THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, January 27, 1974 TH1IHGNDIYSnaJnay2,17 BOOKS 'I LOVE KIDS' The frigi KILLER by Joey with Dave Fisher. New York: Pocket Books, 313 pages, $1.50. By Charlie Stein' JOEY, the author and narrator of Killer, is the kind of guy you could get' attracted to if you're not careful. Like a character plucked from a Jimmy Breslin column, he has a certain earthy charm about him. He is the barroom philoso- pher - spouting out pearls of wisdom in his gravelly N e w York cab driver's brand of Eng- lish. Joey's three most important loves - his wife, the sound of laughing children and the TV program jeopardy - make him even more endearing. Unfortunately Joey also hap- pens to be a murderer for hire. In his 25 years as a Mafia hit- man he has, by his own admis- sion, gunned down 38 men, near- ly all in cold blood. Killer is Joey's account of that career and it is fascinating in the way only an insider's view can htening story of a Mafia hit man be. We are taken on a private tour of the world of organized crime, where we meet such le- gendary characters as Meyer Lansky, Joe Colombo and t h e late Crazy Joe Gallo. We are also presented w it h something of a how-to-guide for a wide assortment of mob op- erations ranging from innocuous neighborhood numbers rackets to Joey's murder speciality. MURDER for Joey came as the natural culmination in a progression of crimes. He stuck with it not out of any great love for violence, but simply because it was the easiest way to make lots of money - four million dol- lars according to his best esti- mate. Killer is written in the first-. person plain-folks style of most- as-told-to books. Devotees of low-brow culture will immediately recognize its striking similarity to Robin Moore's The Happy Hooker. In fact, if genitals were substituted for guns, the reader would be hard pressed to tell the two apart. The plain-folks delivery al- lows us to get inside Joey's head and see the Mafia through h i s eyes. But at the same time, the technique represents an import- ant stylistic weakness because it inhibits any real eloquence or powerful description. Murders and card games are treated with equal amoutns of dispassion., Still in his own homespun way, Joey manages to chance upon some literary gems. For exam- ple: Joey on the 1972 elections: "I figured one candidate was a crook and one was a jerk, so naturally I'm going to vote for the crook." Joey on fences, the middle men in a stolen good deal: "Good fences make good neighbors." Joey on the Godfather: "The Godfather did for the organiza- tion what silicone did for tits. They both mare their respective subjects stand out." IF JOEY were content to im- press and entertain us, his book would be an unqualified success. But that's not enough. He wants our approval. In fact he almost demands it by mak- ing us bear the brunt of the guilt for the Mafia's existence. The Mafia, Joey argues, didn't make people turn to gambling or drugs. It merely supplies con- sumers with the tools they need to indulge in their own particular brand of vice. It is capitalism in its purest form - free from the moral judgments imposed by society. As for himself, Joey is quick to point out that not one of his victims has been an honest man. All 38 have been mob members who have violated one of the or- ganization's rules and hence must die. Joey is not a common crim- inal. He doesn't swipe purses, rob stores or mug old ladies on the street. He won't bother you and me unless we come looking for him. N KEEPING WITH his -whole style of operation, Joey's de- fense is both skillful and clever, an once again we can almost be taken in if we're not careful. Yet when we step back f o r one moment, out of the reach of Joey's charm, we realize that his argument just doesn't work. While the mob did not create vice, there is nothing passive about the way it cruelly exploits the weak link in the human con- dition. Selling heroin on a large scale is no less destructive than wholesale murder,, and the bil- lions of dollars organized crime takes out of the ghetto each year helps insure the continued pov- erty of thousands. And Joey, for all his wit and down- to-earth appeal, can't con- vince us that he is just a regular guy. 'there is clearbyr something frighLenmgly sick about a man who can kill with no feeling. In one particularly revealing pasage Joey writes about one of his victims: "We just sat there. We didn't say a word. He began to beg. He even went so far as to tell us where he had stash- ed the money. Finally he realized there was nothing he could do. He sat there quietly. Then he started crying. 1 didn't feel a thing for him." No Joey, we have to hate you. Even if you do watch Jeopardy. FROM A TO Z ciated with the women's move- ly militant attitude toward the ment. The result is a huge re- treatment of rape victims by the ference guide to the movement. police and courts has led to the organization of rape crisis cent- I IIe vv iiUM!eLLJI III Catalog for women UqfJ*~iki Cub6 MEETING January 31-Assembly Hall Union-9: p.m. * MANDATORY meeting for all persons signed up for Banff, Alberta trip. s Absolute deadline for Banff deposits- none returned or accepted after meet- ing. 9 Banff trip is filled-however cancella- I tions may open some spaces. * Infoon trip to Collingwood, Ontario on Feb. 8, 9, 10. Skiing at Blue Mountain and Georgian Peaks. Two nights lodg- ing, 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner: $21. Lifts are $8 per day. Trip leader: Roger Palm, 668-7225. 