The Michigan Daily-Sunday, Page 2 Sunday, April 8, 1979-The Michigan Daily RAMLINGS/ron gifford HAVE YOU ever wondered why people do really inane things? Take applauding at the end of a movie, for example. Why would anybody do such a thing? One ex- planation is that members of the audience so disliked the movie that they're clapping because it's over. If that's the case, however, why didn't they just leave in the middle? Not only would that have been a more powerful social statement, it would also have saved them money on popcorn. Of course, they may have been clap- ping because they liked the film. So? The actors sure as hell aren't going to hear the applause, because, as far as I know, the theaters don't record it and mail it to them. "Oh, Mr. Allen, here's the applause from the Angell Hall showing of Love and Death. Not as good as Annie Hall, but better than Bananas." "Well," says Mr. Film Lover, "my applause is a sign of my appreciation of fine art." Oh really? And do you ap- plaud everytime you see a painting by Renoir or Van Gogh? Absolutely not. That's totally unreasonable, you argue. Yet why is it acceptable for a movie audience to ap-' plaud the celluloid gods? It is for no reason other than social norm. Sometime, somewhere in the history of film, "Society" deemed it acceptable to clap in the theater. And so, without knowing why, you've applauded nearly every movie you've seen since childhood. Going to the Hash Bash for no other reason than to go is another example of this "Gosh, I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm here" attitude. We all know why the high school kids go to it. In or- der to understand, revert back to your own high school days, when secretly drinking a six-pack during lunch was cool and smoking a joint was the ultimate. The Hash Bash is a great way for pimply-and-peach-fuzz-covered kids to meet pimply-and-mascara-covered kids, who then get high together and, become "mature." If you're in college here, and go just to watch the high school kids make asses of themselves, then you have a good reason for being on the Diag. I personally enjoy watching the kids, and to bring back the fond memory of my first public beer. But what about the other people, the bookworms and pre-meddies who never smoke pot and who aren't even there to watch the spectacle? Why do they go? "Well, if I went, then all my friends at home would be really impressed with one," one nerd, ah, engineer told me. Oh, come on, now. I mean, really, how much prestige can a person acquire by standing on the 'M' surrounded by 17- year-olds drinking-warm beer and smoking crummy dope? Who do these members of the so-called intelligentsia go? They have no desire to get stoned, the atmosphere repulses them, and they find the people nauseating. Yet they go to the Hash Bash, not because they want to, but because they are expected to go. The "social conscious" of this University dictates that you must patronize the Diag on April 1 or you're "not with it." This follow-the-leader at- titude pervades more areas than just the Diag. C ONSIDER THE social phenomenon that occurs in elevators. On the second floor of a seventy-floor building nine people walk into the elevator. Six- ty-nine floors higher, nine people with stiff necks who cannot lower their heads leave the lift. Why? They all stared at the little numbers above the door instead of acting sociable and looking at each other. What would hap- pen to our society if someone decided to design elevators without those num- bers? If you defy the norm and look around the elevator as it ascends, people will react as if you've just walked into their bedroom in the middle of the .night. Women will scream, men will threaten you, and little children will cry. Well, maybe they won't react that violently, but you get the point. Of course, if you really want to blow their minds, start singing the "Hanes makes you feel good all under" song. At least three people will leave the elevator before their proper floor. The Elevator Rule of Avoided Eye Contact also applies to crowded establishments like MacDonald's or Burger King. Oh, it's okay to scan the place once to look for friends or possible FBI agents, but after that, you must stick to looking at the menu or get dirty looks from people. Well, after the Hash Bash not too many people followed the rule, but that was probably because the munchies transcend traditional social behavior. Unfortunately, very few other things do. Like Pavlov's dogs, we are con- ditioned to accept everything we are told, whether it means applauding a movie, staring at little elevator num- bers, or standing in line all over cam- pus to make it through school