117i y 1101/116{O II IS -LO l11"Q -1-1I I-I-U" Ld-
Page 6-Sunday, December 10, 1978-The Michigan Dpily
7S
America re-thought,
relfected through the
Conversations i
By Barbara Abels
n aine
do a 0 0 They have worked within the left during
the labor movement, the Marxist
movement, and through the
technological revolution after World
War II. They worked on the left when
public was not officially admitted by the will refuse to cooperate with the tinhi 1.n t'S-
agency. "Assist in making introductions agency in covert recruitment if th'*AV ru" e
for intelligence purposes" means the of their jnvnl,'°" -'
covert recruitment of foreign studen~t- cefsuyn nA eirr ^ ec u trs
turn er Says the I ecutsIOeg te
in S OCAmL p CIA':S Ca bfe
C eKols fact I'rmengnc
esu'tSwh?Wi~ttee the Son Us
-t fleA e 4s ret CIA, acti;.td ts 1976&
censor thrdh)C ~ td
cj n ittL~ t ~ ~ h e tdt
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1
CONVERSATIONS IN MAINE:
EXPLORING OUR
NATION'S FUTURE
By James and Grace Lee Goggs, and
Freddy and Lyman Paine
South End Press
299 pp. $4.80
T ODAY IN THE United States of
America time seems to fly. His-
tory seems to collapse into the present.
Be here now. Practice tends to win over
theory. Things we can feel, see, taste,
swallow, and wear, dominate ideas,
values, and ethics, the whys and the
wherefores. Food is a commodity. We
Barbara A bels is a member of
the Political Directions Collective.
buy it at a store and never perceive that
it was grown, raised, packaged, tran-
sported, refined, and stocked, by the
energy of many people. Community has
been replaced by network. Love is
taken to be a sexual act. We see politics
as manipulation by people in power,
separate from our day to day lives. We
appear to be living a life without depth:
But history is a developing relation-
ship. At special times in the history of
humanity, when life development and
process seem to be at a standstill, a few
people begin to develop and share new
ideas. They are ideas that have been
developed from historial situations.
They are true, profound, and have the
ability to burst through the appearance
of depthlessness and move us into the
future. The shared thoughts, feelings,
and ideas expressed in the book Con-
versations in Maine: Exoloring Our
Nation's Future are such ideas.
Conversations in Maine by Freddy
and Lyman Paine, and James and
Grace Lee Boggs is a collection of
essay/discussions that took place bet-
ween the four in Maine during the
summers of 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1974.
They are exciting insightful discussions
that reach into what it means to be an
American today in 1978.
Freddy and Lyman Paine, and James
and Grace Boggs have spent most of
their adult lives on the political left.
they took giant steps into civil rights
and black natonalism, anti-war and the
women's movement, all movements
designed to raise questious of human
relations; that is, to put moral and
ethical decision-making above efficien-
cy, money, business. The Paine: and
Boggs have (and had) grown with
every step they took. And as the reader
sees in Conversations in Maine, they
were able to take their experiences and
the experience of Americans as a whole,
and look at them in a new-light.
In Conversations in Maine the Boggs
and Paines begin at the beginning.
See CONVERSATIONS, Page 8
Turner- and the CIA fight U
SCi-Fi illuminates authors'
albedo
STRANGE WINE
By Harlan Ellison
Harper & Row
262 pp., $9.95
and
THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS
By Frederik Pohl
Ballantine Books
312 pp., $8.95
F REDERIK POHL and Harlan Ellison have a
lot in common. Each author has won a slew of
Hugos and Nebulas (the most prestigious awards in
science fiction) and each is an exemplary figure of
SF from decades past - Ellison a major writer of
the 60s, Pohl preceding him in the 50s. They have
By Bill Barbour
been good friends for several years. Most
importantly, both have recently written books
which show neither has lost his way with words.
Strange Wine, by Ellison, is a collection of fifteen
never-before-anthologized stories of speculative
fiction. At their best, Ellison's stories put the
reader through an emotional wringer, leaving him
or -her drained. At their worst, they read like the
tantrums of an over-hyped iconoclast. Fortunately,
the good stories outnumber the bad in this anthology
with three that deserve a place among the author's
b e st..th o -
"Croation," the first of these, is a pathos-filled
account of a carelessly promiscuous man who
meets his destiny in the sewers of a city. The story's
powerful ending is not easy to forget. "Lonely
Women Are the Vessels of Time, =another
outstanding piece, is Ellison's insight into the
single's scene and the special kind of loneliness
peculiar to it. Early in the story, he sums up,
through the persona of his protagonist, what the bar
scene is all about.
The last of these elite works is "The New York
Review of Bird," in which the author brings to life
Cordwainer Bird, a professional pseudonym he
reserved for his stories that had been mangled by
insensitive editors. -Bird leads the reader on a
joyous romp through New York City as he quests to
destroy the "New York Literary Establishment" he
despises.
Each story in the collection is preceded by a short
introduction, in which Ellison tells the
circumstances under which the story was written.
