Friday, sepicmbe} 27. H768

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Grinnell's Image: The Catalogue

Among the many useful and
entertaining publications oi
oi Grinnell College—the Stu-
dent Handbook, the annual
class schedule, the Slim—the
most important and represem
tative, at least in design and
Icope, is the college catalogue.
The 1968-9 edition contains
both the words ”catalog" (sic)
and "bulletin,” Were we to
speak strictly -- a thing in-
decorous by the college’s own
standard at “unpretentious
manners“ (p. ll)—wa should
call the publication neither I
catalogue nor a bulletin, for it
contains much more than a
listing 01 items and it has no
such sanction as a papal bull.
To justify the two titles, how-
ever one might support "cata-
log" by pointing to the list
of the courses offered—still the
largest section of the book—
on pp. 99—160 and their support
"bulletin” by observing the
extensive use made of the new
scarlet seal, reminiscent or the
president’s medallion.

Catalogues do not, by defini-
tiun, otter justifications of
their existence; at college cat-
alogue always offers such jus-
tification ~ and in cata-
logues put out by such schools
as Goddard College, for exam~
pie, the entire catalogue is de-
voted to justification, since no
courses are offered, in good
philosophical f a s h l o n, the
Grinnell college catalogue be-
gins with “The Objectives of
the College" (1). 11). The cps
ening sentence, despite its illit-
erate use of "than," is worth
Quoting:

"Grilmell College exists to
help shape the character and
quality of each or its students,
to make each one I dllterent
and better human being than
he might have been had it not
been for his years in Ihe com-
munity of Grinnell Colleger”

There is a certain neatness—
worthy of a commercial ad-
vertisement—in opening and
closing the sentence with the
words “Grinnell College”, One
might wish ior some mention
of the mind, but the reverse
hendiadys “character and
quality” allows the reader to
assume its presence. Less hap-
py is the phrase “a difierent
and better human being”;;
myselt, l object to the assump
tion that difference necessar-
ily implies betterness. Despite
the general gaucheness of our
students, the culture of Amer.
lca, its “character and quali-
ty", seem to me something to
be built on and developed rath-
er than something to be made
different.

The means used by the col-
lege in achieving this aim is
described as "creating and
maintaining a lively environ-
ment of constructive tradition
and unpretentious m a n n e r s."
Grinnell may have shed its
lcrmal ties with Christianity
but its Christian heritage or
being all things to all men
shows forth bright and clear
in this sentence, which is more
sophisticated than the sort of
prose which used to grace the
catalogue oi Parsons College
but which is not materially
dillerent. Given that general

statement of means, Grinnell,
too, ought to have a “tradition
committee".

All this, however, is prob-

ably no more than the usual
awkwardness we all feel in
speaking lormally. By the end
of the first paragraph we are
reading prose which reminds
us that Grinnell, for all its
shortcomings, is a place worth
knowing:
"Above all, the college tries to
emphasize the force of ideals,
the relationship between pri-
vate and public responsibility,
the saving qualities of art and
luughter, and the sense that
knowledge, wisdom, and un-
derstanding come lrom an n.-
wareness of others and not
just one/s sell.”

Rapidity of change—a char-
acteristic of Grinnell that oiten
suffers from the defects of its
qualities — has always made
putting out a catalogue at
Grinnell a tricky job. in the
past, when the catalogue came
out almost as late as the year-
book, it described what the
College had done rather than
what it was going to do; hence,
when it was accurate, it was
out of date. This year, with
incredible energy, the admin-
istratinn has published the cat-
alogue at the beginning of the
year; as a result, though it is
up to date, it is not always
accurate. l omit such cavils as
the ascription oi Protessor
Kleinschrnidt to the German
Department, for such errors
are one of the ills that mind
is heir to: somewhat more de
pressing, however, is the de
scription oi the Humanities
course (p. 23) as containing
"masterpieces of. . .history”.
When the old and ill-iated
“Historical Studies” course
was metamorphosed into “So-
cial Studies", the Humanities
staff dropped its one historical
work—Thucydides—on the as-
sumption that it was to be
picked up by the new course
in social studies. Alas, Thucy-
dides disappeared into the pro
vincial limbos ot the Department
or History oi Classical Lan-
guages to be replaced by in-
vestigations into the life of Tro-
bruk Islanders and other Cul-
tures “presenting western man
in successive periods of his his-
tory.”

Even though the College has
caniessed its error in judg-
ment—that Grinnell freshmen
are too good to need orthodox
courses in freshman composi-
tion — by adding a “Writing
Lab,” it takes no more than a
casual reading or upperclass
papers to see that the “rigor-
ous training in the writing of
the English language", men~
tioned on p. 24, is a pious hope
rather than a legitimate
claim.

in a section entitled “Per-
spective on Liberal Educa-
tion” (1:. 30), the catalogue is
unusually frank in stating that
“Gril‘lnell is seeking a com-
promise” —- so typical an As
merican ambition —- between
European comprehensive ex-
inations and American
fragmentation 01 courses,

CATALOGUE—
gCont’ti. on Page 8, Col. Q

Page Seven

POST MORTEM Blues Combo in Black and White

By JOHN GORDLEY

On the assumption that both
blunder and brilliance are im—
portant in elucidating the prin-
ciples of contract bridge, this
column will deal with hands
played in the Grinnell Collega
Forum.

