1 9
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
I*AGE'
1959 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGK
= wi^
raft Discusses 'Wide Window'
in
By CHARLES KOZOLL
I
Since he was three and a half
ears old, Michael Kraft has been
ivolved in some type of conflict.'
The earliest recollection of The
ally editorial director is at that
ge when he fought a childhood
;ponent and collected a black eye
r his efforts.
And while Mike firmly maintains
iat he is basically a "peaceful
.y," his opportunities to curl up
ith his pipe, read a good book
nd listen to Brahms have been
.ite few-due in many cases to
he nature of his entanglements.
Started in Sand
The first of these, writing, has
,cupied his time professionally
r six years. Editing his high
,hool newspaper and reporting
indlot baseball in Detroit were
[ike's first introduction to a jour-
alism career which has turned
ito a full-time, part-time occupa-
absorbing than what they are
actually doing."
Awareness is another benefit
Mike derives from interviewing
and producing copy on a wide
range of subjects. As reporter on
The Daily but more so as a "part-
time stringer" for United Press
International he was forced to
gain competence in different areas.
Talks in Morning
"I would spend my morning
talking to an economics professor
on the tax crisis in Michigan and
then drive down to the stadium
and help cover a football game,"
he remembered after over two
years of Ann Arbor reporting.
According to the majority of
the inhabitants of the Student
Publications Building, "Mike" is
a natural newspaperman and one
of the finest reporters around.
"He has the ability to dig for a
story and dig hard, which makes
him a good reporter," was the
observation of Daily Editor Rich-
ard Taub, '59.
"His reportial ability is height-
ened by his stubborness. Once he
gets an idea into his head, it is
virtually impossible to dislodge it.
He Really Digs
"This attitude makes him a good
searching and ! digging reporter,
but has certain drawbacks," the
editor-sociologist concluded.
The idea of awareness continues
for Mike in what could loosely be
termed another of his entangle-
ments Michael and University
education have come to grips at
various times.
Because he often spent more
time on perfecting the editorial
page and polishing his writing, his
grades often suffered. "But they
are only the University's form of
materialism," Mike rationalized. "I
keep telling myself this as finals
come closer but somehow.. ."
Despite Mike's seeming conflict
with the grading-standards, his re-
"Writing in general, not only
journalism, offers an extremely
wide window of life," the edit
director who is equally adept at
questioning a reticent football
coach or a huffing statesman
"Writing allows you to deal with
people and learn why they have
dedicated their lives to an occu-
pation. This 'why' is often more
JUST RETIRING-Mike Kraft, veteran of editorial wars, finds,
time to became peaceful after four years of Ann Arbor journalism.
COEDS:
Our hairstyling will en-
hance you. Our window
pictures are the latest
coiffures.
no appts. needed
The Dascolo Barbers
near Michigan theater
spect for education and its bene-
fits is quite strong. "The Univer-
sity's ability to make people aware
of what is going on in the world
is too often disregarded," he said.
"It is frightening to see students
walk away after four years at the
University and still seem unaware'
of what is going on in the world.
Too many feel that the biggest'
thing in life is whom they will go
out with or whether their frater-
nity will win the big prize in
Michigras."
Another disturbing phenomenon,
according to Kraftian philosophy,
is the world which, in people's
eyes, revolves around the Fishbowl.
Focus Needed
To Mike, who feels that a
grounding in the arts and science
is essential to any profession, the
University has enabled him to
learn about a great diversity of
subjects. "It's not that I was
focused on one particular area,
but rather gained some insights
into many," he added.
Focusing, Mike believes, should
come through majoring in one
field.
The desire for this wide range
orientation led Michael to switch
from an engineering to a liberal
arts curriculum and eventually, to
major in English. Searching for a
"wide window on life" led him to
writing, an endeavor which he
feels will be "more significant and
satisfying than being stifled by
engineering."
Entangled Againj
While Mike's involvement with
writing and education have occu-
pied most of the waking hours of
"normal people," his diversity has
allowed him to become entangled
in a third area.
