, again was not whether the basic com­ of the very Vietnamese society we are to Munich. However debatable the anal­ mitment to meet what was perceived as trying to “ save.” ogy may be to the situation in Vietnam, it “world Communism” was an accurate But if the discerning voter seeks an establishes their credentials to speak perception, or whether, if it was, mili­ alternative to the present course in Viet­ about “appeasing dictators.” m tary measures were the most effective nam, it is highly improbable that he will Though the attack upon Pearl Harbor way of meeting it: the issue was what find it in the candidates or policies com­ silenced the “ isolationist” opposition, military techniques should be used in peting on the November ballot. Instead after the Second World War there still meeting the “threat,” and in which areas the he will be confronted by two men dif­ appeared to be a chance for debate over challenge should be made. fering only in the zeal with which they the course of American foreign policy, Whatever partisan splits over foreign would prosecute what seems to him to with the major “ isolationist” spokes­ policy appeared to exist in the closing be an untenable position. man being Senator Taft of Ohio. But in months of Kennedy’s Presidency, they were Is the lack of alternatives simply the 1947 that possibility was permanently reduced after the launching of the air result of the personalities of the major , foreclosed when, in order to meet what strikes on North Vietnam in the early candidates-of Johnson's supposed stub­ policy-makers perceived to be a threat spring of 1965. The “interventionists” in bornness or Nixon’s supposed devious- of Soviet subversion in the Balkans, Presi­ the Executive, having dropped their ini­ ness-or of some imperfection in the dent Truman raised before Congress the tial rhetoric about “selMetermination,” p o l i t i c a l process? Is the lack of alter­ specter of “ world Communism.” The Con­ are now returning to the rhetoric of their natives not, instead, the result of bi­ gressmen to whom the President addressed predecessors a half-century ago and talk­ partisan support for the war? himself were largely the representatives ing about the need to preserve “the bal­ Now there are those who would point of small-town elites who were reconciled ance of power” in Asia. The spokesmen to this bipartisan support as evidence neither to the arrival of m o d e r n cul­ for the insular communities in Congress, of a new political maturity on the part ture in the ’twenties nor to the appearance always resonant to appeals to the flag, of the American people and their elected of immigrants and labor unions as major and again confronting new cultural and leader^ The agreement of both parties forces in American politics. Already see­ social upheavals (adolescent defiance, Ne­ is necessary, they would maintain, so ing the threats to the status quo as “Com­ gro militancy), provide a relatively solid basis that the American response to a complex munist,” the men who surrounded Taft of legislative support for Administration poli­ and changing world has some degree of enthusiastically responded to the impli­ cy. coherence. But where, one asks, is the cations of Truman’s message. Thus the oppiriti— to the policy la coherence in our present policy toward The bipartisan support for the Cold War Vietnam, while Including distinguished Europe? Where is the c o n s is t e n c y in our thus represents an alliance between the spokesmen of both parties, is in control policy in the Middle E a s t? (Indeed, in “ interventionists” in the Executive since of neither. And a gr wring number of young both areas, the relevant question would 1940, and insecure conservatives in Con­ people, increasingly ditillnslsncd with the be, does the United States have a for­ gress. This bipartisan commitment to the political system, either tah vaguely of eign policy?) No, the bipartisan support Cold War has, as the following examples overthrowing it, or “drop oat” com­ of the Vietnam War indicates not the will show, never s e r i o u s l y been chal­ pletely. mature response to the world around us but lenged. But an interesting question is whether a fixation on military measures to m eet When, in the late 1940s, Secretary of the young r a d i c a l s who talk of “ resis­ what is regarded as a “Communist State Acheson decided that Chaing Kai- tance” are more out of touch with real­ threat.” And this fixation arises from shek was doomed and American support ity than some of their elders who wist­ the conjunction of two developments in should be withdrawn, angry Republicans fully hope that Johnson is too good- what might be called the politics of asked why, if “world Communism” was or Nixon too shrewd-to allow the war American foreign policy. truly the menace Truman and Acheson had to continue. There may be no hope for the In the three decades preceding our entry said it was, it should not be “confronted” discerning voter-or for anyone else-who into the First World War, there arose in the in Asia as well as Europe. In the en­ hopes for alternatives to the present United States' § group of men who,, perceiv­ suing bitterness even Taft found himself course to be reflected in the November ing the world as a kind of international supporting General MacArthur’s cam­ election. If not, we should-before com­ ches» game among the major powers, were paign for an attack upon China, and Sena­ mitting ourselves to political action- eager to have America participate. Recruit­ tor McCarthy’s charges that the loss try to see exactly why we are in the war, ing from the Eastern centers of e d u c a ­ of China was due to “20 years of trea- and how we got there, and in the ensuing tion, finance and law, this group achieved analysis we should spare neither the poli­ power during the Spanish-American War, ticians nor the voters whom they repre­ and under men like Roosevelt, Lodge, Hay, William B. Hixson, Jr. is an instructor in sent As Lincoln observed over a cen­ and Root dominated American foreign pol­ history at Michigan State. tury ago, “ We must disenthrall our- icy in the first decade of the twentieth selves-and then we shall save our coun­ century. The accession of the Democrats try.” in 1913 appeared at first to make a break y oooooooooooocooonociwoooooooi with this tradition, but with Lansing and House in the Wilson Administration the tradition of what might be called “inter- ventionism” -the use of diplomacy and Cover Notes force throughout the world to counter what we perceived as “moves” by the Next to "1984." "Animal Farm " is the best Farmer Jones. The development of their self- other major powers-became bipartisan. known of George Orwell's works. This contem­ government is at first amusing, but eventually At the same time another alignment, porary satire of communism in theory and takes on a horrific aspect which constitutes a based largely in the insular communities practice has enjoyed an immense readership scathing indictment of man's ability to govern of the Midwest and West and centered in since it first appeared in 1948. himself and of a system in application. Congress, appeared in opposition to “ in- Currently, the Performing Arts Company The seven member cast is composed entirely terventionsim.” These men have been (PAC) is presenting a staged adaptation of the of undergraduates who assume multiple roles known ever since their arrival on the scene Orwell work in the various dormitory theaters in the production. It includes Don West. Steven as “ isolationists,” and their hesitation to across campus. The PAC version is based upon Shelton. David Stevens, Linda Hughes. Clifford have the United States enter the race for Nelson Bond's reader's adaptation but has been Gabriel. Ed Steele and Denise Judevine. world sweepstakes sprang from a variety modified to allow for dramatization. Direction is by Mariam Duckwald. of motives. Some were genuine paci­ The allegory is set in modern England and Tonight's performance is in the Brody Aud. It fists, others distrusted alliances and fav­ tells of a glorious revolution by the animals will run Friday and Saturday nights in the Mc- ored unilateral intervention, and still of the "Manor Farm " against the tyrant. Donel Kiva. Curtain time is 7:15. others spoke for German constituents unhappy about the American role in the First World War. 00000000000000000004 3 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan Thursday, February 15, 1968 9

