Page 2-Sunday, November 12, 1978-The Michigan Daily
RAMBLINGS/sue warner
The Michigan Daily-Sunday, Noverr
IWAS IN Georgia several years ago
and nonchalantly informed an
inquisitive gas station attendant that I
was from Detroit.
"Murder City!" exclaimed the wide-
eyed youth.
"Yeah," I said with a calculated
shrug, "it ain't so bad."
I could tell he was impressed. Un-
doubtedly he pictured me staving off
robbers, rapists, and murderers with a
baseball bat while going about my
business in the heart of Murder City.
I'm sure he thought I was extremely
"cool."
I must, however, confess that I stret-
ched the truth a wee bit. To be com-
pletely correct, I should have said I was
from the Detroit area, but I guess I just
got, caught up in the excitement of the
moment. I couldn't help myself.
You see, it's boring to be from subur-
bia, which is my true home. I am ac-
tually from Dearborn, Michigan - a
five-minute drive from Detroit which
may as well be a five-hour flight.
Frankly, I have no idea what it's like to
be from Detroit. I seriously doubt I
could find the Cass Corridor even if I
wanted to. And I have no idea where, or
what, the "New Center" area is.
Yet like so many other suburbanites I
like to pretend that I am in some way
part of Detroit. There is an adventurous
flavor intertwined in the city's
mystique. And those of us who were
raised with car pools and cocker
spaniels feel we have missed
something. So, we make the most of our
tenuous ties to the city and bore
acquaintances with stories of our down-
town escapades. Stories of subur-
banites' encounters with the Detroit
Police Department; either drag-racing
on Woodward or annoying prostitutes
are plentiful these days.
Perhaps the most tedious per-
petrators of this fraud are those who ac-
tually did live in Detroit at some point
in their lives. For example, an in-
dividual may have moved to suburbia
when he was around six years of
age, but have retained a surprisingly
vivid memory of desperate poverty, in-
sufferable racial tensions, and the
Supremes.
B UT REGARDLESS of one's back-
ground, nearly everyone can
exaggerate their experiences in
Detroit. I often pretend that I have4
some sort of comprehension of Detroit's
ethnic purity. However, I have never
been to Hamtramck and certainly, I've
never spent much time on 12th and
Clairmont. My ethnic experience in
Detroit centers primarily on family
visits to Riverfront ethnic festivals
where we would eat kielbasa or
baklava, watch some hyphenated-
American children dance, then pile in
the LTD and head home.
In order for any city to survive, it
needs economic stimulation which we
self-righteous suburbanites fancy we
supply Detroit. As a child, I made the
annual pilgrimage to Hudson's San-
taland where I would marvel at snow
that didn't melt and the Santa Claus
who was black. After I told Santa what
presents I expected Mom and Dad
would usher me down the aisles and out
the revolving door. Later, the "real"
Santa would slip off to Westland where
there was a heavy trade in Milton
Bradley.
My mother often voices the suburban
appreciation for Detroit's cultural ad-
vantages. Any family discussion of art
eventually culminates in praise of the
automotive-oriented Rivera frescoes
and my mother's observation that
"we" are so lucky to have such a fine
art institute here in Detroit (of all
places!). But the last time Mom and I
visited the museum, I was a member of
Brownie troop No. 386 and she was our
leader.
In later years, I became interested in
the music of Detroit. No, I did not
frequent jazz clubs, but I did catch
Elton John at Olympia and Bob Seger
at Cobo. Ironically, even musicians
seem to have fled to the suburbs and
are now more likely to appear at Pine
Knob or the Pontiac Silverdome -
which also serves as the home of the
Detroit Lions and the Detroit Pistons.
Perhaps the most integral component
of Detroit's makeup is the auto industry
which also evokes its share of feigned
familiarity. Everybody thinks they
know just who Henry will promote or
where AMC will build and they
speculate hour after hour. Meanwhile,
the companies are so big that high-level
promotions have relatively little effect
on the average employee, but, like the
city, we want to personalize them
somehow.
Of course, there's no real harm in
suburbanites enjoying the tourist-type
pleasures of Detroit. The danger arises,
however, when these rather superficial
experiences are taken to represent the
city and its problems in their entirety.
