Page Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

 

EDITORIAL

S.P.K. ’69, searching for relief.
The Feminine Mystaque

This weekend, each Grinnell co-ed will be given permission
to alleviate the tension and frustrations of an entire semester's
abstinence by inviting the gentleman of her choice to any of a
number of campus activities. I, for one (unliberated woman that
I am) would like to conditionally thank the Social Coordinator
for making it possible for me to take this initiative,

Liberated women may rant and rave about the female’s
equal, responsibility in promoting and securing interpersonal re-
lationships, but I, along with all but a small radical fringe on
this campus, believe sillcerely that a Grinnell woman‘s place is
in the dorm, and that she should emerge only when asked or in
case of serious emergency (fire, flood, trips to Planned Parent—
hood). This unassuming, unwilling, and inhibited role was good
enough for my grandmother, and it’s good enough for me, by

all .

g yLet them tell me this way is unnatural, impersonal, outa
moded, and inhuman, let them tell me I am bound by insensitive
social restrictions which make meaningful inter-sexual communi-
cation difficult. Let them tell me this is a kind of social role play-
ing whose abolition is long overdue, and that Sadie Hawkins is
alive and well in Conference House. Let them talk. You know and
I know that if a woman assumes partial responsibility for the
initiation of a relationship, she must also assume partial respon—
sibility for that first date and, God forbid, the second — and we
don’t want that, do we? It strikes me that even one Women’s
Weekend per semester is too much, especially for underclass-
women—perhaps we need a graduated system whereby freshman
ladies would have no Women’s Weekend, sophomores 1 per year,
juniors 1 per semester, and seniors whenever they happened to
feel mature and daring enough. In this way we could insure the
continuation of women’s inferiority, to the great relief of most
of our consciences

And despite the tremendous initial success of the Younkers
Experiment (which I believe was initiated by the SDS), despite
the fact that this natural and relaxed sexual integration seems
to have made the Grinnell social scene more comfortable and
normal, I believe this move foreshadows a breakdown of tradi-
tion which can only lead to increased immorality and perversion.
I call for a return to abnormalcy, and re-institution of campus
segregation, a resumption of feminine irresponsibility.

With luck and a little bit of medical assistance, the women
of Grinnell may survive this weekend. I only hope and pray
that they exercise caution and control, and that they consider
thi - to take initiative is to be human. And we don’t want that,
do we?

S. Prudence K. ’69

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APOLOGY

In last week's son the views of John
Gardner, Bill Thomas, and Carol sig-
mond were erronesously represented in

In article, Pollster: Examine Attitudes.
We would like to apologize for the un-
tah- presentation or their viewpoints. The
I do was intended ll) be humeluus and
we Iinccrely hope it was taken as such.

Cyclone? Applications lor these pasi»
[ions are now being acccpzed. interested
students Should contact Mr. Prescott us
soon as p ble. Screening of candidates
will take place soon after Spring Recess.

Friday, March 7, mo

talk of the town

by iredricka nelson

last week neil and i set out on a mom-
lhg walk that carried us a little way
physically, and a long way from here
in our minds. we started like children
down ille back alley and encoumered
Vanesa and geni‘ge cat. we passed the
lime ol day with them and then took a
right turn rhal lead us past me salon
oi mr. ielix, across commercial street,
then down the alley between old city
hall and the park hotel. the buildings
were distinguished in their day, but
have been evacuated, rejuvenated, re<
evacuated and lmally padlocked against
whatever youth might have the curiosi-
ty to make them live again.

city hall has old lire—truck doors that
seal up old engines that are still bright
red, and good to dream upon or re-
member. Santa used to come to the old
hall before he gol busy with the super-
market chains and street corner cir-
culls of holiday gaiety. the lines uf chil-
dren in the old station were always too
long when you arrived, but slowly they
would usher you to a redriaced and
plump masquerading saint where you got
a brown paper sack or apples, oranges
and hard candy. the station was cav-
emous—or you were so small a and
seemed to wind endlessly belore releas-
ing you into the december snows again;
there friends would divvy-up candy or
engage in a snowball battle, depending
on where mommy and daddy were.

neil and i spent some time peering
through those old doors and windows
on the side, trying to realize just exact—
ly what was lnslde. i spotted neon signs
along disconnected onesiadvertlsing a
business that’s new set up on broad
street in hum of the alley um runs past
the slauon. they showed you a cool
hamm’s or a frothy budweiser swimmlng
in pinks and bluesmil lights are set
glowing by age and memories. (?)
(we pondered thlngs like that on the
way).