MUSIC

Stones evolve a new idiom

By JEFF WEIDNER “Flowers” followed “Aftermath." The Some years ago F. Scott Fitzgerald former was a logical extension of “After- wrote that men have dreams which they math,” while “Flowers” was marred by fasten on to things in an effort to con­ the inclusion of several songs which had cretize those dreams. When rhythm and already been recorded. This was neces­ bluesman Muddy Waters came out with sitated by the dope-arrest of Jagger and his “ Rolling Stone Blues” in the early Keith Richard, who were unable to com­ 1950's, three young men in Richmond. plete recording for the album. England, fastened their dream of a vital “Their Satanic Majesties Request” is rock-blues idiom to the title of Waters’ not concerned with the materials of the song, and soon after. The Rolling Stones blues in the sense that the old twelve- were born. bar blues were. Hard blues concerns Two months ago, the Stones released itself with human experience and is de­ an L.P. entitled “Their Satanic Majes­ cidedly realistic. “Request” is deeply ties Request" which has since engendered mystical and idealistic from its three- much discussion. Many t h in k that the dimensional cover to the last chord. How­ Stones have removed themselves too far ever, the Stones do not seem to have and too abruptly from their blues roots, closed their eyes of the narrow band of and that their more recent material is human experience; the album doe» com­ neither genuine nor desirable. Others ment on the everyday. This is perhaps feel that they are only an inferior copy of ironic; the songs present picture upon the Beatles, and that "Their Satanic Majes­ picture until in “On With The Show,” ties Request" reflects this imitation. Per­ the listener is dropped from vast space haps most significantly, the album reflects into a crowded cabaret to reflect on a the unease felt by the Stones in trying to paradox. The Stones seem to be inviting find an idiom which is both relevant for a comparison of the cabaret to the pic­ today and which is not foreign to them. tures, while the pub is itself a place of Certainly the S to n e s began as blues- escape from the workaday world. men. This in itself is significant, since The album opens with an anthem, “Sing they have revitalized interest in the old This All Together,” in which Jagger asks Chicago bluesmen whose music had been the listener to close his eyes and let passed over in this country. The early the pictures come. The lyrics are poetic Stones’ music covered Chuck Berry, Luth­ and the instrumentation is strongly orien­ er and Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley and Muddy certainly not been abrupt. Each of their tal, reflecting Jagger’s association with Waters. Through rock dynamism, the L.P.’s preceding “Request” has been Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Oriental instru­ Stones put this music on the charts, and blues-influenced, though decreasingly so. mentation not withstanding, it is mysticism in so doing began to blues-educate a pub­ “Out of Our Heads” and “December's and a deep concern with the beautiful and lic which had been subsisting largely on a Children” began to reveal the change with the ephemeral which most colors the diet of surfing music. Even at this time such lyrical cuts as “Play With Fire” and album. Perhaps the most characteristic though, lead singer Mick Jagger admitted “As Tears Go By,” the latter complete cut is “The Lantern,” which asks for that the Stones were only Englishmen with string accompaniment. The evolution a sign, a lantern that can be followed. playing black music. After their early suc­ was marked by increasing complexity and Acoustic guitar and piano provide sadly cesses with “Not Fade Away,” “Heart Of instrumentation in their music. For exam­ melodic chords, and the voices of the sing­ Stone” and “ Time Is On My Side,” the ple, “Aftermath,” although thoroughly ers come from far away at the beginning Stones produced the more commercial and blues-influenced, contained such songs as of the verses, slowly growing in volume to rockish “ The Last Tim e” and “ Satisfac­ “Paint In Black” and the beautiful “Lady the end of the song. If poetry can be con­ tion,” and the L.P. “ Out Of Our Heads.” Jane” and utilized such instruments as cerned with mental pictures of an idea, While the Stones may be far removed sitar, dulcimer, harpsichord, bells and (continued on page 10) from their blues origin, the change has marimbas. “Between The Buttons" and