In the past week, a 6 N. T.
contract was played by Mr, Cros-
sett in which the slam was as-
sured by determining the dis-
tribution in diamonds. North
dealt, Mr. Crossett sitting Southli

9 4
K J 8
K 9 3
C A I 3
when Mr. Crossett responded
2 N.’l‘. to the opening bid of one
diamond, North initiated the
Blackwood Convention in a try
for slam. Missing a king, and
lacking adequate strength for a
grand slam, North cut the HHC‘
tion off a 6 N.T.
0n West’s low heart opening
lead, South played low [mm
the board, taking East’s queen
with his king. Alter playing a
heart to the board and a dia-
mond to his king, he took the
jack ct hearts and let West in
with the id at hearts, setting up
the B in his hand. West's club
return drew the 4, queen, and
ace. Alter cashing his good
heart, he ran the diamond fi—
nesse, winning with the jack on
the board. Atter taking two
spades, he dropped the last two
diamonds with his ace, making
the contract with the spade
oueen and the last diamond,
As it turned out, no lead could
defeat the contract, which de-
pended on the position of the
queen of diamonds and on the

diamond split. Alter the finesse ,

succeeded, it was obvious that
West had either a doubleton or
a singleton queen. If he had a
doubleton, however, West’s uris
ginal diamond suit would have
been better than his hearts, and
would probably have been led.
Thus, the 3-3 split was indicated
and the slain made.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllmullllllllllllluillllllllllllil

By GARY GIDDINS

The Paul Butteriield Blues
Band performed in concert
last Saturday evening in Rob-
erts Theatre. The two hour
long periormance was enthus-
iastically received by the
Grinnell audience.

Butterfield has been estab-
lished during the last few
years as the most popular or
the white blues revivalists.
This reputation is deserved in
that he is a superb harp play<
er; his interest in music su-
persedes the “blues" struc-
tures, enabling him to work in
additional forms; and he can
create a rapport (not neces-
sarily musical) with his audi-
ence. The reputation is sur—
prising in that Eutteriield is
an atrocious vocalist, his rhy-
thm sections are rarely go.
gether, and his approach to
the blues form is oiten pre-
dictable and therefore monotoa
nous. It was apparent at the
Grinnell concert from the out-
set that his appeal is some-
what non-musical. when you
go to hear B.B. King or hobby
Blue Bland, you can expect to
hear the blues sung and
played Wifl‘i masterful convic-
tion. arrangements tightly and
economically conceived, and a
band that works together.

You go to a Butterfleld con-
cert partially as it it were a
happening. rho musicians all
possess the necessary youth
and exterior hiphess that the
audience digs. Some members
of this kind of audience re-
spond with such great em-
pathy to this scene that if you
tell them their “musical" idols
are not saying anything, they
take it as a personal insult.
(Anybody who doesn't like the
Cream is a iascist pig.) The
Butterfield band realizes this,
of course, and exploits the fact
to make up ior any musical
ineptitude. What p.13. King
can convey with any one note
song or plucked, the Butter-
iield Band tries to achieve
with eilects that are not al-
ways musical. (A couple or
times the bassist got so tired,
i imagine, of lighting tar me-
ter with the drummer, he just
laid out for a few bars. When
the drummer was losing his
sticks and knocking over his
drums, was he being hip or
incompetent?)

Paul Butterlleld (mlddk), Ind pm at the bond.

Several bad and a few inter
esting features or the band
were emphasized during the
first six numbers. The horns
were utilized only for familiar
riffs. The bass kept a compes
tent, even imaginative rhyths
mic undercurrent going. The
guitarist had several lnterest<
ing moments: I constantly had
the feeling that he did not
want to be playing blues. He
is not a “finished" player but
he is an interesting one.

Butteriield had several ex-
cellent harp solos but his vo~
cals reminded me of Miles
Davis’ attack of Oscar Peter-
son: "He even had to learn
how to play the blues." But-
terfield whoops, yells, “flats"
all the right notes, and does
everything else that the text
books tell you will make 1
blues, but he is not convincing.
when as. sings, you listen,
humbled by what the man is
confidently putting down. but.
terfield, on the other hand,
whines them out, believing, av.
idently, that this will prove he
had the blues. 1 didn't believe
him.

When somebody had an idea
and the drummer should have
been accompanying, he pounds
ed the Cow bell. When the solo-
ist took a break, you would
look at the drummer expect-
antly, but he was patting his
cymbal.

The worst thing about tho
first six numbers was the lack
of freedom. Some soloists have
enough mastery of form to
sound free regardless of the
harmonic rules.

With the seventh number,
the “jazz number,” the Butter-
iield band began to work.
They began with an interest-
ing riff, that sounded like
something out of the Basie
book of the thirties, From
there, the music evolved into
tree jazz. Suddenly, everybody
became hippy and seemed to
care. The sax player took a
few alto choruses that showed
technical fluency, but showed,
also, an unsure rhythmic com
oeption.

Butterlield took his most ex-
citing solo oi the evening when
he balanced a series of stacat-
to notes against longer and
more complex phrases.

And then there was Dinwid.
die. Gene Dillwiddie’s tenor
solo was the high point of the
concert. His lengthy solo was
accompanied at first by the
band. then by the rhythm Sec<
tion, then the conga, and then
he played alone. i personally
ielt like jumping up and
screaming. He had the techni-
cal fluency to carry out his

-lines (amazingly long phras-

es), to use the “hidden regis-
ter,” and to balance the lower
and middle octaves

Butteriield, hip to the tavor.
able audience reaction, lol-
lowed it with an uptempo
“Get Out My life, Woman.”

In Ellington’s words, it was
a "concert to be there." Much
of it that would have sounded
dull on a record, was made
alive and entertaining by the
spirit of the group, and this
general feeling was projected.
And Geno Dinwiddio is some-
thing else.