the station was much too conspicuous
and we scuttled around its back corner
to the trough oi the rock island rail-
road. three sets ol track run through
town in that block, maybe even laur.
but the closest one to us was occupied
by two rusting hulks or railway history
from “not so long ago.“ one was a flat
Car and the umer appeared to have
been a caboose of unusual size. the flat
car was fine to crawl across and we did.
but when we arrived at the joiner and
look a look at that quaint caboose door
we were confronted by a firm padlock,
recently installed. we jumped down to
the ground alter that dismuraging find
and busiecl ourselves srrerchlng in see
what valuables were protected in me
flld our, most 0! the Windows were well
boarded over: excepting one which
showed us a glimpse or mung hoes and
a smuggling broom. hoes might be stolen

The Scarlet & Black

swam Nmprpu .6
Grin..." coll.“

Grinnell. low.

An independent new
paper published umkly,
except during holidays
and rkaimrion yerlOlls.
by the Emma“ Com.

a mum on serum ruru.
o (g curious. subscription
“mm rate $6.00 per school
uuor .
III-elm: Mar-m
ill-mp... [dlwl
Amer-l. mror
copy Bdltor . sum ANDREW
soon: :ohor . wol SNAKLEY
our haw-Illa mum Lmnlwlu
Cartoonkt . , . 'rllon :vmson
Reporter. ,. mm“. III-Idol.
um my“, many lull,
cum Frohllel, ml. Burl-let.
:4 mm. Molly Marv-In.
nun-rd sauna-u, Nonls 5mm

.susAN nun
nuc: $110M
Jru. mean
.1»er own:

and used as weapons by local street
gangs, but i wondered why the old broom
was locked away so securely.

as lar as i can see junk was and is
junk, which will always be junk, and
people are Sllly to be preclous about
mere carloads ol lL Ll'lat sland idly by
the railway; allerall, we can only pile
up more and more ol it at the rate we
are dlscarding all these objects. it
might happen that someday everydling
will be classified first, second or third
class junk — priced accordingly.

our trip didn’t result in a lervor to
“get rid of the garbage." we set out
to look at some thlngs that have charac-
ter. dirt and rust aren’t evils, as a mat-
ter Bf iacl, [heir accumulation is [he
only evidence that we have or our his-
tory. junk is glorious because it isn't
all alumlrum colored and shiny. every
piece of it that we found was special—
an object disassociated from its lunc-
lion, and made ornamental by that
divorce.

but enough excursioning for today.
lwlll close whh an apology to searchels
after the ephemeral Cecil king and wife.
last week i wrote that they would open
shop in march, but lo and behold
it is march and i haven’t been able to
reach them yer. have patience, readers,
l wlll keep you posted ol the opening
dare—the very week it happens. inch
dently, you can lry to call their resi-
dence before you go driving down there.
malcom is close enough ro grinnell nor
to need longorslance connections. the
number is in lhe yellow pages under
antiques.

with best wishes lor an early spring,
i. n.

Maril: Reiuvendle SGA

By LEE MARIL

A definite gulf exists between Student
Government and the students it sujr
posedly represents. But the question is
not whose fault this condition is but.
rather what can be done now. The sug<
gested abolishment of the Senate is not
a logical remedy and faintly smells, in
fact, of our most recent witch-hunt.

Instead ol abolishing Student Govern-
ment, should we not consider enlarging
Its lunction? Should We not consider mak-
ing student government a true govern-
ing body by and for the students, not
merely a service organization? The
basic foundation of such a structure
has already been laid; for example,
there are now numerous student posi»
Lions on faculty committees.

in order for the potential of Student
Government ro be realized many students
must become actively involved. Grin-
nell has always seemed to lack informed
and interested students; the mythical
involved student who participates in stu-
dent government remains a fictional part
of Grinnell life. It is up to the student
government to create interest and in-
volvement in student power, and it is up
to the student body to respond to these
attempts. Both the inability of the pre-
sent Student Governmem on arouse in-
terest pad, in turn, the student body’s
failure to respond are equally responsi-
ble ror or present situation.

The answer lies in Student Govern-
menl's ability lo stop feeling sorry in:
itself; wmmit itself to developing behel-
communication with the student body;
and devote itself to expanding its in-
tluenoe. A! the same time, “unified
students must give Student Government
a push in the right direction; they must
do more ’lhln vocalize their distrust and
hostility. But if this pm: is to like
the {arm 0! a witch-hunt, regardless or
who turns out to be the witch, then the
concern for a viable Student Government
best be allowed to die a natural death,