Page 4-Saturday, March 25, 1978-The Michigan Daily 1 # 4 / i \y I Coq"y N.ws iorfte Great expectations: Take II Last week I was a Real Estate King in Orange County California. Starting with a three-story walk up brownstone in downtown Pasadena, I pyramided my assets until I found myself sole owner of at least half the property in the state. The other half of the Golden Gate state was owned by a Saudi Arabian Prince. He attempted to buy out my share, I refused. He endeavored to bribe me with wine, women and jewels. I held fast. There would' be no compromise. Content with my victory I set my financial sights east. The week before last I created a sprawling movie empire just outside of Dallas, Texas. I took virtual unknowns and made them into stars. Plagued by exorbitant labor and production costs, the Hollywood studios found themselves helpless. Unable to compete with me, they were on their knees. David Begelman phoned me asking for a position. I hung up on him. He called again. He wanted a job endorsing my personal checks. I told him. to call Bert Lance. No, I didn't have his num- ber. FOR THOSE of you who have your doubts, the above events are fictitious. They are the fantasies of this college senior who-in his quest for work as a newspaper writer-has- received some forty-odd rejection letters. I have been contacted by newspapers from San Diego to San Antonio to Fort Lauderdale. The answer is always the same. "We are looking for more experienced reporters. We will keep your name on file should anything arise." ON FILE. It is my catchphrase for 1978. In that file is my cover letter, resume and clips By Rod Kosann Unable, so far, to secure the niche that I want, I create niches of my own. of my articles. I am on so many files that my circulation is wider than the Wall Street Journal. In my next batch of letters I will see if any corporations would like to advertise in my resume. The audience they might reach will be tremendous. The best response to these rejection letters has been my ability to fantasize. Unable, so far, to secure the niche that I want, I create niches of my own. In the past six months my mind has played out so many career scenarios that I cannot keep track. In lieu of an elusive reporting position, I have written books, become an advertising wizard, and even handled investments for the most elite of European nobility. WERE i NOT to indulge in such mental machinations, the graduation process would become far more tedious and increasingly frustrating. Although I am itching to accept "real" responsibilities in a "real" world, the door to my starting gate refuses to open. The feeling is galling. If only I could get them to listen. To understand. To show them I am not another face in the crowd. Yet, the prospects are not good. Letters continue to come in. One editor is "confident that I will get an offer"-from another paper. Another respondent says that I am being given careful consideration-so are 140 other applicants. A newspaper in Eugene, Oregon sends back my material along with a poorly xeroxed form letter. It says that some legalistic loophole does not require them to answer or consider unsolicited applications. Tomorrow's fantasy. I own a nationwide chain of newspapers. A 'private publisher in Eugene, Oregon offers to sell out. "Sorry," I write, "a legalistic loophole does not compel me to respond to unsolicited offerings." I have sent out more letters. This time to advertising agencies. For every letter there is another fantastic scenario in my head. In a little over a month I will have to act out one of those dreams. Fortunately, I have plenty to choose from. My options are unlimited. Maybe I will sell out to that Saudi Prince af- ter all. Rod Kosann is a frequent contributor to the Daily 's Editorial Page, and he may be a frequent contributor to thiis page next year, if something doesn't come his way soon. °v n rT...HAH! 0YY YYInrIIY Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedorn 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Vol. LXXXViII, No. 138 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan What if the floor caves in? Suddenly, a unified Italy By Vincent Tortora HIS IS another fine mess the federal government has gotten us into. The city of Ann Arbor this week discovered that its bid of $147,000 to purchase the old post office on the cor- ner of Catherine and Main Streets had been accepted by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which currently owns the building. With the completion of a few more details, the post office building will belong to the city - leaks and all. Leaks? Yes, officials have long known that the building