0 Info on later weekend trips and possibil- ity of local trips. THE NEW WOMAN'S SUR- VIVAL CATALOG: A WO- MAN-MADE BOOK. Edited by Kirsten Grimstad and Susan Rennie.. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 223 pages, $5.00. By Judy Ruskin THIS LATEST of a seemingly never ending string of "cat- alogs" is called The New Wo- man's Survival Catalog. But con- trary to the title, this is not a book exclusively for the "new woman", the feminist, or the movement member. Rather, it is a book for all women, liberated or not. "Af- ter all," the authors say in their introduction, "You don't have to be a feminist to want to prevent yourself from getting raped, to know whether that vag- inal itch is worth a trip to the specialist, to get a bank loan, to have access to'child care facil- ities, to avoid car repair rip- off." The book's scope is enormous, as is focuses on hundreds of women-related concerns. There is bound to be some items of in- terest to every woman, whether her fancy be the fine arts or the martial arts. There are nine categories with- in the book - Communications, Art, Self-Health, Children, Learn- ing, Self-Defense, Work and Money, Getting Justice and Build- ing the Movement. Within each division there are descriptions, lists, names a n d addresses of organizations asso- INCLUDED ARE lists of wo- men's newspapers (including Ann Arbor's own Her-Self, books, articles, speaker's bureaus, cri- sis centers (including, again, the Ann Arbor women's crisis center), and organizations across the country. But The New Woman's Surviv- al Catalog provides more than just a quick, handy reference to services provided for w o m e n by women. It is a reflection of what is currently happening in the women's movement. It is a study of the problems and issues foremost in women's minds - and the means by which they are confronting and solving those problems. The rising concern of women over inadequate health care is reflected in the section on self- health. Examples of research done on women's health care are provided, along with addresses for further information. The same concern over contem- porary issues is reflected in the self-defense section. Here t h e emphasis is on rape. The out- rage women feel over outdated rape laws, and their increasing- ers across the country. APPROACHES differ from city to city, but most notable is the Philadelphia-based W o m e n Organized Against Rape. T h e organization is located in t h e hospital to which all area rape victims are brought. These wo- men work within the system, counseling and supporting victims from the time they enter the hspital totthe time their case goes to court. The list goes on and on - sex- isri in children's literature, wo- men and the arts, job discrim- ination, women's studies. The book isn't meant to be read cover-to-cover, but rather leis- urely explored. Discover what other women are doing and what you yourself can do. The drawback to this catalog, as in all catalogs, is that it is so easily o'ntdated. A d d r e 5ss e s change, publications fold, n e w ones appear. But a second edi- tion is already in the works. And in the meantime, 20 per cent of all profits on this first edition will be placed in a movement trust fund. TRIPLE ;FEATURE TEENAGE FANTASIES 1 ' DOUBLE FEATURE 0 - HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUTS POWER of L UE arUA&CI NEM A STARTS WED, Jan, 30 "BEIN GE WOMEN'S INSTRUCTIONAL POOL LEAGUE Improve your game or learn it from scratch with other women. Free instruction in the techniques and tactics of the game. First meeting Wed., Jan. 30, 6:00 p.m. MICHIGAN UNION BILLIARD ROOM TEN VIEWS Photogs: Is there a woman's art? Are you still reading' the way your parents read? 4 . 9.. University Activities Center present~s ii 15 ''SKIUH''" SpeciaI S*4 i# Week K : icludes " Round trip air transportation from Detroit on * American Airlines + . Accommodations at the Temple Square Hotel- Lake city . Round-trip transfers from airport to hotel . . Daily lift passes at 6 resort areas - Alta, Brighton, Park city, Park West, Snowbird, and Solitude. For further details and reservations, contact: U.A.C. Travel Office Second Floor-- Michigan Union 783.2147 A~i THE WOMAN'S EYE. Edited by Ann Tucker. New York: Al- fred A. Knopf, 169 pages, $5.95. By Karen Kasmauski FOR THE MOST part when a woman e n t e r s the field of photography, she is handicapped by her sex. She is consistently faced with the problem of inter- action with her subjects and with male photographers. She will in- evitably be looked upon as first, a female, and then a photog- rapher. The use of discretion will be one of her major concerns; when should she usewher sex to her advantage and when should she be sexless? A woman who takes o nthe traditional female characteristics may be more trusted by her subjects, while a woman who appears more mas- culine and aggressive might be taken more seriously. The W o m a n' s Eye centers around a series of questions: Is there a woman's art? Is there a man's art? Or is art the product of an era and not of a particular sex? Ann Tucker shows us that the creation of art, like the crea- tion of human being, is not done best by man or woman, but by an equal participation of both. The