Sh aw had career as music critic

By JIM ROOS while sometimes irresponsible, was al­ could. Yet, Shaw could also give a pene­ ways entertaining. Infuriated by the solemn trating musical analysis prompting While perusing the hallowed shelves of experts who wrote for other papers, he set musicians to sit up and take notice. the MSU library recently I stumbled across out to play the jester by adopting the Contrary to the public's initial notion a volume entitled London Music; 1888-99. pseudonym' Corno di Bassetto. He says he that he knew little about music, and Curiosity being the strange force it is, I chose it because it sounded like the title consequent interest in his column as an decided to examine the book and discovered of a count, although the name actually amusing joke. Shaw’s knowledge extended that it is part of an edition of musical is Italian for “ the basset horn." well into music’s technicalities. criticism penned by that venerable cad, In fact, Shaw states that he purposely His writings on Italian grand opera dis­ George Bernard Shaw. vulgarized musical criticism "which was play a profound understanding which for­ Although Shaw's talents as a playwright, then refined and academic to the point of tunately focused upon some of the legend­ novelist, political philosopher and general being unreadable and often nonsensical." ary performances of London's I9th century social c r i t i c has long been acknowledged, In order to liven things up Shaw injected musical scene. Shaw's musical criticisms his career as a music critic has had con­ his strong and capricious personality into are alone worth reading for those rare siderably less claim on public attention. the foreground. strokes of “lifemanship'* that derive from Music was an important factor in Shaw's In one of his articles he describes his his being contemporary with some of the life. It pervades some of his early novels case of influenza in detail, in another a titans of musical history. and is the result of a fam ily influence that toothache; "After a m om ent hesitation I One review describes a matinee recital included an uncle who played the ophi- went to my dentist. There is nothing that of Edward Grieg's music, which featured cleide—some sort of "keyed brass soothes me more after a long and mad­ the composer at the piano and his wife as bugle” --an aunt that favored the harp, dening course of pianoforte recitals than soprano. Another tells of a performance and a mother who nurtured hopes of a to sit and have my teeth drilled by a finely of Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata by the career as a singer. skilled hand." aging Clara Schumann. Shaw himself developed an acceptable When he got an uncomfortable seat in a There are still others that afford first baritone, but he realized that his future concert hall, or had to pay a shilling for a hand account of performances directed by course was more inclined toward an program he raged: "The editor informs Wagner and Brahms and violin and piano imperious mastery of the English lan­ me that with the law of libel in its present recitals by Wienawski and Anton Rubin­ guage. unsatisfactory condition. I must not call stein. Certainly, even for music listeners Music criticism provided Shaw's first this a fraud, a cheat, a swindle, an im ­ who are repelled by Shaw's arrogance and experience as a journalist. He started by position. an exorbitance, or even an over­ flippant style. London Music offers a color­ writing for a small publication like the charge!" ful glimpse of performers and per­ "Hornet'' in 1876 and from 1887 to 1894 There was more to Shaw the critic, formances of the past. For those who enjoy as critic for the “ World and "Star however, than a capacity for perpetrat­ Shaw's way with words, it proves reward­ delighted in playing the "enfant terrible" ing outrage. True, he once did remark: ing literature as well. Either way, the book of London musical journalism. " I could make deaf stockbrokers read assures its reader a few hours of time Shaw's approach to musical criticism. my two pages on music." And indeed he well spent. 1 0 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan

Staggering potentials exist in computerized films