here. We human beings aren't the only ones who do totally inane things for no ap- parent reason, however. Even the Creator does unexplainable things. Think about it for awhile. Have you ever wondered what eyebrows are for? Why is John Baker at Plymouth Cent By Mary Gaitskill sunda, iagazine iCRUSTIC PUZZLE M C G G D V N 1 L 1 0 13 r 3 J F 3 L 36 F ' 5 V 5 H 59t L R B 81 V R S N 84t A13 0 131J13 T133 H 154 , 15 N 15 T 15 D 158 14 I T 3? R u 60 I N 86 I 87 0 111 F 49 IA 112 D 17 L 17R 179 A. Radiation produced by electrically charged subatomic particles travelling through water faster than light does B. Reflex: mechanical C. Place; locality D. Key to measuring relative motion (2 words) E. Passion F. State of the frequency of light from an object moving away G. Welsh competitive arts festival H. English scientist (1642.1727), who invented concept of gravity (Full Name) I. Pulsar (2 words) J. Physical reality determinable by a four-dimensional coordinate system (Comp.) K. Hypothesized faster-than-light particles never found L. Passage of a fluid outwards through a propous septum 5 1112 72 124 196 99 163 89 27 42 46 48 81 107 171 203 117 7 66 162 185 205 - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 22 111 158 136 141 148 172 13 91 176 71 191 2 94 25 47 123 156 212 23 76 35 68 56 88 100 126 147 169 9 57 65 75 95 175 181 115 138 194 8 59 74 86 113 134 143 21 154 166 193 15 73 49 87 98.101 108 125 140 153 189 165 5 3 61 132 160 198 106 218 29 192 62 18 55 97 204 184 19 177 12 3 36 45 64 80 139 M. Something identical with something else in form or structure N. Danish physicist who applied quantum theory to atomic spectra (Full Name) 0. Originator of the theory that black holes are worm and capable of exploding (Full Name) P. Insufficiently baked Q. Type of health camp R. Illuminative S. Action of rendering invalid T. Element with atomic number 99 U. Object customarily used to represent space in a curved space analogy (2 words) V. Now discredited osmological rival theory to the Big Bang (2 words) W. Quality of being coarse, dull, unrefined 14 146 121 137 127 92 6 69 11 84 156 167 190 32 161 182 216 BY STEPHEN J. POZSGAI Copyright 1979 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 64 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: "The more a person con- centrates on feeling genuinely, rather than on the objective content of what is felt, the more sub- jectivity becomes an end in itself, the less expressive he can be. Under conditions of self-absorption the mnomen - tary disclosures of self become amorphous. (Richard) Sennett, The Fall of Public Mana OHN BAKER has spent half of his 22 years incarcerated in the Ply- mouth Center for Human Development, a home for the retarded. According to Baker's record, he was committed because he was not receiving schooling and because his mother had a "serious drinking problem" and could not adequately care for her five children. But John Baker, whose badly crippled legs con- fine him to a wheelchair, doesn't believe he is retarded. He feels his placement in Plymouth was a terrible mistake, and he's angry about his con- tinued confinement there. It's difficult for a layperson to judge whether or not a person's intelligence is "normal." But even if I hadn't seen the record, or talked to thehauthorities at Plymouth, I would not have believed John to be retarded. He was just too sensitive, too receptive to subtleties in behavior. For example, when introduced to me, he quickly picked up my awkwardness at meeting him. Instead of' becoming uncomfortable or annoyed, he tried to reassure me. "You feel shy, don't you?" he said. "Let's just relax and listen to the music for awhile, and then you can ask me anything you want." Plymouth Center became notorious last February when the Detroit Free Press did an expose on the incompeten- ce and child abuse going on there. Plymouth has been suffering upheavals since then: First, a series of in- vestigations, court hearings, then the mass firings of abusive staff and resignation of some administrative of- ficials. Many new staffers and ad- ministrative people have been hired, some of whom have filled newly- created departments to handle patient rights and placement services. One resident is easy to overlook during such massive bureaucratic changeovers. But John does not intend to be overlooked. He feels his placement in Plymouth was wrong, and he's angry about his continued con- finement. He wants to be given a chan- ce to have "a normal life in the com- munity." Interviews and investigation suppor- ted his claims. Virtually everyone con- tacted at Plymouth, from volunteer staff to placement officials, agreed that he