Thursday, September 8, 1977
CHEMICHIGAN-DAILY'
Tage Seven
.,
(HE MICHIGAN DAILY~ge Seven
H opwood winner:
46years. later,
By RON DeKETT
Forty-six years ago, a University student-at the insis-
tence of her English professor-entered a collection of essays
in a newly-created literary contest called the Hopwood
Awards.
Her essay collection, etitled "Mosaic," bore a strong
stream-of-consciousness influence and displayed meticulous
attention to detailed, inventive visual imagery.
THE HOPWOOD judges, suitably impressed, awarded the
author, Dorothy (Boillotat) Donnelly, the $1,500 first place
prize in the essay division.
Since the Hopwoods' encouraging beginning in 1931, over
1,400 students have received prizes totaling over $500,000.
Some award-winning Writers have gone on to pursue different
careers, while others still struggle to top their Hopwood suc-
cess.
Many have managed to follow their initial achievement
with even greater success, including playwright Arthur Mill-
er, poet John Ciardi and the first Hopwood winner, Dorothy
Donnelly.
IN THE 46 years since she received her award, Donnelly,
now 73, has collected four major literary prizes plus the
Christian Culture Gold Medal Award for her religious works.
'For Donnelly, the Hopwood award was a stepping stone,
not a catalyst for future writing. She had already spent years
developing and perfecting her style prior to her Hopwood win.
"I have always had an interest in writing," she recalled.
"Even as a child, I can remember writing things."
SINCE RECEIVING her Hopwood, Donnelly has written.
books of poetry and prose. Her essays, reviews and poems
have been published by many magazines, including American
and The New Yorker.
But' Donnelly's gre test thrill was seeing her first pub-
lished works in Transition, a Paris-based international maga-
zine specializing in the avant-garde.
tiTo me, that was the most exciting time. To write some-
thing "and send it to Paris-a total unknown-and be' publish-
ed . . ." Donnelly said, adding, "I was very impressed that
one of my first articles was placed next to a big article by
(Carl) Jung."
FROM HER first avant-garde articles in the 30's to her
latest poetry, Donnelly has detected changes in her writing
style.
"You would no longer call my writing avante-garde. I
think there is a shift in the way you naturally say and write
things as you get older,". she said. "Now I tend to write my
prose in a simpler way.
"Earlier, I tried to write poetry but decided-it ,wasn't
Local print media: Unev en
Daily Photo by ALAN BILINSKY
Dorothy Donnelly, the first winner of the annual Hopwood
Award 46-years-ago, has gone on to receive additional
prizes for her writing.
good enough so I gave it up for awhile. Now I consider it my
major work."%
FOR SOME authors, writing is an all-consuming task
which takes priority 'above all else. Donnelly, however, has
retained a unique outlook on life.
"I am a person first and a writer second," she explained.,
Donnelly is" not impressed by the poetry of many of her
contemporary counterparts,scalling it dull and lacking form.
"I think a certain amount of discipline is necessary and
the words are terribly important," she said. "Someone once
said that poetry is the right words in the right place. It is
much harder than you think to get the right words in the
right place."
ONE OF the most painful experiences for a writer, Don-
nelly says, is, editing one's own work,
"You .agonize over this," she said. "Sometimes you have
an image or a word that sounds great to you, and when you
finally say 'You can't use it, you can't do it,' it is sort of like
throwing out your children."
Donnelly is' reluctant to give advice to aspiring writers.
"I think there'is too much trying to teach people to write. You
can learn something about your craft, but the real surge has
to come ,from within, from you. If you really have it in you,
you will write."
By JEFF RISTINE j
From the paper - pushing de-,
partments and bureaus at City
Hall to the quiet, tree-lined
streets on the Old WesttSide and:I
the antiseptic laboratories dot-t
ting the University campus,
every, nook and cranny in - Ann
Arbor holds a newsworthy story.
Whether you ever read these
stories-and how you react to!
them-depends largely on which
of the many local print media!it
you peruse.,
The newspapers and maga-,
zines on local newsstands rate
from very good to atrocious,
with the bulk settling somewhere!
near that middle ground called
mediocre. Consistently top-qual-
ity journalism is nonexistent.
THE MOST visible disappoint-
ment is The Ann Arbor Netvs.
For decades The News held to
a policy banning virtually all
their local stories from the front
page - possibly because they
were so embarrassed by them.
Writing in The News rarely
sparkles; on occasion it defies
comprehension.
The News, a member of the'
profitable B o o t h newspaper
chain, is particularly weak on
investigative reporting. It has:
been scooped time and time
again by The Detroit Free Press
and The Ypsilanti Press on a,
story in its own back yard-the'
1 mysterious murders at the Vet-
erans Administration (VA) Hos-
pital. When The Ypsi Press
broke an early VA story in 1975,
The News simply rewrote The
Press'eaccount and attributed
the reporting to "news media
sources.'"