By JIM YOUSLING In a more serious vein, Hollywood's great casting errors could be corrected. In a conversation a few days ago, I was told that in a few more generations, actors “Gypsy” could be remade with Ethyl Merman, “My Fair Lady” with Julie as we know them may be totally unneces­ Andrews, “ Hello Dolly” with Carol Chan- sary because of automation. One would think ning. And. if anybody cares, Bette Davis that if any occupation were safe from the might get a chance to play Scarlett O’Hara. computers, it would be acting, but science We have paused to muse over some in­ may soon prove otherwise. teresting “ what ifs,” but the i m p l i c a ­ At this very moment, there are com­ tions of computer-made films reach far puters which, when fed the proper mathe­ beyond this casting device. Eventually, matical formulae, can show us a picture actors could be done away with altogether. of a cone, pyramid, cube or other simple Say, for example, that someone makes a shape on a television screen. Then, the movie of “ The Catcher In the Rye.” computer can make the cone move, grow, Why should the filmmaker program in­ dance, stand on its head or anything else formation about Holden Caufield and then than we can program with mathematics. In other words, there never was a real have the machine put an actor like Steve cone being photographed; but if we can McQueen into it? It would be easier a n d tell the computer exactly what the cone more logical to simply give the com­ puter J.D. Salinger’s description and then would look like, it can give us a picture Newman, who people will pay to see in let it manufacture “Holden Caufield.” of one, seen from any angle. anything, are becoming increasingly rare. Thus, the filmmaker (or author) who pro­ Now imagine a much more complex Thus, computer-made films would be a grams the machine would create the computer of this type, with a much more logical result of this trend. People would characters, not the actors, who would im ­ complex programming m echanism . We come to see a film because a particular pose their own personalities and opinions could then tell the computer exactly what, programmer had made it, or because some­ upon the w riter’s conception. say, Marilyn Monroe looked like, down to one like Salinger wrote it. the last detail, and then tell it exactly By now. many of you have thought. "Well, Some of us would, of course, mourn the how she moved, talked, breathed or that's just the movies. Nothing can re­ death of the star system. It is hard to coughed. The machine could then give us place stage actors " Wrong again. Science imagine movies without box-office attrac­ a picture of “ Marilyn Monroe” and make is working on that. too. There already tions like Sophia Loren. Cary Grant. Eliza­ it move, talk, breathe and cough. exists, in an experimental stage, a film beth Taylor and all the others. But even To go one step farther, it would be process which can project a three-dimen­ now the great stars are dying out and relatively simple to tell the machine sional image in space, without a screen. relatively few newcomers are taking their all about “ Macbeth.” And there you have Thus, if the people and objects photo- places. Our generation is the first, for it; A movie version of “ Macbeth” star­ traphed (or created by a c o m p u t e r ) were example, without a reigning sex symbol; ring Miss Monroe as Macbeth, Lady Mac­ kept in s c a le to real-life size, the ef­ Monroe may have been the last. More beth or as all three witches. fect could be identical to that of real actors than ever, people are going to see a film The possibilities are more than stagger­ on a real stage. Thus, the theatre industry ing. The world could see Shirley Temple because of its director (B e r g m a n . Fellini, and the film industry could combine, so in “ I. a Woman,” Mae West in “ The Sound etc.) or because of the q u a l i t i e s that the that Broadway productions could be pre­ of Music,” Jayne Mansfield in “I Remem­ particular film has (“Virginia Woolf.' sented without changes in quality, night after ber Mamma” or Tab Hunter in “Hamlet.” "Bonnie and Clvde"). Actors like P a u l night, and all over the world. Again, the implications of the process are over­ whelming. When these computer systems and three- dimensional processes are first introduced, the initial results could be terrible. Like C in e r a m a , talkies, or the 3-D system of the fifties, it will take years for film­ makers to become adept at using the new media as something other than a fad. And. like 3-D. they may die from exploitation before a competent person can do something artistic with them. There is also the problem of the pub­ lic's demand for novelty. We are still finding exciting new things to do with the oldest system of all, the black-and-white silent film. Sound has become almost a requirement; yet the invention of Techni­ color has never completely taken over, and not just because black-and-white is cheaper. Most of us would cringe at the thought of seeing “ La Strada” or " T h e Seventh Seal" in color . . . for artistic reasons. What we can expect, then, are new proc­ esses that w ill multiply the possibilities of film making endlessly. We must hope that the old processes are not forgotten. Nevertheless, the films of the future will be unlike anything our generation has ever seen.