difference in art styles re- sults from a difference in the times and not in the sex. The struggle women face in the field of art is only one of the many satellite problems spinning off the core-like economic and so- cial bond placed on women by society. It is interesting that of the ten- photographers Ms. Tucker chose, six were married or had intimate relationships with the men they were working with on long term periods. Most of the relationships did not last. Per- haps, the intensity of creating art is like the intensity of creating a child. TqS: TUCKER'S clear presenta- tion of the problems con- fronting any f e m a 1 e creator saves The Woman's Eye from becoming just another pretty picture book. Yet the weakness of this book comes in her use of the ten photographers to illu- strate her points. She summar- izes the lives and works of such well-knowns as Margaret Bourke- White and Dorothea Lange and such relative unknowns as Alisa Wells and Bea Nettles. Unfor- tunately, the summaries were often tooshort and too shallow. Too, the photographs Ms. Tucker uses did not always typify the photographer's style. With her attempt to explore the relation- ship between the photographer's sex and her art, she comes right up to the edge, but does not take that one step which might have explained why she chose these ten female photographers. The topics and complaints pre- sented are legitimate and well stated, but she has given us nothing which has not already been stated elsewhere, by num- erous other women writers since the beginning of the woman's movement. MAYBE MY environment and career choice has put a streak of cyncism in me to avoid becoming weighted down. But when I finished r e a d i n g this book, I, like Berenice Abbott, asked, "Why bother?" W=WU U=E *t=UW' In the first grade, when you were taught to read "Run Spot Run," you had to read it out loud. Word-by-word. Later, in the second grade, you were asked to read silently. But you couldn't do it. You stopped reading out loud, but you continued to say every word to yourself. Chances are, you're doing it right now. This means that you read only as fast as you talk. About 250 to 300 words per minute. (Guiness' Book of World Records lists John F. Kennedy as delivering the fast- est speech on record: 327 words per minute.) The Evelyn Wood Course teaches you to read without mentally saying each word to yourself. Instead of reading one word at a time, you'll learn to read groups of words. ro see how natural this is, look at the dot over the line in bold type. grass is green You immediately see all three words. Now look at the dot between the next two lines of type. and it grows when it rains With training, you'll learn to use your innate ability to see groups of words. As an Evelyn Wood graduate, you'll be able to read between 1,000 and 3,000 words per minute . . . depending on the difficulty of the material. At 1,000 words per minute, you'll be able to read a text book like Hofstadtler's American Political Tradition and finish each chapter in 11 minutes. j At 2,000 words per minute, you'l' Vable to read a magazine like Time or 1, week and finish each page in 31 seconds. At 3,000 words per minute, you'll be able to read the 447 page novel The God- father in 1 hour and 4 minutes. These are documented statistics based on the results of the 450,000 people who have enrolled in. the Evelyn Wood course since its inception in 1959. 'The course isn't complicated. There' are no machines. There are no notes to take. And you don't have to memorize any- thing. 95% of our graduates have improved their reading ability by an average of 4.7 times. On rare occasions, a graduate's read- ing ability isn't improved by at least 3 times. In these instances, the tuition is completely refunded. Take a free Mini-Lesson on Evelyn Wood. Do you want to see how the course works? Then take a free Mini-Lesson.- The Mini-Lesson is an hour long peek at what the Evelyn Wood course offers. We'll show you how it's possible to accelerate your speed without skipping a single word. You'll have a chance to try your hand at it, and before it's over, you'll actually increase your reading speed. (You'll only increase it a little, but it's a start.) We'll show you how we can extend your memory. And we'll show you how we make chapter outlining obsolete. Ta:;e a Mini-Lesson this week. It's a 'ur. And it's free. SIGN UP DEADLINE JAN. 30! DID YOU KNOW? m onday night is...... ATTENTION LS&A STUDENTS Are you interested in justice and in becoming in- volved Then sign up now to interview for appoint- ment to the LS&A STUDENT JUDICIARY Just sign the list at Room 3M, Michigan Union or call Chuck Redman, 761-1597, by Tuesday morn- ing, January 29. Interviews that afternoon. ( ~? FUTURE WORLDS LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS RALPH NADER JAN. 29-3 p.m.-Adm. $1.00 HILL AUDITORIUM} STUDENTS NIGHT ALL Students - NO Cover Charge Pitcher of Beer Half-Price! ! ALL MINI-LESSONS HELD AT: U-M STUDENT UNION (Dining Room No. 1) Based on the controversial book that shattered conventional thenres of histnrvnariheolowy OF THE UODS?11 TECHNIOoLOR 0 RbySue idmalWlo ae MONDAY, Jan. 28: 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. TUESDAY. Jan. 29: 3 m. & 7 nm. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 30: 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. THIRSDAY_ Jn. 31 : n m &7 nm. 4 t