has a leaky roof - one that may need renovation at a cost of up to $40,000. And the city is more than willing to correct the problem. That's not the messy part. The messy part is that the post office has been officially designated an historic building, and in order to tran- sfer- its ownership to Ann Arbor, city officials are obligated to sign a special agreement protecting the status of the building. That agreement includes a clause which prevents the city from altering the facade of the building in any way, and some city leaders are in fear that the post office's status will prevent its roof from being repaired. Efforts to find out whether such renovations are in violation of federal guidelines have met with no success thus far, but such rules would undoub- tedly be outrageous. Councilman Louis Belcher (R-Fifth Ward) points out ' that current regulations even go to the trouble of specifying what colors of paint are to be used on an historic building, and what types of glass can be used for its windows. If that's true, it would not be MR. BOTOLINI ! YESTERPAV YOU WERE A POOR ITALIAN WORKING MAN 7RJ ThAr -A-RIGWrT C so far-fetched if there were to be prohibitions on roof leak repairs. It is just Ann Arbor's luck to get mixed up in this type of situation. Here the city has taken the initiative to save a decaying building and make it useful once more, and the feds may very well insist that the leaky roof be left just the way it was found -) for historic pur- poses, of course. Mayor Albert Wheeler has the right idea when he says, ''We're not going to pay $147,000 for the damn thing and not be able to fix the roof. I don't care what the damn regulations say." dihefficht-ganl9Hl EDITORIAL STAFF Editors-in-chief GREGG KRUPA DAVID GOODMAN Managing Editors EILEEN DALEY ................................... University LANI JORDAN .. .................................. City LINDA WILLCOX .. eatures/Projects BARBARA ZAH . P ..........Personnel KEN PARSIGIAN A~r rnOTOu Army troops overlook an Italian roadblock on the outskirts of Rome as police search for kidnapped former Premier Aldo Moro (inset). The troops are used to protect police from terrorist attacks. Editorial Page Director BOB ROSENBAUM Supday Magazine Editors PATTY MONTEMURRI Arts Editors ow TOM O'CONNELL NEN GLEIBERMAN MIKE TAYLOR STAFF WRITERS: Michael Askush, Rene Becker, Richard Berke, Lenny BernsteinBrian Blanchard, Bruce Brumberg, Mitch Cantor. Donna Debrodt, Eleonora diiLiscia, Marianne Egri, Josh Gamson, Steve Gold, Sue Hollman, Eliza Isaacson, Margaret Johnson, Caro'. Koletsky, Paula Lashinsky, Marty Levine, Mitch Margo, Sheila Middlebrook, Dan Oberdorfer, Mark Parrent, Judy Rakowsky, Martha Retallick, Keith Rich- burg, Julie rovner, Beth Roseberg, Dennis Sabo, Amy Saltz- man. Steve Shaer, John Sinkevics. Liz Slowik, R.J. Smith, Pauline Toole, Sue Warner, Jeffrey Wolff, Shelley Wolson ARTS STAFF Michael Baadke, Susan Barry, Mark Beyer. Michael Broidy, Karen Bornstein, Patricia Fabrizio, Pat Gallagher, Mark Johansson, Dobilas Matulionis, Bill O'Conner, Joshua Peck, Stephen Pickover. Cindy Rhodes, Alan Rubenfeld, Anne Sharp. Renee ShilcuskyJeffrey Selbst.David Victor, Tim Yagle AND IOA LrMU ARE A WEALT HV MAN ! TNAT -A-RIGM'T! i I icld Newspaper Syndicate, 1978 ANP WWAT 16 TAE SECRET OF j SOUR SUCCESS . KEEPNAPING / ''-/ The kidnapped Dr. Aldo Moro, professor of criminal law at the University of Rome, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, and five-time premier of Italy, may now be exerting his most impor- tant influence on Italian life Since he began his. brilliant career three decades ago. Since his March 16 abduction by the mem- bers of the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigade), 15 million Italians have reacted with a vigor and unanimity unknown in Italy since the war.. Until now, public reaction to the terrorist Red Brigade on the left, and the Otdine Nouvo (New Order) on the right, and several smaller groups has been anything but unanimous. Although these groups have unloosed a grisly onslaught of bombings, killings, ritual maimings and kidnappings over the past nine years, some Italians tend to justify them, others to romanticize them, and a few, to support them. SINCE MORO'S abduction, however, workers and students representing the whole political spectrum are marching together and demonstrating to demand that something definitive be done. Individuals who previously had been intimidated into silence are turning up in ever-increasing numbers to offer information to the police. To some observers, the spirit afoot in Italy today recalls that in the final stages of World War II, during which