Stones evolve a new idiom

(continued from page 9) other's recordings and serve as occasional berry Fields Forever" and as "Their then the album is surely poetry. “ Re­ session men for one another. Certainly the Satanic Majesties Request" implies, both quest” seems to explain the “ new” Stones, Stones have always been more detached groups believe that there is someplace for apparently they found the blues too from the public, less theatrical and less where "nothing is real" and there “ is confining an idiom in which to work. insipidly loveable than the Beatles, who n o t h in g to get hung about" (“ not neces­ Their music hasevolved into a more appear to be truckling to propriety far too sarily stoned, just beautiful." Jimi Hen­ contemporary art form, one which allows often. The Stones had gained notoriety as drix said.) Both are s e a r c h in g for some­ a commentary on the spiritual as well as the bad boys of the rock scene: The Lon­ thing to hold on to. something to follow, the realistic life. don Times was asking English parents if and it is this searching which explains the As has been repeatedly shown by in­ they would want their daughter to marry evolution of the Stones. novative and musical prowess on record, a Stone about the same time that Brian "Their Satanic Majesties Request" is the Stones and the Beatles are the f i n e s t Epstein had the Beatles performing mush not a finality for the Stones. It will be most rock groups in existence today. The two like “ P.S.. I Love You" in suits and ties. interesting to see where they intend to go have had a long history of friendship, with Considering their latest two albums, the from their never-never land, and what the Stones owing their first big ■ hit, “ I distance between the two groups is ap­ vehicle they will use. C a s e y would waltz Wanna Be Your Man" to Lennon and Mc­ parent. There is, however, a parallel be­ with the strawberry blonde, and the Stones Cartney. Both have been present in each tween them. As the Beatles said in "Straw­ are still rolling. Thursday, February 15, 1968 If

POETRY

"Indeed, the infant showed he preferred pictures of Raggedy Ann to geometrical forms." —Brown University Experiment During my paper and pipe In my chair on the rug by the table of books and charts she came and hugged me all sniffling with her full warm weight of hair all falling down and with only a little reluctance I clutched myself back.