Steadfastly vowing that "he who
travels alone travels fastest and
furthest in the newspaper game,"
Mike has been sidetracked and
slowed down by non-academic,'
non-journalistic endeavors.
Two members of the senior edi-
torial staff confided that they had
spent a total of 12 years listening
to "affairs of heart" which Michael'
was recovering from or involved
in.
Characterizing him romantically,
Dalt Cantor, '59, personnel direc-
Writing
tor, sighed that "Michael is just
Michael, there is not other word
for him."
Called Capable
Entangled in various respects
with being a professional journal-
ist since age 16, with obtaining a
complete college education and
with maintaining a usually half-
hour late social "schedule," Mike
was still foremost, according to his
editor and staff, The Daily's "enor-
mously imaginative and capable
editorial director."
Excluding the social side of his
life, Mike was able to bring ideas
o' awareness and sound writing
to his page during the past year.
"He handled what is probably the
hardest job on The Daily with a
great deal of ability," City Editor
John Weicher, '59, commented.
Two things which members of
the staff point to as improvements
are the brighter makeup of the
Sunday pages which were devoted
to a particular issue or problem.
Reflect Philosophy
Certain elements of his philos-
ophy were reflected in these inno-
vations. "The edit page should
point out that there are no walls
around the campus," Mike empha-
sized. He also pointed to the mes-
sage at the top of the page:
"Where opinions are free truth
will prevail" as another motto to
be kept in mind.
But because of his innovations
and his desire to obtain perfection
in some degree Mike ran into prob-
lems of time. According to a mem-
ber of the senior editorial staff,
Mike has "earned the undying
hatred of the shop crew because
of his often late pages."
Countering the charge of his
inefficiency, Mike, using a Bacon-
ian metaphor, - declared that "he
wanted to get his artillery zeroed
in as accurately as possible." Add-
ing a sour note, he pointed out
that "the next morning I some-
times got tie feeling that it was
one big dud."
Remains Optimistic
Despite feelings of failure Mike
maintains that he is "basically an
optimist. If I didn't feel that
things could be improved, I
wouldn't take the time to comment
on them," he commented.
"Commenting on things that I
felt needed emphasis held up my
page and made me miss a majority
of my suppers this year," Mike
mused as he thought back to num-
berless hamburger and pizza feasts.
"Probably it would have been
easier to slap some wire-service
copy into the page, and sometimes
I wondered if it wouldn't have been
a wiser thing to do."
Mike's association with Uni-
versity entanglements will end in
June when he will join United
Press International full time in
Washington or Detroit to make his
mark in journalism.
May Do Graduate Work
Pitting in occasional canoe trips
to "get away from it all" and
accumulating enough materialto
write some fiction, if he ever gets
the chance, should occupy Mike's
normal existence.
"Perhaps I will even return for
graduate work in political science
or economics and even teach," he
daydreamed. The goal for the pro-
fessional Kraft is to be a syndi-
cated columnist and still dabble in
fiction and playwriting.
In all cases, it is unlikely that
except for rare and infrequent
instances, Mike will ever have time
to be the "peaceful guy" curled
up with book, pipe and Brahms.
By JAMES BOW and
JOAN KAATZ
International students at the
University often follow religious
doctrines different from those
commonly found in the United
States.
Conflicts in observing their par-
ticular religious rites usually arise
more from the different calendar
of holidays which Americans ob-
serve than from social pressure
exerted.
Muslim students seem to have
some difficulties in observing the
fast preceding the holiday of
Ramadan, in strictly adhering to
their religious practices, and in
praying the required five times a
day, Abdean Jabara, treasurer of
the Muslim Students' Association,
explained.
Must Fast
Before the holiday of Ramadan,
Muslims must fast for a month.
This means the believer must not
eat, smoke or drink from sunrise
to sunset each day, but he may
partake immediately following
sunset and just before sunrise.