the entire population rose up to throw out the Nazis and the Fascists. The Red Brigade and other extremist terrorist groups of both the right and left were formed in Ones" or "The Precarious Ones" -and spoke of -"striking at the heart of the state to create a revolutionary situation." IRONICALLY, EXTREMISTS of both the left and the right decried the very same conditions in Italian society. They dif- fered only in the measures they advocated for improving the situation. With the bombing of a Milan Bank in 1969, which killed 16 persons, terrorism was laun- ched as a grim fact of life. Since then, there have been at least 50 political assassinations by the terorist organizations of both the left and right. Behind the extremist actions lay a varied and complex set of social grievances: massive unemployment and underem- ployment, runaway inflation and sharply reduced buying power, bitterness and despair over the dead-end future facing many young people, the seemingly un- workability of the university system, and so on. The official unemployment rate is eight per cent, or about two million jobless. Many additional tens of thousan- ds are pitifully underemployed, with incomes considerable below subsistence. A labrythine tangle of laws and tax hazards prevents construction of urgently needed houses and apartments. As for public services, is it often im- possible to get even the most minimal business taken care of without submitting to an openly solicited bribe. AS ONE WEAK government of- ficial succeeded another in the late sixties and seventies, and lit- tle progress was made in im- proving the economic and social 50 of the rightists, including some of their leadership, are presently in jail. Police have been thwarted in their efforts to root out the elements of the Red Brigade, because of their deliberately low- profile, their extremely close- knit organization which seems to preclude infiltration, and, the tight, well-planned paramilitary precision of their assault on society. When Brigade members are caught, their comrades strike back with a campaign of black- mail, threat, and assassination against the judges, prosecutors, or jurors associated with the trial. After Brigade members were captured in 1974, their trial in Turin was repeatedly post- poned, as prospective judges, prosecutors and jurors were in- timidated by the assassination of the president of the Turin Law Society and a police marshal responsible for his arrest. BUT THE volcano of news generated by the activities of the terrorists has all but obliterated some of the more positive aspects of recent events in Italy. The new government formed last Week by Giulio Andreotti, after two mon- ths of close-to-the-breast negotiations between the Christian Democrats, who have ruled Italy since the war, and the Communists, who have been gaining steadily in popular sup- port over the past decade, represents a triumph of com- promise. "There's a big difference bet- ween participation and a takeover of government," notes Joseph Luns, Secretary General of NATO. American Secretary of State Cyrus Vance commented earlier to an Italian journalist The major credit for solving the governmental crisis between the Communists and the Christian Democrats goes to Dr. Moro. Even with the seeming chaos of recent Italian politics, the past two years have produced significant changes in Italian life - which, unfortunately, are ex- tremely slow in filtering down to "The Marginal Ones." The num- ber of strikes, general and specific, has declined by about 40 per cent. Industrial and agricultural production has in- creased dramatically, and is now near the top among the nations of the European Economic Com- munity. RUNAWAY INFLATION, long among the worst in Europe, has been reduced over the past years from 18 per' cent to a more manageable 10 per cent. Italian payments deficits have sharply decreased, and the credit reserve holdings have increased. The three most successful sectors of Italian industry - textiles, machinery and transport - ac- counted for well over $7 billion in foreign sales last year. In probably the most dramatic indication of belt-tightening, Italians have managed to curb somewhat their prodigal appetite for foreign-made luxury items. And their use of gasoline and petroleum items is off by about four per cent, despite an increase in the number of cars on the road. Despite the abduction of Aldo Moro dramatizing the problems and divisions in Italy, Italians in general finally seem willing to make those efforts and sacrifices necessary to save their society. Party association and political philosophy have for the moment YC LAND OF OPPORTUNIlY!