What is most distressing about'
The ;Ann Arbor News, however ,
is its unflinching willingness to'
(devote columns upon columns to
press releases, reprinted ver-
batim with no indication of their
source. Quite frequently this will
include features and news pro-
vided by the University's "In-
formation Services," a PR team.
News' special supplement sec-
tion on the University-an out-
and-out imitation of the publi-
cation you are holding in your
hands-will have been written
by the knowledgable but some-
what biased PR folks paid by
the University (Hint: Look for
the articles with no reporter's
by-line).
Iri fairness, it. should be noted
that The News is fairly thorough
with respect to .city and county
government and courts. Reflect-
ing the dominant attitudes of the
non-University sector of the
community, however, The News
approaches most local political
matters from a Republican view-
point. It has become somewhat
less conservative and less dull
since a recent editorial depart-
ment shake-up.
At least The Views is believ-
able. That's far more than you
can say for The Michigan Free
Press, the last of the major lo-
cal "underground" papers. MFP
serves up a weekly rehash of
local, national and international-
goings-on, usually' little more
than flaccid digests of news-
paper accounts with ultra-leftist
polemics added as gravy.
. MFP HAS no editorial page;
its stories are often indistin-
guishable from editorials any-
way, and its writersignoreop-
posing viewpoints as if they,
simply didn't exist. The editors
appear to be rebels searching
desperately for a cause. How
long they will continue to look
is anyone's guess, since MFP
appears to be making _ money
hand over fist.
The weekly's journalistic can-
ons' permit the illusion of a fat
travel budget-they see nothing
wrong in slapping international
datelines on articles written in
local offices. One such enter-
prising r e p o r t e r had three
stories published the same day
-datelined Washington, Hono-
lulu and Ann Arbor.
Different' in nearly every re-
spectfromMFP' is The Ann
sometimes putting The 'News
(and, yes, The Daily) to shame
with its well-written analyses
of Ann Arbor politics and prob-
lems.
occupying the entire sixth floor' Arbor Observer, a relatively
of the Administration Building. new monthly tabloid published
by a husband-and-wife team.
IN FACT, it's a safe bet that The Observer offers 16 pages of
many of the stories found in The ecally-oriented feature stories,
c
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TYPICAL SUBJECTS of Ob-
server articles: the downtown I
parking problem, cross-country,
skiing, turnout for local elec-
tions and the job crunch fort
PhDs. It's an excellent magazine
and you can't beat the price-
45,000 copies are distributed free
to stores, offices and campus
buildings.
Of much less interest is Ann
Arbor Scene Magazine, a slick
quarterly that -resembles the
type of publication you pick up
at a football game-with about
as much substance. It's mostly
advertising and manages to stay
unceasingly ,flattering to. Ann
Arbor, its p e o p l e and its!
merchants (particularly restau-
rants). 'Save your money.
The list above is hardly ex-
haustive. Other local print me-
dia with somewhat smaller cir-
culations i n c 1 u d e Periodical
Lunch, a magazine, of short
stories and poetry; Her-Self, a
feminist newspaper, and count-
less publications from ,various
University schools and depart-
ments, such as TechniUM and:
Datum-Technic in the College of
Engineering, and The Michigan
e
if
yonu
see
news
happen
call
76DAIY
Journalist, an uneven monthly
tabloid' thrown together by grad
students in the journalism de-
partment. University magazines
and papers are generally distri-
buted free near the classrooms
used by the target audience.
Ann Arborites seem to 'be vo-
racious newspaper readers-The
New York Times sells excellent-
ly here-but local print media
have probably reached the sat-
uration point. When a wealthy
attorney tried a few years ago
to start a five-cent morning tab-
loid as a Democratic alternative
to The News, his "Good Morn-
ing Michigan," foundered and
eventually died, unmourned.
{
r
w
uning in to theA
radio scene
l'
We have GODIVA chocolates . . . and French cooking
classes . . . and lasagna pans . . . and coffee beans .. .
and bread workshops . . . and Le Coeuset cookware. . .
and GODIVA chocolates . . ..and Greek cooking classes
d and French olive oil . . . and pasta machines . .
and GODIVA chocolates .. .and woks ... and tea kettles
. and bulk tea . . . and GODIVA chocolates .
t (we're crazy about GODIVA chocolates) . .'. and Italian
cooking classes. . and vegetable peelers. . . and egq
poachers . ... and free mini classes and. don't forget the
GODIVA chocolates . .