Students usually have trouble try-
ing to eat before sunrise, Jabara
explained, so many eat around 1
a.m. after they finish studying.
According to Islamic law, a Mus-
lim cannot be lax in fulfillment of
the five pillars of the faith. Ac-
tually there are no excuses for
laxity, Jabara said, but here social
mores allow laxity which often
produces conflict. In Islamic coun-
tries Islam plays an integral part
in the society, and for the most
part is recognized by the state.
A third problem arises in the
Islamic requirement of prayer five
times a day, he said. The obli-
gatory prayers make one stop in
the midst of worldly pursuits in
order to concentrate on the spirit-
ual; however, the student's daily
activities can interfere with this
prayer, he continued.
Can't Eat Pork
A Muslim is not allowed to eat
pork, Jabara said, but most stu-
dents do not have trouble follow-
ing this.
One of the religion's primary
problems is making people aware
that Islam is one of the three great
monotheistic religions, he con-
tinued. "Islam is second only to
Christianity in the number of peo-
ple that adhere to it."
About 30 international students
belong to the Eastern Orthodox
Church here in Ann Arbor, Paul
Ladas, '59L, said. Most of these
students come from Greece while
the rest represent the Ukraine,
Balkan countries, Lebanon and
Syria.
Holidays Conflict
The biggest problem these stu-
dents face is the different timing
of the Easter holiday, the biggest
religious celebration in the Eastern
Orthodox Church. Their Easter is
scheduled according to the Julian
instead of Gregorian calendar, and
consequently fell on May 3 this
year, Ladas explained.
An additional difficulty often
arises from observing the fast the
week before Easter, he said. Dur-
ing this time no one is supposed
to eat meat, while in Greece dur-
ing Lent the whole 40 days are
supposed to be meatless, he con-
tinued.
Members of St. Nicholas, the
local Eastern Orthodox parish,
have been very cordial to the inter-
national students, he said.
Must Keep Diet
Perhaps the greatest difficulty a
students confronts in observing his
religion on this campus is main-
taining a perfect vegetarian diet,
Prem Kishore Jain explained. This
diet means not even eating eggs,
he added, and this often is hard
because even bread contains some
egg.
It is possible that a problem
could occur from the religious re-
quirement of finishing the meal
before sunrise, he said, but "I don't
have trouble with this because I
live in my own apartment." Like-
wise, the fast during the rainy
season preceding Lord Mathavira's
birthday is easily kept in one's
apartment, Jam continued.
The Jain rule of absolute non-
violence cannot be kept fully in
Ann Arbor, Jain said, but he often
makes insects run away so he can
avoid killing them.
Complete meditation on a holi-
day is also required, he said, but
this is difficult to follow when one
must attend classes on those days.
Jain explained that he believed
many of those religious groups not
common to the United States
might be able to follow their rites
more closely if there was one com-
mon chapel for all sects on this
campus other than the rooms at
Lane Hall,
GRADUATIO N
PHOTOGRAPHS
We have the
CAPS and GOWNS
Paier tudid
Michigan Theatre Btdg.
521 East Liberty
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RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES:
'U' Students Follow Varying Beliefs
"How many cows did you pay
for your wife?"
A silly question to you, but not to some
people as you'll discover when you read
the amusing study of wedding and mar-
riage customs around the world. It's in
this week's Star Weekly. On sale all
week. Look for the BLUE COVER.
Good
Luck on your
k
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-. .
Examinations!
JOHN LEIDY
i
Phone NO 8-6779
9 601 East Liberty
f
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' $3
EXAMS will soon be here and over;
then you will be going home.
What is going to happen to YOUR
BICYCLE during the Summer?
We will store your bikes in Ann
Arbor; however, you must hurry since
we only have room for 400
NO 8-69724
STUDENT BIKE SHOP
1319 South University
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everyone {.
is wearing
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alai
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NOW
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STORE
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WINTER
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Returned fresh
o;-
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and clean
at the end
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STORE NOW-
PAY LATER
Ir- W-3 M."K