should be placed out. Officials also agreed that he hasn't been released because there's just no plac6 for someone with his particular background and problems to go. His medical record states that he is not retarded. Through some 11 years of case conferences, social workers and doctors have repeatedly, on the record, recommended that Baker be trained and placed in the community. Yet it hasn't happened. ;Jjw did sgumesne like John get.p aced. ;Varo kai sall4 5 d u n j1ig in Plymouth? Why is he staying there? A spokesman for the Michigan Association for the Protection of Retar- ded Citizens, who has investigated in- stitutions nationally, said John is not unique. According to him, there are people with average intelligence misplaced in homes for the retarded all over the country. An interview with a Special Education teacher and a look at John's file supported his opinion. John seems to have been committed very easily, and it's apparently going to be tough to place him out. As John tells it, he was committed when he was 11, after a social worker made several visits to his mother when he lived with her in Detroit. He said he was told by the staff that he was only there to learn how to walk. When his mother died of cancer -(his father had died just before he was committed), he realized he wasn't going home. "I don't remember why they said they were going to keep me there," he said, "I was too upset to pay attention to what was going on. I cried for six days. I couldn't eat or talk to anyone." John's record bears out his story. It states that he was receiving no schooling and inadequate care in an impoverished home that he shared with five other children. The record describes his mother as in "poor health," with a "serious drinking problem," and says that she was not able to take care of John physically. A social worker noted that John should have a teacher to come to his house and work with him, but the school system in his area was not able to provide this. After scoring low on his first IQ test, he was declared "mildly retarded," and it was ultimately recommended that he be placed in Plymouth. These original records seemed to ignore John's cultural disadvantages. Developmental psychologists generally agree now that a child who has never been in school, who is unable to walk around and explore life for himself, and whose mother is unable to give him proper care, will not do well on a stan- dard IQ test. Caseworkers, in notes from a con- ference later that year, were beginning to think more about these cultural fac- tors. Then, social workers noted: "It seems likely that these scores are the result of educational and social deprivation rather than retarded in- tellectual ability." It was recommen- ded that John be "taught a useful trade," and stated that "he should be able to adjust to living outside an in- stitutional setting." - By 1975, the record read differently than it had originally, John had taken another IQ test. This time his score was normal. He was described in the report as "a well-spoken young gentleman; " it was urged that he be trained and placed out. On the psychological section of the report, a social worker recorded John's anger and hurt at being separated from his family and confined. He mentioned that John had developed a "low self- image," and that he desperately missed a family setting. One caseworker wrote in the file, "It's time to stop and ask some questions. Since the opinion of retar- dation due to cultural deprivation was 1ather widely supported from the start, why was initial contact not made with a community facility which would've suited John's community o provide an educ ESPIT] dations remain was not taugh cording to soci and program there is simply They cite his p greatest proble one group hon retarded hand they don't see home as the ul - they feel he's tment with a r him placed in o adjust to outsid living skills, sup doesn't have ne Verosko says and are still ex contact to find they are "all i they want to ma that where he g Aulds said t they thought t John, and deci because it was area. "John's 1 she said. "He very vulnerabl tage of." This descrip mentioned. 1H anyone suggest refused to mc crowded and fi] See B 17 30 521 131 63 85 104 135 96 24 149 16 197 4 180 20 105 122 26 168 144 207 187 44 151 77 208 201 103 16 38 67 78 109 116 170 178 183 214 202 142 31 200 40 213 209 83 33 37 79 110 118 129 133 174 195 211 157 28 60 41 54 90 102 128 119 179 188 206 58 43 70 82 53 145 152 159 173 199 215 39 93 130 155 51 114 186 120 210 217 ,- . , , . , 1 , j ! (f t i ;:r. k 1 .. t . . John Bakeris an active patnt; he operates th ejymouthCente, :wch oatr4 pd attends shoolii - -: . S .