The Winter The winter came on us quick, broke the old car’s engine block sent cold drafts around the windows and the back door, struck one last fly against a pane. The furnace shut down, and warmth was as futile as a dim bulb in a cold room No wood for a fire and the coal truck stuck. I bled the pipos and stuffed some cracks We had an old barn behind the house, built in the same year of the same timber. Last year the barn collapsed.

Epitaph Photo by Col Crane I was only here looking around like a grey cat inside a house all night alone. An Unfinished Poem on the Wall My fur bristled caught drafts drying static on acrylic carpets. of Kedzie Chem Lab Extension Green lenses strained I sing of Golgoth, screening light from dark whose ful| Immensity Is shown in no picture seeing shapes to chase whose colossal cubic density perches over a marsh: Til the house burning down where slender green reeds are blown in a thin wind caught them all in their sleep and no light starling perches not excluding myself. on Go I goth’s ponderous brick and concrete columns standing two massive against each other in such a manner that if one should crumble or give way from all the weight of duplicate copies filing Poem on Poem higher in hulking grey cabinets piling higher the other can have no choice but to crumble, Chemeleon-like, Great Golgoth the One and Only. club-footed Mercury sheds his boot and scatters Thus are the needs of heroic lanltors in Golgoth's interest like tubs of Quicksilver as well as In the Interest of all personnel tipped down a mountain Thus the need for voluntary displacement of muck at Golgoth's base, though swollen bodies strengthen not the foundations. So cold and so close to the sun Thus the need for precise equipment so crisply laced among mountains: of the seismograph type, How can you miss the high Ice fields of the digital type and the integral type I swiftly traverse and the hidden- microphones In my fur-lined Porsche? and the silently pregnant silos - tensing toward the birth of death. Thus the need of laden aircraft pregnant with death. - Poem on Poem # 2 Thus is great Golgoth maintained. The cat continues to play In the bath tub, flips around and about for a bread wrapper wire, Yet for all Its ears is Golgoth no lass deaf continually bruising himself. and for all Its eyes no less blind The game could as easily be played on the carpet, and for sacrifices no more content but the wire would be lost under furniture; and concrete feels no pain In Its defects even the cat likes form. however the cracks are patched with flesh and It feels no joy In the air, only slight contentment In bulk neither tasting the Too nor smelling perfume It bottles them up for what women are left Randy Schroth, the author o f thi* week'* poetry, and appraises Its bowels while polluting the rivers is an Okemo* junior majoring in English. Thi* is and what are a few laced ferns sprayed with chemicals? hi* first publication in beginning a career o f writ- | "We unloaded some left over bombs on that farm back there." ing which includes short stories at well as poetry. Condoning some religion in pre-fab temples we cannot adjust Its circuitry. i

1 2 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan Thursday, February 15, 1968