ALL AT ANN ARBOR'S NEWEST, MOST EXCITING
COOKING SCHOOL & COOKWARE SHOP-
cooking school f gourmet foods r cookware
ann arbor, mi 48104 662-0046
,c
By TIM SCHICK
When Marconi invented the
wireless transmitter, he probab-
ly never dreamed the airwaves
would some day become. packed
with hundreds of broadcast sta-
tions, filling the air with every
conceivable form of audio en-
tertainment -
In Ann Arbor today, the radio
and television owner is able to
receive more s t a t i o n s thanl
many other communities.
By accident of location, resi-
dents can easily tune in stations
in Detroit, Toledo; Lansing and,
if course, the city itself. While
tations outside the city are al-
,most too numerous to count,
those which broadcast from Ann
Arbor offer programming for
the diverse tastes of a univer-
sity community.
On the AM dial there are three
local stations to choose from-
WAAM, WPAG and WRCN.
WAAM, at 1600, offers what
station General Manager Jack'
Rubins terms "adult contempo-
rary-top 40 and oldies with the
familiar sound." Listeners can
receive this station anywhere in
Washtenaw County and as far
away as Lansing, Flint and De-!
troit.
In addition to music, WAAM
features local news on the
hour and ABC news on the half
hour. It broadcasts Michigan
football, basketball and hockey
and some Eastern Michigan
University football g a m e s.
Student - run WRCN is the
smallest station in town. Part of
the Campus Broadcasting Net-
work, this station can be receiv-
ed only in University buildings
on 650 on the radio dial and on
cable TV's channel I. Its limited
range is, due to the carrier cur-
rent broadcast system it uses,
transmitting through the Univer-
sity electrical system instead of
through airwaves like most sta-
tions.
WRCN features top 40 music
as well as oldies dating back to
the mid-fifties. In addition, its
format includes occasional news
programs and hockey games.
WPAG, the third local AM sta-
tion, also broadcasts on FM. The
station's Jim Baughn describesj
WPAG's format as "middle of
the road good music." Broad-
casting on 1050 AM and 107.1
FM, the station's signal can be
received in a 17-county area in I
southeastern Michigan. In addi-
tion to music, it offers Michigan|
and EMU football, basketball, as
well as, Saline high school foot-
reaches most points in the city, age. Concentrating on the Wash-
and, according to station em-I
ploye Mike Kremen, aims not,
only at University students but
at the entire University com-
munity, including city residents. ;
WCBN offers a diverse selec-
tion of music from free-form{
rock to jazz. The station boasts'
tenaw County area, it offers con-
cert and movie information as
well as more than a dozen spe-
cial features each week, ranging
from interviews with stars tp the
syndicated news.
Although the city does not
have any television stations of
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Cable TV currently offers 15
stations from Ohio and Michi-
gan, in addition to public access
channels, for a fee of $7.50 perI
month. For those willing to payI
a little more, the station offers
a choice of additional channels,
one with family-oriented movies
and the other featuring adult
films.
I
Welcome Students
TO THE
DASCO LA
HAl RSTYLISTS
ARBORLAND-971-9975
MAPLE VILLAGE-761-2733
E. LIBERTY-668-9329
E. UNIVERSITY-662-0354
ball' and basketball. WPAG's f:
telongest running j'azz pro its own, it is home to a cable
bal andbsketbaes l.e WPAGs gram from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. ev- TV company. After several
special features include a farm week night. It also fea- years of financial difficulty,
show and a women's show. vr eyaso iaca ifcly
tures Michigan b a s k e t b a 1, General Manager Tom Ridley
Among the three local FM games. hopes to have Ann Arbor Ca-
stations, WUOM, 91.7 on the WIQB, 103 FM, features pro- blevision out of the red by fall
dial, is by far the largest. gressive rock and jazz. Its audi- and continue expansion of its
Owned' and operated by the ence ranges from 18-34 years of! service area.
state of Michigan through the -- ----- -
University, WUOM is the most
powerful educational radio sta- Serving the University Community Since 1937
tion in the nation, with a
broadcast power of 230,000
watts. Its signal reaches the
bottom half of the state Mich-
igan, western Ontario and the
top third of Ohio and Indiana.
WUOM's sister station,
WVGR, retransmits its pro-
grams out of Grand Rapids.
Unlike commercial stations
which broadcast music for en-
tertainment, WUOM attempts to
make listening a learning ex'per-_~
ience, matching music with peo-' B tj E S A / I A VEL
ple who are experts on'various
musical styles. 12-14 NICKELS ARCADE - ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48108
Another University-owned sta- INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL 994-6204 {
tion is WCBN at 89.5 FM, which, DOMESTIC TRAVEL 994-6200
with its AM sister station:
WRCN, forms t h e Campus ADJACENT TO CENTRAL CAMPUS
Broadcasting Network. WCBN
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OFFICE HOURS
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