I
m
sunday mIngazine FiirnSiic PLIZZLE
I-I-
A 14 2 15 F 16
35 R 36 N 37
56 K 57 58 R 59
N 79 K 30' 1
s 17'I 181
T 380 39
I
19 {B
20
E 004
Gi 55
F 77V 78
K 100 D 101
122 123
r 60 L 61 ,
z 8z v 3
W107
J 62 F 63
F 85 N 86
MW 108
S 12
J 103'
R15146V1471
J 104 D 105 F 106
C 126 P 127 V 128
K 148 L149
A 169 J 170 H 171
H 191 J 192 U 193,
T 129 K 130 W 131
M 150 R 151 W 152
166 1 1671
168
186 K 187
H 198 N 189 C 190
BY
S TEPHEN J.
POZSGAI
Copyright 1978
INSTRUCTIONS
Guess the words defined at the
left and write them in over
their numbered dashes. Then,
transfer each letter to the cor-
responding numbered square
in the grid above. The letters
printed in the upper-right-hand
corners of the squares indi-
cate from what clue-word a
particular square's letter
comes from. The grid, when
filled in, should read as a
quotation from a published
work. The darkened squares
are the spaces between words.
Some words may carry over
to the next line. Meanwhile,
the first letter of each guessed
word at the left, reading down,
forms an acrostic, giving the
author's name and 'the title of
the work from which the quote
is extracted. As words and
phrases begin to form in the
grid, you can work back and
forth from clues to grid until
the puzzle is complete.
Answer to previous puzzle
Each new epoch enters upon
its . career by waging
unrelenting war upon the
aesthetic gods of its immediate
predecessor. Yet the
culminating fact of conscious
rational life refuses to
conceive itself as a transient
enjoyment, transiently useful.
(Alfred N.) WhiteheadI
Process and Reality
Schlesinger in defense of Bo
A. Film industry gamble_
28 169 138 94 14
B. Degenerate gamblers' dreams _
turn into this 12 20 174 24 119
C. Popular casino betting-
circle 3175 67 84 91 99 1608117 158 126 139 142
(2 words) 9
190
D. Infringe; permeate; raid
22 167 95 105 134 101
E. Instrument for indicating-
electrical resistance 2 54 40 122 58 81 96 9
F. Posteboards_
(2 words) 85 16 34 98 106 143 164 116 77 153 181 178
G. Share of the Universe that
Hades won in the first crap _ _._ _ - _ - ! _
game ever(Greekmyth) 50 32 42 55 112 173 133 184 156 87
H. Moves with a loud low_
hum or buzz 171 166 183 188 113
. Periodic table element with _
atomicnumbereight 6 64 19 132 146 72
J. Beach landing credited with reversing-
the tide of the Korean war 31 62 103154 170 192
K.Commoncomplaintof people -
under stressor seeking 25 .27 51 57 70 '80 130 100 110 179 148 187
pain relief
(2words) 115 141 18
L. Casino manager's
.second-in-command (2 words)
M. "-spirits"-cheerful;
lively (2 words)
N. Builder of the Flamingo Hotel
Bugsy Siegel who asked to be
paid at the end of every
working day (Full name)
0. Vespers
1 52 162 89 149 61 137 144 165
65 71 109 191 33 150
37 86 97 69 79 29 189
4 23 41 45 68 155 163 186
ROBERT KENNEDY AND HIS TIMES
By Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Houghton Mifflin Company
1066 pp. $19.95
"The year 1961 was a damned long time ago.