M ilit a r y t r iu m p h in V i e t n a m

withstanding the clearly stated call of the State of Vietnam. What Dulles really (continued from' page 5) Geneva agreement for national reunification wanted, and what the Protocol did give insisted on a division of the country, and at elections, which would without question have him, was "legal authority" for the Presi­ a line to the north which would compel the DRV resulted in a victory for Ho Chi Minh dent of the United States to intervene in to abandon large areas under its effective con­ in the south as well as in the north. Indochina. He was rigidly determined, trol. As a result of pressure from Molotov, Even President Eisenhower conceded that among o t h e r things, to prevent the re­ the Soviet representative, and Chou En-lai, he had not talked with any knowledgeable unification of Vietnam if it meant a the Chinese representative, the DRV person who did not believe Ho Chi Minh Communist-dominated Vietnam. Hence finally agreed to a temporary division of the could win at least 80 per cent of the vote. the reunification of Vietnam was sacrificed country when the French accepted a pro­ The Geneva agreements, had they been to the demands of Pentagon strategy almost posal for the reunification of the country faithfully implemented, would probably have as soon as the ink was dry on the Geneva through national elections to be held in stabilized the situation in Southeast Asia. agreements. The Democratic Republic 1956. Had the elections been held. Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam protested the conclusion of the On July 20, 1954. the truce terms were would no doubt have been voted over­ pact and called it aggressive in intent agreed upon for ending the fighting in whelmingly into national power and all of and a clear violation of the Geneva accords. Indochina. Separate cease-fire agreements Vietnam would have fallen under a Com­ Secretary Dulles triumphantly hailed the were signed for Vietnam, for Laos, and munist-dominated regime, but it would pact as a Monroe Doctrine for South­ for Cambodia. The principal provisions have been a regime fiercely nationalist east Asia, an analogy that seems absurdly of the cease-fire agreement for Vietnam and jealous of its independence from any far-fetched, to say the least. Prime were: outside dictation, including any from the Minister Nehru of India, who had followed L Vietnam was to be divided into two Soviet Union or China. Moreover, the the Geneva conference with deep interest, nearly equal parts by “ a provisional m ili­ evidence is clear that both the Soviet took a very dim view of SEATO and all tary demarcation line” approximating the Union and China would have been more m ilitary pacts. " It seems extraordinary." 17th parallel, with the territory to the north than satisfied with a neutralist Southeast he declared, "to lay great stress on all of that parallel under the jurisdiction of the Asia. And certainly there is no evidence kinds of m ilitary alliances and pacts in DRV. and the territory to the south under the whatsoever that Communist China at any Southeast Asia, in Western Europe and jurisdiction of the "State of Vietnam." the time has had any desire to take over elsewhere in the name of security and French-created puppet government of Bao Dai. any parts of Southeast Asia, notwithstanding peace." He lamented that the hopeful 2. French forces north of the 17th parrallel all the empty myths created about an situation created by the Geneva con­ and Vietminh forces south of the parallel would “ aggressive, expansionist China." How­ ference was shattered by SEATO. “ The be regrouped in their respective zones, within a ever, the successful implementation of the whole conception of the Geneva Con- • period of 300 days. Under this provision, some Geneva agreements in South Vietnam ference was coexistence." he protested. 90.000 Vietminh who had fought in the south depended largely on France, the guarantor SEATO was manifestly not coexistence, (most of whom were probably southerners) in that area, which was permitted a reasonable but the injection of the “ hot" cold war were compelled to regroup in the. north. Others, period of time for the withdrawal of into Southeast Asia. precisely how many is not knowp; are alleged to ho- m ilitary forces. Once these forces have remained in the south. *; were withdrawn, France no longer had 3. National elections by secret ballot were the means to enforce compliance with to be held simultaneously in both zones by the terms of the agreements in South RCR, reading July 20. 1956. under the supervision of an In­ Vietnam. ternational Supervisory Commission composed Ho Chi Minh had apparently felt con­ (continued from page 2) of Indian. Canadian and Polish representatives. fident that France would honor the 4. Compliance with the specific cease-fire agreements she had signed. What he may held skill with words has given. He read from arrangements was to be supervised by inter­ not have fully realized was that Dulles one of his books poems that explore the full national control commissions, chaired by the had regarded the agreements not as the range of “literary" language, in addition to the Indian member. "solution” of the Indochina problem, but rythms of common speech. The applause was 5. No foreign m ilitary bases were to as only the documents of a single "battle" overwhelming. be estabbshed in either North or South lost! Subsequent events were to disclose William P itt Root followed. This young poet, Vietnam, and neither zone was to adhere the gradual, premeditated injection of an addition this year to the English depart­ to any military alliance to be used American influence and power into South ment, published an amazing poem called “ The for “ the resumption of host^Uies or to Vietnam and the displacement of France Storm" in the June, 1967, issue of the “ Atlantic further an aggressive policy.” V ' by the United States as the controlling Monthly." You can find it in the stacks on the 6. The introduction into North or South Viet­ force there. With the withdrawal of the second floor of the Library under AP. nam of any reinforcement in arms, munitions last French forces from South Vietnam in He read amazing poems Wednesday night. and "other war materials" was prohibited. 