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 .rr. ~ *,4 r. ;. - . v.. i f .{ "Ail f j2 " v Fj " J8 T, 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 k -. . Examinations! JOHN LEIDY i Phone NO 8-6779 9 601 East Liberty f I , . . ..... .44.4 ' $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 tw } AN twtt"Nttt,?nl v't":. r. ::VMty,"{A"Mn""MVt'ri.1N1Yr6:"~.w rrw".rrr.u". _. . At :aawaw,:tr:wan: .":aw ..r:u.,w.+..,t".,:. -. , ' w"s: k{ .r.*.rowYr;m..,rv.Y~+tutt"n"~:"w..w.v.".".:: q s v. .aoexccscvwnua.nwvw naav. n:"x..,^Aw~"" ,, . tvw.vt r: A:r{N:x" .::':tCGn^.f{"'ii;:}FY+CilY1rr:{tA:::V:x '" 'xw r~.vv:?. rv w.vtn .: "rRr.K ':3N#Jftt+:.t 6{{:ccfi rh3%v; :e"s+: u""tM trw.":. .t. r t>:"%gtrw+.+neasx~r,{+.:,b .w~sossa:u.Y.:"::{::x:,,.;.v:: ."w.w«. .v..ttw..,.Y,,...wY.,,tYx":s.{nrrw"xrr.~AO .,.r::aY:u::.": s": "".,::;;:.: . .. ..+,"eN.MttCtYM+.it?,"ttltv.AYi.XFMtVNPVX \'SA'Miri: .. ..sw. r '.n " W .MnNV w.YNM"x "A tV""w ,rY+.Y. "~ ++ tkAty,.. nn t:d': AA::":":ttr ::Y.MW1 l everyone {. is wearing bermuda shorts ...the coolest, sleekest way to spend a carefree summerl here, three from our collection of woven cottonn .nds vndn striv*t tine n.n e trints alai /9 p p , pgg ppy- p-rri r . top: red, blue or green jumbo block plaid tarpoon cloth; self-belted. 10 to 16 sizes. 7.98 left: exotic blue or gold paisley print with matching belt. 8 to 16 sizes. 8.98 right: vibrant blue, gold, grey, red or brown stripes; self- belt. 10 to 16 sizes. 7.98 :;t X44 's -. .. a . A. NOW is the time to STORE your WINTER GARMENTS Returned fresh o;- /r 4i'i and clean at the end of the season. STORE NOW- PAY LATER Ir- W-3 M."K