For perhaps the /ast time in their h7story, it was
possiblefor A mericans to feel as if the world were
young and all dreams within grasp. "
Arthur Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and
, His Times
W E ARE NOW NEARLY into the 1980s,
living in what Tom Wolfe has called the "me
decade," characterized by tax revolts, "small is
beautiful," and the "job generation." The spirit
surrounding the coming of the Kennedys in 1961
(and the enusing era) somehow seems quite foreign
to today's young adults, although we are a product
of that generation. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s book
Robert Kennedy and His Times was written to
resurrect and communicate the spirit of that
bygone time period. Schlesinger sees Kennedy as a
"representative man . . . one who embodies the
consciousness of an epoch, who perceives things in
fresh lights and new connections, who exhibits
unsuspected possibilities of purpose and action to
his contemporaries. "
Underlying these themes is Schlesinger's
unstated purpose of using this biography to
challenge the rampant historical revisionism
surrounding the Kennedys, epitimozed by David
Halberstam's Vietnam classic, The Best and the
Brightest. This type of reevaluation is actually a
more factual examination of events, to put the
Kennedys in proper historical perspective, devoid
of the emotions that pervaded earlier works about
them.-
Schlesinger's book benefits from his unlimited
access to the private papers of RFK and the entire
Kennedy family. Initially, he uses this minutely
detailed documentation to portray RFK's youth as
Dan Weiss is a member of the Daily Arts
staff
By Dan Weiss
P. New York State operation r gis 5a4 7 2-
suspended because of irregularities 5 63 46 140 73 127 157
Q. Dreadfulness; impressive
solemnity
R. Good marksman
S. Swears affirmatively
(2 words)
T. Quite; sufficient
U. Britain and America's
leading industry
V. Loathe fresh killed game
(2 words)
W. Biggest casino money maker
(2 words)
15 44 90 114 136 161 177 124 135
10 11 36 48 145 59 76 88 121 125 151 176
13 49 17 75 102 123 93
8 38 66 127 26 82
21 39 182 168 104 159 180 193
18 35 47 60 74 78 83 92 111 118 128 147
7 30 43 53107 56 120 131 152 160 172
that of an unassuming, rather ordinary child, living
in the shadows cast by his older brothers Joe and
Jack. RFK desperately sought approval from his
father by trying to measure up to the man's
standards of self-reliance and toughness. In these
chapters, Schlesinger belabors his case by
including such irrelevant documents as RFK's
letters to his father about the circus. Throughout the
book, Schlesinger seems to use his numerous
sources to flaunt his mastery and knowledge of the
Kennedy story.
Schlesinger uses his access to previously
unpublished papers to create an illusion of
objectivity. He systematically explains,
exonerates, and "proves" RFK's innocent intent for
nearly every misdeed committed by RFK in his
public life. For example, although RFK was not
involved in the character assassination aspect of
Senator Joseph McCarthy's reckless pursuit of the
ever-elusive communist conspiracy, RFK's search
for Communist threads within the shipping
industry, during his tenure as committee counsel for
McCarthy, was rife with paranoia and fanatic zeal.
Schlesinger excuses RFK's participation in one of
the most sordid periods of American history with a
quote from RFK stating his belief that at the time
McCarthy was the only one doing anything about
the so called "internal security threat." Schlesinger
furthers his pardon of RFK with a simplistic,
rationalizing description of McCarthy as an
"affable fellow. '. who did not expect his victims to
take it personally." Schlesinger tries to turn RFK's
following of the Pied Piper of Demagoguery into a
positive trait, as Schlesinger relates that it showed
RFK's "great capacity for the underdog."
Schlesinger proceeds along this search and
destroy mission for every
RFK's actions during his va
predominantly on his pre-Sei
RFK's single-minded pur;
during RFK's days as chief
Rackets Committee by clai
abuses were due more t
vindictiveness (never mind
long effort to jail Hoffa).
RFK's zealous attempts to o'
Castro's regime in Cuba du
claiming that at least h
participate in the planning
the CIA and the Mafia.
About the Kennedys and
says very little, except to a
doubts about the Unite
commitment to South Vietna
withdraw U.S. troops afte
Schlesinger ignores the actio
the military bureaucracy a
fatal path of escalation. Hov
proficient in portraying RFK
Lyndon Johnson's war policy
RFK's numerous, often tr:
director J. Edgar Hoover
whipping boy) are docui
demonstrate RFK's notoriou
with evil-doers, even if they a
own administration.
What Schlesinger describe
from history is often his
defenses of RFK's transgre
Despite his research, Schlesi
historical, academic biograp
pervasive, "in defense of Bob
Despite its academic fa
friendship with RFK enables
personal memoir. As the boc
flushes out more and more a
multi-dimensional personalil
getting to know the man.
chapters dealing with the
See KENNEDY,