In addition, at the beginning of the book is amore
formal introduction, which is a diatribe of
television. It is obvious that in the years since the
author wrote The Glass Teat, a highly critical
television column, he has grown more and more
distrustful of the medium.
Bill Barbour is a member of tfie Iaily arts stff
Strange Wine is essential for several reasons. The
aforementioned introductions, in addition to
breaking up the fiction pieces, give telling insights
into the author's personality. The stories, even the
worst of them, are attractive and magnetic. Most
importantly, Strange Wine re-establishes Harlan
Ellison as a true master of the short speculative
story.
In a somewhat different vein is Frederik Pohl's
The Way the Future Was. This book is an
autobiography which traces the author's
involvement in science fiction from his days as a fan
in the 30s to his thriving writing career of the 70s.
Ideally, it should be cathartic and purgative; in
fact, it falls a little short of these goals, but is,
nonetheless, enjoyable.
See SCI-FI, Page 8
A.
W HEN THE Director of Central
Intelligence Stansfield Turner
invited University President
Ro ben Fleming, along with as yet an
undisclosed number of other college
presidents, to come to CIA
headquarters last June, he had one goal
in mind-stop the University from
adopting guidelines which would
restrict the Agency's covert activities
on campus.
a The University of Michigan is just
one of more than 40 colleges which have
either adopted or are considering
guidelines that would prohibit
government intelligence agencies such
as the CIA from using professors,
administrators, or anyone else as a
covert agent on campus.
The June meeting at the Agency
headquarters in Langley, Virginia,
which Fleming was unable to attend
due to a conflict in his schedule, was the
second in a series of three day-long
seminars wherein the "common
interests" of the CIA and academics
were discussed.
It is generally believed the purpose of
these seminars is to protect what is
perhaps the CIA's most sensitive
domestic program-the recruitment of
foreign nationals on Ameican college
campuses for the Agency's clandestine
service.
In a heavily CIA-censored section of
the final report to the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence Activities,
the Agency admitted to "using several
hundred American academics
(administrators, faculty members, and
graduate students engaged in
teaching), who in addition to providing
leads and sometimes making
introductions for intelligence purposes,
occasionally write books and other
material to be used for propaganda
purpose abroad."
The report went on to state that these
academics are located on more than 100
American colleges, universities, and
related institutes and that generally no
one, besides the individuals involved, is
aware that a CIA link exists.
Rene Becker is the Daily editorial
director.
seem obvio
Universities move to blockpe
requests th
covert activitiesoncm u ifteis
The CIA
f ~answer, wi
confirming
records exi
By Rene Beckera"een
University
fifth high
students in
A simik
Of particular interest to the CIA was, Weissman learned recently that he several of
according to the report, obtaining leads was the subject of a five-year CIA Columbia
on "political foreign intelligent sources, investigation to determine his eligibilty Dickenson
especially those from communist for the Agency's clandestine service. California
countries." The Committee noted that The Agency considered using filing gr
American academics provide "valuble Weissman as a covert CIA agent at the institution
assistance" in making those contacts. Seventh World Youth Festival in against t
The Intelligence Committee's report Vienna in 1959. Agency's r
sparked two reactions. In addition to The most noteworthy aspect of this deny that a
the thousands of requests for personal investigation is the fact that Weissman Gardels
files under the newly expanded never applied for CIA employment and . result, his
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), that he was not aware that he was being case upon
the CIA received requests for all files investigated. Weissman was never set. The (
within the Agency indexed under the contacted by the CIA. others, w
titles of more than 80 colleges. Also, a Columbia
number of universities began to discuss UT AS THE CIA released more operated n
adopting guidelines which would and more documents, the reve- by the Ami
prevent the type of covert activities lations became more and more The lav
outlined in the Senate report. spectacular. As a result of an FOIA requests b
The trendsetter in this case was request by Nathan Gardels, a the likelihc
Harvard University. In May, 1977, University of California graduate growing r
Harvard became the first American student in political science, the CIA guidelines
university to adopt guidelines. released documents which proved that in the CIA.
As with Harvard, the key to all former UC Vice-President Earl Bolton The CIA
guidelines either adopted or served a tour of duty with the CIA when major off
considered, is the prohibition of covert he was an administrator at the restrict
recruiting-an activity the University university system. campuses
of Michigan Civil Liberties Board has The documents revealed that Bolton Spearheac
called "a particularly pernicious advised the CIA on student unrest, Director T
practice." recruiting UC students, academic Turner
The CIA's covert recruitment cover for professors doing research for visible d
program came to light through one of the CIA, and improving the Agency's assuming
those thousands of FOIA requests public image on campus. more thar
submitted after the Senate Select Despite these revelations, the CIA a variety
Committee hearings. would not release any evidence which business g
Gary Weissman was a student at the confirmed the much touted theory that audiences
University of -Wisconsin in the late the CIA used its campus contacts to the Amer
1950s. He served as president of the recruit foreign nationals for its Editors, 7
Wisconsin Student Association in 1959 clandestine service. decade h
and after graduation was mildly active The schools with large foreign intelliger
in the ant-Vietnam war movement, student enrollments, where it would
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