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 i 7i 1 j1 i j 71 1 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 S g c ri a a 0 a 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 r m 10 - " mmm i B 'El WINES ER imports, KEGSj ".1r l'I f . 'r . i3V r " r J I 'C I & ;wzzm ILIUM 1 I f ,_ .. , : - T Ii £ r1119aln-l Dat OFFICE HOURS CIRCULATION - 764-0558 COMPLAINTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS 10 a m.-2 .m. CLASSIFIED ADS -764-0557 10 a.m.-4 p.m. DEADLINE FOR NEXT DAY-12:00 p.m. DISPLAY ADS - 764-0554 MONDAY thru FRIDAY-9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Deadline for Sunday issue- WEDNESDAY at 5 p.m. r rr , s . .. " f 1 mixes QaUOR" ICE r )1 Village 0 000 1, Corner 601 s. forest~ CAPT. SCARAMUCCIA I , r 0 1111 E= I EU 1 i I