1955, then, Ho’s only effective guarantee This is a section from one called “ The Passage 7. Each party was to refrain from re­ for compliance with the agreements in of the Living." to be published in the spring prisals or discrimination against persons South Vietnam was gone. “ Sewanee Review": or organizations because of their activities * * * As a train in the night gains speed, during the hostilities and to guarantee their A collective defense treaty for Southeast I wake to darkness, think of light democratic liberties. Asia had actually been envisioned by the careering through frail galaxies The above terms were substantially United States since the outbreak of of frosted wire and weeds that endorsed by all of the conference nations the Korean War in June 1950. It was given glitter and vanish in fields on July 21 in the so-called “‘Final Decla­ high priority by President Eisenhower and beyond the town, and farther still ration of the Geneva Conference.” The Secretary Dulles after the convening of the through foothills and the dark passes d e le g a t i o n r e p r e s e n t i n g the Bao Geneva conference. For Dulles, the blasted from their darker stone Dai “government” made a protest declara­ Geneva agreements, distasteful as they were that dangerously lean tion, but it was given no consideration at to him. did not mean the withdrawal of against the passage of the living the conference.. Actually the Bao Dai Western power and influence from the through the darkness, through the sleep group was a mere puppet regime, for it area, but rather the opportunity of "cutting of children dreaming, men and women had very few attributes of a real govern­ losses." preventing the fall of South Viet­ dreaming ment. It certainly had had no control over nam to “ Communism,” and transforming as the dark cries to their dreams its foreign relations, nor of the conduct it into a "bastion of the free world." and their dreams cry back. of the war, • nor of policies and other The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization The last one he read, worth watching for in vital matters concerning civil administra­ (SÉATO> was primarily the b r a i n c h i l d the "New Yorker,” is called “Circle of the tion. of Dulles, who at the time was obsessed Struggle." In the night a predatory owl is Sulking like an Achilles, Secretary Dulles with encircling the Soviet Union and China trying to Wrench a silver fox from a trap. The had boycotted the conference and down­ with American-supported military author watches, scared at this involvement of graded the American role to that of an alliances. The SEATO pact, a collective fierce living and fierce dying in one image. His “ observer” status, with Walter Bedell mutual-defense arrangement, was signed emotion shows how thoroughly death mixes Smith in charge. Acting on instructions on Sept. 8, 1954, by eight nations: the United in with our life. How do we confront our own from Dulles, Smith on the last day of States, Britain, France. Australia, New death and the deaths of our family? "What can the conference issued a unilateral declara­ Zealand. Thailand, the Philippines and we tell the new strangers we have made tion stating that the UnitedL States was Pakistan. Its aim was to prevent "ex­ from our love?” not prepared to join in the conference ternal aggression" and "internal sub­ Moved at the end. we applauded passionate­ declaration. He pledged, however, that version.” It was manifestly, on the one hand, ly. The poet sat down again with his wife and the United States “ will refrain from the intended to forestall an imagined expansion­ daughter. Jennifer, who munched an ice cream use of force to disturb” the implementa­ ism of Communist China, and on the other bar happily. Heights had been reached at The tion of the agreements. President Eisen­ hand, to prevent internal takeovers by local Pit. hower made a similar s t a t e m e n t . A few Communist parties, whether by elections or The evening went on. Roy Bryan read his fine days after the ink was dry on the Geneva by the use of force. The United States made poems. John Campbell, thumping the rhythm agreements, Dulles mpde it .dear that he it specifically clear that its commitment to section of his foot, played his energetic music had his own interpretation of their resist aggression applied "only to Communist from his very center. me 'ng. The important thing, he said, aggression." Since Cambodia. Laos and the The atmosphere of The Pit is comfortable was to prevent “ the extension of Communism State of Vietnam (South Vietnam) were for­ but not luxurious. Yet beauty was exposed there throughout Southeast Asia and the Southwest bidden by the Geneva accords to become mem­ as poets read and musicians sang. The beauty Pacific.” Whether or not the people might bers of m ilitary alliances, they were not in­ that comes from the hard perception of reality. themselves prefer a Communist regime to vited to sign the pact. Instead a Protocol Between the broken windows that form the other alternatives was immaterial. As far attached to the SEATO treaty arbitrarily cover of the new “ Red CedajJteview,” a simi­ as be was concerned, this would not be specified that the areas protected by the lar transformation takes pla<£. Skillful words permitted to happen in South Vietnam, not- treaty included Cambodia, Laos, and the makes the clearest reality into beautiful forms.